3 Peaks Report
While most the country was baking in a climate so hot that that MET Office issued a severe weather warning, in North West Scotland the warning was for heavy rain and very high winds. Mindful of the forecast, the gathering clouds were hardly a welcoming sight for us as we arrived in Fort William for Stage 1 of the 3 Peaks Challenge; a 1,344 meter climb up Ben Nevis.
The walkers started up ‘the Ben’ at 5pm as planned and were in good spirits making good time. However the expected rain began about 15 minutes later and quickly turned very heavy. It was at this point both tracking devices failed with water damage as the team’s water proof jackets and bags gave in under the force of the wind driven torrent. Apologies for any disappointment caused by this!
While other teams where being pulled off the mountain by the RAF Search and Rescue Helicopter (only feet in front of our guys at one point) our guys soldiered on and completed Stage 1 in around 7 hours finishing saturated and cold in the dark mist.
The overnight drive through the highlands was perilous and unavoidably slow particularly at Glen Coe which had begun to flood and so our hope to complete in under 24hrs was already looking out of our reach. Despite this disappointment, the walkers felt it was right to honour all those who had so kindly sponsored us and so we headed down the M6 for Scafell Pike in the Lake District.
On arrival at the foot of Scafell at 7:30am we were greeted by worse conditions than those at Ben Nevis. Aborting the challenge as this stage was discussed but as members of other teams began to drop out every member of the 6 person strong Wirral YFC walking team pulled on their drenched gear, stocked up on Mars Bars and set off in to the gale-force winds and horizontal rain.
Just over three hours later the walkers reached the summit of Scafell and after a brief rest at the top they returned back down for the journey to Snowdon in North Wales. Although 24hrs was now impossible we headed to Snowdonia feeling proud that the walkers had managed to complete 2 of the 3 peaks in conditions were most other would have simply given up.
As we drove along the A55 and in to Snowdonia the foreboding peak of Snowdon became clear and we all breathed a sigh of relief on discovering that the top was clear of cloud and rain. Taking the Pyg path the walkers set off up their last peak. Sam and Richard Williams reached the top in a stunningly fast time and still had the energy to run the last mile of the Miner’s path back to the minibus hurdling the car park gate to finish in a total time of just over 29 hours. Given the conditions this was simply incredible!
Sarah Hockley and Christine Rushworth arrived around an hour later after a mammoth effort and finally Brendan Gillooliy and Joel Hockley arrived to great applause with heads held high as darkness set in.
The whole team worked so hard and while we would have liked to have completed the challenge in under 24hrs we are all still very pleased. It is a huge achievement to climb one of the peaks individually; to climb all three in 30 hours in horrendous conditions is amazing.
A huge thank you to all who sponsored to walkers and helped us raise nearly £3000 to take good news relevantly to more young people in Wirral. If you have not yet sponsored the team and would like to please do get in touch.
Pictures to follow shortly!
