The Most Testing 24 Hours of my Life

It is the day after I completed the Three Peaks Challenge. I climbed the three highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales in a respectable time of 23 hours and 33 minutes. Consequently that means I was victorious in completing it in under 24 hours.

It was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most physically and mentally testing thing I have ever done. There will be very few things in my life that will push both my body and my mind to such a limit.

Ben Nevis, Scotland

Our challenge began at Ben Nevis in Scotland at 4:45pm. At 1,344 metres (4,409 ft) it is the highest of the Three Peaks and the highest mountain in the United Kingdom. The unknowing would immediately assume that being the highest, it would be the most difficult. Surprisingly it wasn’t with only one straight forward path up that was fairly busy with other climbers. It was however, tediously long. At several points, I felt a sense of optimism of nearing the summit, only for it to be quashed by the appearance of yet another ascent.

It did however, offer some spectacular views of the many lochs and valleys in the surrounding areas. Such was our energy and excitement of reaching the first peak, we ran down some of the flatter sections of Ben Nevis and arrived back at the car park in just over 4 hours. This put us ahead of schedule.

With Ben Nevis completed, we jumped into our 7 seater VW with Sarah Cheung, our dedicated driver, behind the wheel. From then on, it was a 6 hour drive to Scafell Pike in England. It is at this point in the challenge that most people would try to get as much sleep as possible. However, I can tell you, this is virtually impossible in a cramped VW that is racing down A roads and motorways with a suspension that’s firm enough to break your back. 1 hour of light and highly disturbed sleep was probably the most I managed.

Scafell Pike, England

We arrived at a small village in the Lake District at 3.30am with several other vehicles carrying other Thee Peaks teams arriving. After some last minute stretches and packing of food into our rucksacks, we began the ascent.

Nearing summit of Ben Nevis

I had already read about Scafell Pike being the most difficult peak out of the three mountain, despite being the smallest at 978 metres (3209 ft). They could not be more right. With it being 3.30am, the area was pitch black and the only illumination came from our torches. The first half mile or so involved walking on a narrow path with a steep drop on the right hand side with a gushing river. With our torches providing only enough light to give us 5 metres of visibility, it was a fairly nerve racking start.

Our pace however, meant we caught up with some other Thee Peaks hikers who had stopped to find a way to traverse the gushing river. It was quite apparent that a recent heavy rainfall before we arrived had turned this, normally small stream, into a raging torrent that was quite capable of sweeping away the careless. On top of this, it was the middle of night and so the danger was very evident.

After a moment of discussions with our new friends, we decided to cross. I have to say, despite the water being only a foot deep, the power of it and its freezing temperature was a huge shock to the system. We however, crossed safely.

After a short attempt to squeeze out the water from our boots and socks, we continued on. The ascent up Scafell is a lot steeper than Ben Nevis and really puts a lot of strain on the calves and thighs.

As we neared the summit, dawn was breaking although the area was heavily misted. Alan, who had taken several strong pain killers for muscle pain during the drive, was nauseous and was sick by the path. I was suffering from a caffeine and sugar crash and was highly irratible.

Spectacular Snowdon views

As a whole group, we were mentally and physically exhausted from the steep climb in the dark and the final 500 metres, which involved scrambling up steep and large boulders, pushed us right to the limit.

Quite honestly, in that last thrust to reach the top, I came close to breaking down and collapsing.

I have to say, Scafell Pike is the most unrewarding summit I have ever seen. It is a flat, bleak top made entirely of rocks and boulders, devoid of anything green, and shrouded in a heavy mist; which meant there were no spectacular views on offer like Ben Nevis. Alan quite rightly said that it resembled many people’s idea of limbo.

After taking a few photos, we began our descent. Our haste to get down, our tiredness, and the confusing, desolate summit of Scafell; meant that we took the wrong bearing down and ended up going down an extremely steep, 45 degree slope which was made of up loose rocks and gravel. Had any of us had lost our footing, we could have easily slid all the way down to a cliff edge and that would have been the end of us. Thankfully, we managed to edge ourselves towards a safer section to descend.

Crossing the Scafell river on the descent

After a few moments of map reading and asking fellow hikers, we managed to put ourselves on to the right path back to the van.

A gruelling and wet descend down sharp rocks for an hour and we were back at the car. Almost broken physically and mentally after experiencing what Scafell Pike had thrown at us. I can tell you now, I will never return to that mountain again. Ever.

Because we had got lost briefly during our descent, it meant we no longer had the extra time we had gained from arriving at Scafell early. It was around 8:50am when we set off for our last and final peak, Snowdon in Wales.

Between 8:50am and 1pm, Sarah demonstrated some absolutely brilliant driving skills in order to get us to Wales so we would have enough time to climb Snowdon in under 24 hours.

Snowdon, Wales

Although we had originally chosen to do the Pyg Track path, the extra 20 minutes needed to drive to it meant it was unfeasible. We therefore opted to climb the Llanberis path which was about a mile longer but was slightly easier.

Having already climbed Snowdon for a practice run in the two weeks prior to the challenge, we knew that it was entirely possible to ascend and descend in under 4 hours which meant we would complete the challenge in under 24 hours.

It was tough. Having already climbed two mountains, driven 11 hours and only managed 2 hours sleep each, we were utterly exhausted. But we powered up the mountain via the more touristy Llanberis path with very few breaks and reached the cold, wet, windy summit.

Snowdon is probably the easiest of the three mountains to climb if you take the popular Llanberis path, but it is still by no means easy with a steep beginning and end section and highly changeable north Wales weather; which was wet and rainy during our ascent, but dry and sunny during the climb down.

At the top of Snowdon

Our descent was rapid as we skipped and jogged down certain sections to make up time at the risk of destroying our knees.

We were all in pain, tired and reeking of sweat. But we made it to the bottom at 4:18pm. This gave us a time of 23 hours and 33 minutes. We were victorious! I had gone through blood, sweat and tears and near mental breakdown, but we had succeeded and the sense of achievement was simply amazing.


What I learnt from the Three Peaks Challenge

• Copious amounts of Haribo and Percy Pigs will keep you going up a mountain.
  


• No matter how much you stretch, you will still feel like you’ve been on the receiving end of a vicious beating the next day.
  


• Scafell Pike is definitely the most unkind, most testing and most unrewarding mountain out of the three. It can make or break men.
  


• It is not possible to finish the challenge in under 24 hours if you stick to the speed limit.
  


• Mental strength plays a much bigger role than I thought.
  


• Sarah Cheung, our driver, is good enough to drive on the Red Bull F1 team.