Three Peaks Challenge 15-16th October 2000 |
The weekend of the 14/15th October was the date we'd set for the Three peaks challenge. This involves climbing the three highest peaks in Scotland , England and Wales so; Ben Nevis, Scafell pike and Snowdon respectively. But you have to do it in 24 hours and then get back down to sea level. Easy huh? Usually people do it with back up teams who drive and cook but hell - we could do it on our own! It all looked so easy on Maps and paper. Pie face (team driver )and the rest of the team, Thian and Pamflett, picked me up from Edinburgh on the Friday afternoon. This was our last stop in civilisation so flasks were packed, maps were bought and we headed off to fort William to begin the first ascent at 3am Saturday morning. The drive was torturous - Piefaces' radio didn't work. It was silence or my own beautiful singing. Anyone knowing the verses to Me and My imagination from GS 98 please leave them in the guestbook. The conditions were cramped in the packed car and disputes rose due to the lyrics "I like bananas monkey nuts and grapes" Pie and Thian suggesting it was "I like ripe bananas monkey nuts and grapes". We still don't know the correct version. We arrived at 10pm in fort william and promptly bought manky fish and chips from the town and set up the tent in the car park where there was to be "Strictly No Camping". Alarm clocks were set for 3am when we would begin the challenge. We woke late at 3am and started the clock at 3:23 as we began up Ben Nevis in the dark. It was a long and gruelling climb but we made quick progress. On the top visibility was down to 10 metres but this didn't hamper us. Unfortunately Pamflett tripped and smashed his torch in the moonlight on the way up but we had reached the Snow driven blooming freezing summit by 6:15am.Very quick photo then get down. As we descended the mist cleared and the sun gradually rose, we could suddenly see everything which was spectacular. On the way down we passed a group ( 400 people) coming up, they were amazed we'd been up already and each of us became particularly bored with having to say hello and good morning to each one of them. Still we reached the bottom of Ben Nevis by 8:40am and set off for Scafell Pike at 9:04am. All four of us had completed the first climb in 5 hours 17 minutes. Injuries: Pamflett had fallen and hurt his knee, and Ian had blisters. Tired Pieface drove an extra 10 miles to Glasgow taking the wrong road. Ten Miles on twisty roads equals a long time. By 11:30am we had stopped just passed Glasgow in a service station. Pie Had the best Coffee he'd ever drunk there and we arrived at Seathwaite at 2:14pm. We figured we'd have to move a bit on this one if we were to stick to our timetable. We climbed quickly to the misty and cold summit and were there by 4:45pm. However Pamflett had worsened his knee slipping on some rocks and, Ian's blisters were still rubbing. Also we failed to find the actual summit trig point due to the mist but knew we were on the summit due to the path layout. Time however couldn't be wasted and we had to get down. We felt we had got to the summit. With Pamfletts bad knee the descent took longer but it could not be helped. We arrived at the car at 7:17pm and there was a discussion as to whether to carry on. Injuries and the lack of time made us look at our options as morale was particularly low, but we decided to go on. We'd come this far - we couldn't turn back. All four had climbed Scafell Pike in 4 hours 53. Injuries: Pamflett felt he would be unable to continue and Pie was inevitably feeling tired. Ian's blisters had worsened and I was beginning to ache. ONWARD. We arrived at Snowdon at 11:25 pm - only 3 hours 58 to complete the challenge. Myself and Thian felt able to walk to the summit and did so in 2 hours 35. We took the miner's track up and down. The sky was clear and I saw several shooting stars, and we looked down from the summit at 2am over clouds towards North Wales. Straight back the way we came but it was all too much. We descended in one hour 54 - 31 minutes too late. A decision was taken not to bother going back to sea level as we could no longer complete the task. We set up the tent in a campsite and fell asleep. We had travelled 628 miles in Pies Crushmobile and climbed the three highest mountains in Britain in 24 hours 30 minutes. The reason why it failed? It just didn't go right on the day - We woke up late and pie said "When this goes wrong they're gonna say "it went wrong from the beginning waking up 20 minutes late" Pie tempted fate, Pamflett hurt his knee, Ian got blisters, Pie got tired and drove the wrong way, I couldn't be bothered. It all adds up. However I'm sure we'll try again (I certainly will) and so long as Pie doesn't doom us from the start all will be well. The Team *John Pie Dawson - team (Racing) driver *Paul Amphlett - Unluckiest team member - If only that fall had happened elsewhere *Ian Corbishley - team Train - Never stops He can only go forward. *Andrew Tognarelli - Team Navigator - remember the summits always around the next bend!! |