Three Peaks - Challenge Completed

The team did it – they climbed the UK’s highest three mountains within the space of 24 hours!

Top of Snowdon - almost there!

 All the training, preparation and organisation came to fruition at 1704 hrs on Saturday July 7^th 2012 when members and supporters of Somerset Breakthrough Breast Cancer Group trudged back into the car park of Pen-y-Pas of Mount Snowdon, just 23 hours and 34 minutes after leaving the car park of Glen Nevis Visitor Centre to scale Ben Nevis.   

Despite their determination to succeed, there are always factors that cannot be controlled so they were elated when they beat the clock with 26 minutes to spare, especially after the huge amount of sponsorship, support and good wishes they have received along the way. We know many of you followed the team’s progress on facebook & twitter, and your feedback was essential. Whenever mobile signals allowed, there seemed to be a fresh wave of support messages and online donations, which spurred the team on during the whole trip. We are so very grateful to everyone who took an interest in the challenge – thank you!!! 

Although sponsorship money is in the process of being collected and online donations are still being made, a rough tally from the team suggests the final total raised for Breakthrough Breast Cancer will be in the range of £4,500! Which is fantastic – thanks to all who have contributed and made the challenge possible... and so very worthwhile!

Kind sponsors who made this possible

But it’s not too late to help. It would be amazing to break the £5,000 mark!

Just Giving link

It was great using this blog to post training updates in the run up to the main event and also to use facebook & twitter during the challenge so all our friends & followers could share a little of the team’s journey during their exciting adventure. Like most teams that attempt the 3 peaks, a book could no doubt be written about their weekend. In fact, a few of those books were read by the boys in advance of the challenge to give them every chance of success – looks like it worked!

But in the absence of a book, here’s a few photos and thoughts from the challenge, we hope you enjoy them.


The team left Somerset at 9am on Thursday 5th for the long drive North in a fully laden 9-seater people carrier. Travelling up to Scotland on the day before the challenge allowed them to could rest up and enjoy a positively balmy overnight stay in picturesque Drymen, near Loch Lomond.



Relaxing in Drymen the evening before

With wet weather on their minds, the team were pleasantly surprised to find Scotland warm & sunny, and the perfect welcome was complete with Drymen's Scots Band putting on a display on the village green!



Welcome to Scotland



To settle a few nerves and aid a good night's sleep, the lads felt obliged to sample a wee dram or two of the country's finest - it would have been rude not to!



Rob and Ivan - invaluable drivers


The team woke on the morning of the challenge to a very encouraging weather forecast. It was looking like all the wet weather gear might not be needed afterall and that with some luck all three peaks would be climbed in the dry. So with spirits lifted, the team set off for Fort William, driving through some of the most stunning landscapes in the UK - the word 'stunning' was used many times during the course of the weekend!

A relaxing lunch in Fort William was followed by a stroll and some last minute shopping for supplies and kit (Eugene decided to get some walking poles due to injuring his ribs two days earlier). Then it was a short drive to take a look at big Ben Nevis itself, for a photo with the Breakthrough banner.

Summit of Ben Nevis is the middle peak in the background

Left to right:
Rob Anthony, Eugene Martin, Marc Selway, Andy Farkas, Alan Tait, Iaine Selway, Giles Mason, Dave Godfrey and Ivan Searle

Be the breakthrough!

After surveying the scene at the base of the biggest mountain in the UK, the team geared up and headed back to Fort William and Loch Linnhe to 'touch water' (an extra challenge timed at 17:21) before driving back to Glen Nevis Visitor Centre for the team's official start time -  17:30!   

5:30pm - Fresh as mountain daisies!

And up the mountain they went!

Wilting in the sun - not so fresh after an hour...

A rough guide for 3 peakers is to reach the summit of Ben Nevis in 3 hours, but as the lads had not tackled it before they were not sure on how well they were doing, so hard to gauge the pace.

Loch Linnhe at the top, visitor centre bottom left, path followed visible on the lower slopes near small lake - stunning!

Nearing the summit - first sight of snow

After 2 hours and 45 minutes, the team were pleased to reach the summit ahead of schedule, but were surprised at just how sheer some of the drops nearby were...

"Blimey, that's steep"

Glad it wasn't windy or covered in snow!

8:15 pm -  Andy, Iaine, Alan and a little bit of Marc

  

The lads on the summit with their home town paper - hopefully appearing in the Mercury soon!

  
Ben Nevis doesn't always offer great visibility, but luck was on their side this weekend.

Stunning - rays of sunshine lighting up Loch Linnhe

And so they headed back down for an appointment with Rob, Ivan and 7 pot noodles.

Eugene (aka Gunge) was glad he bought walking poles and ibuprofen

The team arrived back at the visitor centre at 10pm, thanks to the descent taking 1 hour and 45 minutes, which meant the team's total Ben Nevis time was a very respectable 4 and a half hours, a full 30 minutes ahead of their guideline schedule. 

However, after such a long time on their feet, they seemed to take a little longer than planned to sort out their gear, grab some hot food & drink and hit the road back to England. The journey back south was a difficult one. Although everyone was tired, it was difficult to get comfy and sleep on the twisty roads. Plus the team finally met the rain that had kindly stayed south of the border earlier that day, so driving conditions were not ideal. Nevertheless, Rob and Ivan proved essential to the effort once again and by around 0330am the team were at a service station in west Cumbria grabbing a bite to eat and getting changed ready for the hardest of the 3 peaks - Scafell Pike.

3:30 am - tired but on target

Despite the bumpy lanes (strewn with soggy sheep) on the way to Scafell Pike, the team were dropped off at 0430 am - bang on target. Although being tired and a little less ahead than first hoped, at least it wasn't raining.... plus the sun was coming up! Great news - no need for wet weather gear or torches. With all the recent rain over the region, a fair amount of surface water was still expected though, so care was needed underfoot.

A few tricky streams...

Scafell Pike was a hard climb for the boys, but the views provided by the rising sun went a long way to ease their pain.

A little breather

"Stop taking photos Gunge..."

Magnificent - aprox 5:30 am

Deep breaths

   

Stunning

The loose rocks and stones were tough going

But every litlle rest stop meant a chance to take it all in 

Some of the bigger rocks were a struggle

Nearing the summit

Still tricky underfoot

The team made it to the summit at 0625am Saturday morning, in a time of 1 hour 55 minutes. This was just 5 minutes slower than their factfinding training climb in May, so again everyone was pleased with the progress.

Summit view looking East

Summit view looking North (ish)

Summit view looking South



Summit view - South South East



6:25 am and two peaks done - time to head back down 

It was another short stay at the summit before the team headed back down the mountain. With the sun higher in the sky, there were fresh magnificent views all around, but great care was needed as it became more slippery. In fact everybody other than Dave ended up on their backsides at some point during the descent!

Iaine and Alan leading the way

View of Wastwater

Blue skies

Lingmell opposite

Wonderful scenery

7:50 am  -  Andy and Giles happy to be nearing the end

Even though it was now much trickier conditions, the descent took almost the same time as the training run in May, only 1 hour 25 minutes. So now it was 07:55am and the team were wolfing down more pot noodles organised by Rob and Ivan. Despite best efforts to be quicker this time, it was still another 35 minutes before the team were on their way to Wales, leaving at 0830am for the 5 hour drive.

More of the team were able to grab some sleep on this leg of the trip, either working out a way to get comfy or maybe just through sheer exhaustion.

But now the team were hitting peak weekend traffic in North Wales and it was only a piece of luck and quick thinking by Alan that allowed the team to avoid an almost certain challenge-ending traffic snarl up about an hour away from Snowdon. Disaster averted, the lads knew the Pen-y-Pass car park would be brimming with 3 peakers and walkers, so again they found a place ahead of their destination to change into their gear for the last mountain - and again it was dry!!

This stop was made more enjoyable by Giles putting on Andy's boots without realising, easily done you might say apart from the fact that Andy is 3 shoe sizes bigger than Giles! 

Like clockwork, the team started the third mountain almost exactly on shedule at 13:25, leaving themselves just over 4 hours to complete Snowdon and therefore the challenge in under 24 hours! As there wasn't too much pressure with time, Ivan decided to join the team for the last peak.

Although Marc doesn't look too enthralled to be climbing his third mountain in under 24 hrs, he's smiling on the inside

Mountain rescue were out and about... Prince William checking on the team?

Snowdon offers some interesting terrain in the wet!

A beautiful location in the right weather

Snowdon was mistier than the other peaks

A little sit down

Onwards and upwards

"Back a bit Gunge... a little more..."

Glorious

Ivan only came up for a coffee in the cafe at the top!

Summit reached in 1 hour 55 minutes - almost there!

3:20 pm - top of Snowdon!

Pretty in pink!

A proper summit

There were some really quite tricky sections that needed careful attention

Steady as you go...

As time wasn't an issue, the team descended using the 'Miners' track. It may be longer but is much more level, so therefore kinder to tired limbs, joints and feet!  

Easier on the feet

Plus a nice spot for a sit down

A beautiful day!

The return journey was taking a little longer than anticipated, prompting a few anxious glances at watches... and then Iaine's boot gave out on him...

Oh dear...

But Andy was on hand with a bandage from the first aid kit to patch it up for the final 15 minutes of the walk back to the car park and victory!

Descent of Snowdon took 1 hour 39 minutes and was completed at 1704 Saturday. Snowdon took 3 hours 34 minutes in total, but the main figure was the final time for all three peaks, a COMFORTABLE 23 HOURS AND 34 MINUTES!!!!!!!!!

It had been done, not with ease but with time to spare - but the team still wanted to beat 24 hours for 'touching the water', so off they set into Caernarfon to do just that, with 2 minutes to spare!

5:19 pm  - done!

A moment of reflection

A time for celebration

Great effort by all involved

Caernarfon sunset

There's not too much left to say other than a huge THANK YOU to everyone involved, not least Rob and Ivan, without whom the attempt would not have been successful. All our sponsors and well wishers, the local businesses and friends who supported the challenge, and the team member families who put up with everything over the last few months.

Despite the aches & pains that come with an adventure such as this, all the team feel privileged to take part and will remember the last fews days for many a year.

Maybe the photos and three peaks blog posts have inspired you to take up some walking, or even get involved with our group. The lads above have all said they will continue to enjoy the great outdoors and scenery the UK has to offer, but not against the clock! 

Thanks again for helping us work towards a future free from the fear of breast cancer!

Julies Legacy - Why We Did It

Three Peaks Challenge

Training Update

Kind sponsors

Training Upate - Two Weeks To Go

Three Peaks - Heading North