The Forum of Benfleet Running Club

mikey · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:19 pm Post subject: 3 Peaks Challenge 2009

3 Peaks Challenge 2009

Ben Nevis
Scarfell Pike
Snowndon

Climb the highest peaks in England , Scotland & Wales within 24 Hours !

On the weekend of July 11th / 12th a team of us will be attempting this

Itinerary :

Friday Evening : Travel half way to Scotland
Saturday morning : Finish journey to Fort William

Saturday Evening : Climb Ben Nevis
Saturday Night / Sunday Morning : Drive to Lake District

Sunday Morning : Climb Scarfell Pike
Sunday Morning : Drive to North Wales
Sunday Afternoon : Climb Snowndon

Aim to get back to the car park at Snowdon within 24 hours of leaving the car park at Ben Nevis

Teams of 3 / 4 people

Interested In Making Up A Team & Joining Us ?

Talk to Mike for more details

Jez · #2 Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 291 Location: Eastwood

I wish I had known ,I have signed up to do the same on the weekend of 6 /7th June.

Anyone who has experience of doing this if they can leave a message with any tips/advice.

Good luck Mikey hope you get a team, its sounds great fun!
_________________
Jez

www.justjez.co.uk

mikey · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:09 pm Post subject:

Hi Jez

Already got a team thanks

Myself
Caroline
Alison Horsley

Just seeing if anyone else wanted to join us

I've already done this in the past ....
What do you want to know ?

Is your event, an organized charity run ?

Graham · #3 Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 395

Ahh, and I was gonna ask if team renegade for hire fancied another run out!

Very interested. Stef - you out there? Stu? Meady? Toddy? Maybe some of the older gents, Colin, Andy M? Or the Young Pup? Can take me campervan....home comforts boys.

Stu · #1 Joined: 01 Mar 2007 Posts: 40

I am very interested. Let me know more details please.

mattcops · Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 20 Location: Thunderlsey

alright graham if you need anyone for a team i'd be up for it

let me know

see you

Matt

Mike Mason · #7 Joined: 02 Jun 2006 Posts: 1055 Location: Hockley

Did many moons ago with a group from Land Rover in Gaydon. Can remember the first climb of Ben Nevis (midges). The car journey to Scafell cramping up with people moaning about the smell of feet.

The climb of Scafell for many years my nemesis climb....don't remember Snowdon too much. Can remember fog and faffing about in car for kit.

Make sure you have good headtorch, poles a real asset and be prepared for a great 24 hours ...much pain for the next week....good memories......
_________________
'sometimes I am running so fast it appears that rocks and trees are standing still......' 'I may be slow, but you are ugly and I can train harder.' '90% is mental, the other half is physical'it's going to get a lot worse, before it gets worse'.

Graham · #3 Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 395

Matt - welcome aboard. Team of three - me U and Stu. Will chat at the club and liaise with the big man to see what we need to sort out. Think a planning session down the Hoy might be in order. Michelle the landlady did it last year so we can pick her brain whilst ordering loads of real ale!!!

mattcops · Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 20 Location: Thunderlsey

I may have to do the 3 peaks drunk as the 11th of july is my Birthday!!!!!

MikeBriggs · #1 Joined: 26 Feb 2009 Posts: 45

I'm trying to work this out in my head of how this would even be possible!! I'm happy at sea level, good luck gents

mikey · Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:58 pm Post subject:

Hi Mike

Remember these wise words

“You can never tell what you’re truly capable off – Until you’ve tried it first”

Take Graham as your example

Teams of 3 / 4

Could still be a spot for a young pup if you get in quick

JBD · #3 Joined: 15 Sep 2007 Posts: 317

mikey · Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 5:12 pm Post subject:

The Plan

Each team is totally independent of all the other teams

They plan the route ( Both driving & climbing )
They decide at what time in the evening to leave the car park at the foot of Ben Nevis
Its their responsibility to look after themselves at all times
As soon as they finish a hill they can move onto the next
( no waiting for everyone else to finish )

Each team will have a minimum kit list which they must take with them onto the hills
( To be developed )

Each team must have some mountain experience
As they will need to navigate their way up Scarfell, and they will need to be confident about making safety calls on the hills.

Teams of 3 to 4 people
Minimum of 3 team members on the hills at any time for safety reasons

If everyone in the team is climbing, then they must share the driving between the hills
Note : You could have a team of 4 with 3 climbers and 1 dedicated driver

What I will provide

I will book accommodation for everyone for the Friday overnight stop & the Sunday celebration night

I will give advice / route plans for the best routes up the hills ( especially Scarfell )
But you will still need to carry o/s maps, and know how to use them.

mikey · Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:13 pm Post subject:

For those planning to do the 3 Peaks, you will need to have maps of all 3 mountains.

Would need at least 2 sets per team, ideally every member would have maps.

I’ve found this link which you might find useful

http://www.harveymaps.co.uk/acatalog/Three_Peaks_map_set.html

Harvey’s maps are excellent for mountain navigation ....
These are the maps I'll be using on the day.

We will need to firm up the details pretty quickly

So if you're part of an interested team get in touch, and we're sort out a meeting to iron things out

Almost certainly down the Hoy .....

Mikey

Graham · #3 Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 395

Inspired by Kieron’s fine reporting skills I thought I’d dip my toe into the blogging world….

All I can say is I’m glad there wasn’t a girls team present to kick our asses. Neither team managed the challenge in less than 24 hours. Can’t speak for Mike, Pete and Alison but Steve, Matt and I had a great laugh although we ultimately failed. This was not a result of poor fitness or endurance but of a complete and utter lack of basic map reading skills and ludicrously bad admin.

Glorious weather saw us start at the foot of Ben Nevis Sat afternoon. The rain we’d been promised failed to materialise and the temperature in town hit 23 degrees. Perfect. A quick beer to celebrate Matt’s birthday and we were off. We raced up and down in great time, around 3 hours 20, stopping only for a brief snowball fight and the opportunity to make a snow angel in nothing but a pair of high cut running shorts. Unfortunately I’d forgotten to brim the van with petrol before kick off and we spent a bit of our hard earned time searching down an open garage in Fort William. It was Saturday evening for crying out loud, why was everything shut? Stopping for a cup of tea after and paddle in a Loch was probably with hindsight a little ill-advised. Who was the American poet who wrote “Time is the fire in which we all burn”? By the time I’d driven us out of Scotland via a cheeky little entirely intentional sight seeing detour through Stirling it was safe to say we were no longer ahead of schedule. Still, we arrived at the foot of Scafell in good spirits and in no way daunted by the driving rain and howling wind. Some forty minutes after parking we finally got out of the van. Between Steve not being able to find his hat, Matt searching for a missing glove and me trying to locate my head torch we’d fallen even further behind. The irony was we spent so long looking for the flipping torch that by time we started dawn had pretty much broken and the thing was useless. We all vowed to prep our bags for Snowdon during the next driving stage and try and keep the van a bit tidier. We were unperturbed. We’re all athletes, we’d be up and down Scafell in no time and be back way ahead of our target time.

I won’t bore you with the full details, but we were useless. Completely. Visibility was non existent and at no point did it stop raining so we had to rely on a map and a compass to find our way, which is not good if you dont know where you are on the map. Clueless at best we got completely lost and spent nearly seven hours running around like headless chickens, scrambling up and down ravines and clinging to the side of the mountain in high winds wondering where it all went wrong. We scaled the wrong peak and only managed to summit Scafell when we happened across a local emerging across a boulder field from the fog who was marshalling a corporate challenge. We thankfully tacked onto him and he even kindly pointed out the path down. Due to the visibility we still managed to descend half way down the wrong side of the mountain before pulling a U turn and scrambling back to the summit before going down the correct path. I am sure our marshalling saviour was laughing inwardly when he saw us for the second time well over an hour later asking for the same directions again. I was too embarrassed and left it to Steve whilst I hid behind a cairn. Still, on the plus side when Matt is cold, wet, miserable, lost and a bit despondent he does actually stop talking. 3 hours without uttering a word must be Copp’s record. I’m not counting the hissy fit buddy as I promised I wouldn’t mention it.

By the time we got to the car park at Snowdon we knew the game was up. We’d had a good drive, packed our bags en route, Steve had grabbed some precious hours sleep giving us a respite from his unbelievably awful singing voice and Matt’s spirits and sugar levels had been lifted back from the depths by a portion of sausage and chips. But we weren’t going to get up and down in 90 minutes. Still, I set the boys a hard pace and we smiled at and greeted all the people coming down to complete the challenge well inside 24 hours. Most of them we’d left for dead on the slopes of Ben Nevis but it’s not all about leg speed. We made the round trip in sub three hours and a case of what might have been. A perfect example of the tortoise and the hare parable played out in reality. Aesop was no doubt smiling in his grave.

For me personally it was a great 25 and a bit hours. I wanted to spend as much time as possible on my feet without sleep as prep for the Oner in 3 weeks, so the Scafell debacle arguably worked in my favour. Matt and Steve are great company, both really good value and we learned some valuable lessons. Next year Team Tall will rise again, hopefully Steve’s gaping and seeping blister will have recovered by then - and we’ll nail it!

bobby · #2 Joined: 06 Apr 2008 Posts: 257

If you'd have waited till next week you could have watched Julia Bradbury on Wainwrights walks telling you exactly the right route up Scafell. Never mind. Well done anyway. I am sure you probably spent more time laughing than running which can only be a good thing.

mikey · Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 2:27 pm Post subject:

3 Peaks Report

Firstly thanks to everyone for a fantastic weekend. Ultimately we all failed in the challenge, but think we had an enjoyable time doing it !!

You’ve already read Graham’s report, so onto the experienced team’s report

Well when I say experienced, really we were semi-experienced as Alison had never been out of England, nor seen a mountain before this weekend.

We had a relaxed trip up on Friday, stopping off overnight in the lakes, finally making it up to Fort William early Saturday afternoon. A quick Pub lunch consisting of Haggis, Tatties and onion gravy washed down with a Guinness and I was ready to go. Alison and Pete didn’t go for the haggis option, as apparently its an acquired taste.

We got to the foot of Ben Nevis for 5:00 and were ready for the off @ 5:40 ….
Let the challenge begin

Both teams started together. As we walked along the path, it was an impressive sight watching the tall team running away from us up the hill, we weren’t to see them for another 2 hours. Having climbed a couple of hundred meters we had our first incident, Pete realized he’d left his walking sticks by the car !

Alison and I waited by the side of the path whilst Pete ran back down, and power walked back to us. This cost us dear, not in the 20 minutes or so it took for Pete to get back, but more in the effort it took out of Pete. In his anxiety not to let us down, unfortunately he had totally wiped himself out on the first few hundred meters of a 1300m climb ! For the rest of the time Pete really struggled, at times thinking he really wasn’t going to make it, but full marks for his grit and determination, although he looked like death warmed up 3 hours later we we’re at the top.

In contrast Alison breezed up, wondering what all the fuss was about. Its amazing what an adrenaline rush you get from reaching the top. Pete perked up considerably, and we started a quick decent down the Ben. Alison was pushing on with her new found mountain confidence, and we trotted along behind. Now there’s a saying that you should never take the mountain for granted, as it will surly rise up and bite you in the bum. Well Alison was to find this out first hand. She didn’t get bitten, but the Ben did trip her up, roll her down the path, and then slapped her around the face …. Ouch !!

No tear’s, but a lesson learned, we patched Alison up as best we could then set off again. Alison still lead the pack, but with a little more respect for the mountain gods, we followed on behind. A few minutes latter she stopped again and asked if she was alright ? Apparently people coming up the hill we’re looking at her funny. We said she looked fantastic, but did point out that she had blood dripping off her chin ! Not a good look apparently! Luckily the flow was beginning to slow, and this time we managed to stop it completely. The rest of the decent was incident free, and we returned to the car park with tired legs but really buzzing from the fantastic views we had on the way down as we watched the sun set over the Scottish mountains and locks.
We shared the driving down to the lakes and our next target Scarfell Pike. On the way getting hit by the torrential rain that had been initially forecasted for our trip up the Ben . Although we were happy that we had a clear run up Ben Nevis, it was looking like a very wet walk to Scarfell … and so it turned out to be.

We arrived around 3:00 in the morning, just as it was beginning to get light, slipped on our wet weather gear and we were off. Everything started off ok, Pete and myself striding out, Alison skipping between the puddles trying to keep her boots dry. The higher we went the wilder the weather got, and the tougher the terrain. We took the corridor route up Scarfell which is a little exposed in places, certainly made me think once or twice, Pete didn’t like some of it, and it absolutely terrified Alison !! But full marks to Alison, despite never being so scared in her life, she made it over everything, and we summited in good spirits. The journey down was pretty much the same, although we had to take care over the trickier stuff, as we we’re getting fatigued.

By the time we got back to the car, it was clear that the 24 hour target was out of the window, but we decided to push on. It looked like we could get onto Snowdon within the time, then it would be a case of seeing how overdue we would be.

Driving to North Wales was interesting, we all took it in turn sleeping, driving, and navigating. But the lack of sleep was catching up on us. We were doing driving stints of 1.5 hours, with a navigator keeping the driver engaged and awake, whilst the 3rd member slept in the back. At one point Alison fell asleep mid sentence, luckily she was only navigating at the time !

We made our 24 hour target, getting into the car park at the foot of Snowdon for 5:30, a full 10 minutes ahead of the new schedule. Pete needed to go home with Graham, so we had arranged to meet up in the hotel for 10:00, this left us 5 hours to get up and back. We were encouraged that Grahams van was still in the car park, so they weren’t too far ahead of us. The Miners track has a very easy smooth start to it, then it kicks up very sharply. It was this kick that finally did for us, unfortunately it was very rough and a bit exposed in places. Alison’s legs were shot, and she didn’t feel at all comfortable, in fact she was scared witless for the second time in the same day !!

Again, full marks to Alison, as we picked our way slowly up the boulder field, she never quit on us. However, time was against us, we had agreed to met up with Graham for 10:00 and it was getting dark. Three quarters of the way up Snowdon we had to make the agonizing decision to turn back. A good call as it turned out, as we were even slower on the way back, the whole 39 hours awake and counting, was dragging us down. But we were still in good spirits.

We walked back into the car park for 10:00 and Pete Graham and Matt were on the road home for 11:00. That just left Alison , Steve, and myself. We were all buzzing from a fantastic event, and decided to shower and met back for a quick drink in the bar. Trouble was with the random sleep patterns we had had our body clocks we’re all over the place. We were happily chatting away on our 2nd round of drinks when we realized it was 2am in the morning ,and we had been on the go for 42 hours with minimal sleep !!
Decided we’d better go to bed if we we’re going to make it up for breakfast

All in all, a fantastic weekend, I couldn’t have wished for a better team, and the good news is that as we all failed in the challenge , we will be back !!!

If you fancy joining us next year look out for a notice on the wall

Karl C · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:18 am Post subject:

Great reports guys...inspirational for 2010..may just join you, anyone thinking of teaming up ?

I have all the necessary creditials:
fall over a lot and can't read a map.

Seriously, I am thinking of doing this next year..anyone else care to share 24 hrs of your life ?

mike s · #1 Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 37 Location: Rayleigh

I would like to do this next year done lots of walking up snowdon under guidance so only fair to be guided up and down the other 2.

gmike · #2 Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 259 Location: Benfleet

Well Done All, stirling effort

Karl,

I'd definately be up for a go at this next year .. where do I sign

I'm sure my excellent navigational skills, as demonstrated in Paris this year, will be an asset to the team

rgds

Mike Grout.
"Pointing and Talking English Loudly (in slight French Accent)" Level 1
"Google Translator via Mobile" Level 2
"Wander Round till You Find It" Level 5 with honours

bobby · #2 Joined: 06 Apr 2008 Posts: 257

Be careful what you sign up for, because looking at the pictures you have to do this event with your tongue hanging out, and I don't mean your shoes. Why?