National 3 Peaks Challenge (Scotland, England, and Wales) - July 12th-13th, 2009

Before Eric and I left NY, we had bought used bikes (more like 80s ten-speeds) from a tiny repair shop in Brooklyn in anticipation of doing a few triathlons. Once we arrived here, we soon realized that the bikes would not be good decor for our guest bathroom and that leaving them out in the ever-changing elements would quickly make them unsafe for riding.

The whole group in good spirits at the top of Ben Nevis

Once the hopes of competing in triathlons were shot and my ability to run proved feeble, we decided to climb some mountains. One of Eric’s colleagues told him about this challenge called the National 3 Peaks. The National 3 peaks challenge is basically attempting to climb the three tallest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales in under 24 hours. It was intriguing, and we knew it would give us the chance to see some new areas of the UK (which we are not so good at travelling to) so we decided to join the team.

The team consisted of 11 team members, some of our friends, friends of friends and then a work colleague of mine and her siblings, all led by Eric’s work colleague.

Jon (Eric’s work colleague) had organized the trip and hired a pair of trained guides who acted as our drivers for the weekend. They were professional guides who made sure we were driven between the mountains, fed, and remained safe throughout the journey.

We all flew up to Glasgow on Saturday morning and began the 1.5 drive to Ben Nevis – our first point of ascent. After a pub lunch and a stop at Morrison’s for some last minute supplies, we were given a map, an emergency tent, and snacks consisting of Scotch eggs, pork pies, and sausage rolls, chips and chocolate bar. We later found that this was our breakfast and lunch on each of the mountains.

The weather forecast for much of the weekend was rain and windy, some torrential. However, as we began to climb Ben Nevis, the temperature was warm and soon our layers began coming off. The incline was quite steep at the beginning and reminded me a lot of the climb on Table Mountain with big boulders forming the steps. About halfway up, the climb became a bit more of a steady incline, but the drops to the right of us just kept getting scarier and scarier. The pace was slow, but steady but soon the group split into two based on speed. We regrouped near the top and decided to push for the summit all together. Once we got above the grass line, the views were spectacular. The sun was slowing starting to set and was casting the most breathtaking reflections on the lake down below.

As we got closer and closer to the top, there were about 4 false summits that toyed with us, the weather began to get very cold, very windy and very blustery. We scaled a snow patch and a few winding paths before making our way to the top. We celebrated at the peak for about 10 minutes, took the obligatory group photo before heading down. We had about a half hour’s time to make up as the estimate climbing time to the top was 3 hours. Fun fact: both a piano and a Model T Ford have been brought to the top of the summit.

Should have spent less time taking pictures
and more time hiking

The descent was thought to be much easier than the ascent so we figured we could get down in about an hour and a half which would have been ideal since it was getting dark. About a quarter of the way down the mountain the ‘fast’ group took off and said they would meet us at the bottom. The ‘slower’ group, which we were hanging back with, were really angered by this and cursed the other group the entire way down. Unfortunately, we didn’t pick up the pace much and ended up finishing the last hour or so in the dark. Luckily, head lamps had been packed so those helped us get down. Oh yeah, did I mention that the ‘fast’ group took the map with them? Yeah, pretty sweet.

The Boulder field near the top of Scafell Pike

We made it down the mountain and met up with the other group at the van after about 3 hours which brought the total time of the climb to 6.5 hours (the approximate time it was supposed to take was 5). Dinner was provided by the drivers and consisted of rice with either boiled Bolognese or stew. Although I wasn’t really hungry, I forced down the food since I hadn’t had much of the ‘snacks’ that we had been provided before we started the climb. After a quick change, we all started to doze while the drivers began the trip to Scafell Pike in the lake district of England.

I’m not sure about anyone else, but I was able to sleep relatively well between mountains. The journey time was estimated at 4 hours, but it took us 6 (because of bad weather) so we ended up starting the second mountain an hour and a half behind schedule. The 24 hour goal wasn’t looking too promising. And, oh, did I mention that it was raining, hard?

We thought we would get breakfast when we got out of the van, but we were sent up the mountain with baggies of the same range of pork products and snacks from climb number 1.

Scafell Pike proved to be a much more technical climb. In the rain and wind, we traversed waterfalls, scaled rocks, crossed streams, and navigated boulder fields. There was one section in particular about 30 minutes from the summit where we were climbing up a 60 degree incline on really slippery shale near an edge in blustery conditions. I feared the descent and thought for sure I was going to fall off the side. Once the ‘slow’ group made it up this part of the mountain, the fast group was nowhere in sight. It was very misty and foggy as we were in a cloud, and the fast group had taken the only compass and map. Luckily we each had a radio so we called the fast group for directions. Good teamwork, guys.

As soon as we made it to the top, we basically touched the point on the summit and started our descent. It was really cold up at the top of the mountain, and we just wanted to get the heck out of there. The descent was much like the ascent, very slow , very wet and very technical. It took us about 7 hours to climb this mountain; it was a bit frustrating with how slow we were going and how that 24 hour mark was now pretty much impossible. Oh yeah, and the fast group took off and left us yet again.

Soaked, and just starting our second climb

We drove to the final peak in Wales – Snowdon, and were going to begin climbing it at the 24 hour mark so that challenge had proved too much for our group. Our next goal was just to summit the 3 peaks. We arrived at Snowdon and we all started the climb together - all 11 of us. Supposedly, this is the easiest of the three mountains, can be climbed in about 4 hours and has a path where you can even ride up the mountain. (I’m still very sceptical of that).

The first 3 miles or so of the climb is a relatively flat marked path that is easy and where you can go quickly. Unfortunately, and almost immediately the groups split and the fast group took off with the map and compass, again. We walked to a point where you had to walk straight up over this rocky waterfall thing and it was at that point where we couldn’t' see the rest of our slower group so we decided to wait for them while the fast group took off out of sight.

I had two wicked blisters at this point, but not even those two open wounds rubbing on wet leather were going to stop me from summiting this 3rd and final mountain. Once the slower group caught up, we tried to follow another group in hopes finding the summit since we had nothing to guide us there.

We carried on following these people for another 10 minutes or so but then they were too quick and got away. Eric went ahead a bit to see if he could see our group and see if they were waiting for us over the ridge, but they were gone. This time, they had officially ditched us. At this point, two people were coming down and stopped to tell us what it was like on the summit, about how far it was, and if we would be able to navigate our way there without the necessary navigational tools. Apparently, we were only a mile from the summit, but one of our team members wasn’t feeling great, and with the terrain we had just crossed, we would have never been able to summit and then come down the mountain in the dark safely and we would have likely been coming the entire length of the mountain (about 2.5 hours worth) down in the dark and wet, and it would have been really scary.
It was at this point that the decision was made to turn around and start our descent without having reached the top. I cried a little (because I knew we were 110% capable of succeeding), but then sucked it up and started walking down.

Once we got to the bottom, the other group appeared about a half hour later. They had summited and of course said it was hard and it was probably better that we hadn't tried. I wanted to kick them all in the face. It was then that Lucy starting puking regularly (from food poisoning we are guessing) and continued to do so about 13 more times on the 5 hour drive back to London in a wet, cramped hot van. We arrived back to London at 5 a.m. on Monday morning. We slept for 3 hours and got into work at 9:30. It was a long, rough day at work, but overall wasn’t feeling too bad.

Given the circumstances and the terrible team dynamic, it was an experience. But, all that aside, I loved the challenge (both mentally and physically and the scenery and would happily do it again in the future. I know that we can summit those mountains, and possibly in 24 hours so I’m determined to try one more time.

Pics of the experience can be found here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=hj0zhyv.9ifi5ehr&x=0&y=epxdyu&localeid=en_US