Hiking 26 miles up almost 1,200 ft of mountain, driving close to 900 miles, surviving almost exclusively on chocolate and just two hours sleep, all in 24 hours – it’s hard to choose the most discomforting, but all were worth enduring, simultaneously, to achieve the coveted self-proclaimed title of Three Peaks Conqueror.It was with this determination that myself and fellow fool/brave adventurer Steven Cockburn, 24, from Cheshire, set off to achieve the goal on May 29, largely spurred on by our failure to do so eight months earlier. That time, poor timing had seen us make the error of attempting to climb one of the mountains in the dark, which resulted in us getting lost and being forced to abort.
This time, the plan was much clearer – we would leave my second home of Cheshire at 10am, arriving to start the tallest of the peaks, Ben Nevis, in the Scottish Highlands, at 5pm. We would leave there at 10pm, just before sunset, arriving at the second, Cumbria’s Scafell Pike, at 4am. Completing that in four hours would give us five hours to reach Snowdon and four hours to do the hike and make our 24 hour target.
The quest began well, as we reached Fort William around 4.15pm, giving us time to enjoy a McDonald’s before pulling up by the mountain. At 4,409 ft high, Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in Britain, and with the ten mile walk starting from almost sea level is also the furthest hike.The route first ascends steeply up a hill, and then around the corner where the view of the mountain and a loch come into view. It then ascends into the cloud, where we were greeted with increasing bemusement from people about us wearing shorts, warning us about the snow, gales force winds and minus 15 temperatures at the summit.
The snow did come, as did the hale and strong winds, but we persevered, and my poncho did a surprisingly good job of keeping me warm. After touching the summit and having a sip of champagne from two women attempting the same challenge – because of the times of day of the first two times, most people were met were all attempting the same challenge.
We began to descend and gradually get feeling back into our fingers. We did get a little lost taking the wrong route at the bottom, but followed the river to reach the car by 10.20pm.The drive to Scafell Pike was long – I did the first half, snaking through the Highland roads and pouring rain, though I was glad we had only had light showers on the climb and not the heavy rain we drove through. As the car radio battled to find a signal, we were consigned to BBC Radio 4, which abandoned us to BBC World Service at around 1am.
Steve did the remaining half of the drive, snaking through the hairpin turns and blind bridges that lead to the Wasdale Head route up Scafell Pike. When we arrived at 3.45am it was so light we did not need torches. At 3,209 ft high, Scafell Pike is the smallest of the mountains, but certainly the most difficult.
The path first snakes around and up the hillside, all the while with a stream running down it, before disappearing altogether over a large patch of rocks. We found ourselves annoyed to lose the path again, though fortunately not as catastrophically as during our last attempt, and we soon resumed and made good progress. Once in the clouds the path seemed eternal, but we finally reached the top and could start our descent. The way down was hard as the path was steep, slippery and rugged, but once we cleared the mist we were welcomed to a beautiful view of Wastwater and continued to make good time.
I now took up the mantle of driving back to Cheshire (where we got a lift to Snowdon), this time being consigned to Radio 2 for the tricky drive through Cumbria, consisting almost exclusively of single-track lanes and blind hills/bridges followed by hairpin turns. The danger now was that we felt the task was completed – Scafell Pike had been our biggest adversary, and with the that in the bag we perhaps became a little complacent about the 3,560 ft high Snowdon.We started that hike shortly before 1pm, already at some height on the Miners’ Track, and the first two miles were deceptively flat and smooth. However, things soon got harder – the path started to climb, and then there was almost two miles of steep climbing, mixing hill walking with scrambling.
The path to the summit smoothed off, but we were both drained. Snowdon was the only hike where we could actually see the peak long before reaching it. The train rode past as a tempting reminder for an alternate way down, and we finally had a view of more than just cloud and mist. Unfortunately, this enabled us to see just how far down and away we had to go back, in just under two hours.
The climb down was slow, as it was steep and perilous, but we were careful not to rush. We chatted to a fellow Three Peaks group, who had started an hour ahead of us, so we knew we were making good time.After clearing the sharp and steep part though we could look forward to the smooth beginning, which enabled us to squeeze the last bit of energy from tired legs and reach the car park 23 hours and 45 minutes after we had set off up Ben Nevis. From there, it was a short drive home to enjoy a proper meal and then the arduous hike up the stairs for two nights’ worth of sleep.
