18/08/2007 - Mel Moss - Three Peaks

So why did I want to spend a weekend climbing the UK's 3 biggest mountains? To achieve a personal goal and to test the limits of the human body – plus I love a good challenge!

A good friend of mine, Matt and I decided between us this was something we wanted to do – so we set about getting it sorted and recruited 2 more guys, Alex and Gary to join us, plus found a driver, Nils.  As the weeks passed by and the set date became closer, I was pretty concerned about our lack of mountain fitness – I was relying on half-ironman fitness – with the only 'specific' training being a few runs up Beacon Hill! Mistake Number 1! Matt and Gary are both great runners so I knew they'd be quick; Alex is a cricketer so was my only hope of some company on the mountains!

So onto the 24 hour adventure...18th August, we predicted a sunny weekend (it was August..), but we couldn't have been more wrong – it was horrendous, rain, gales, high winds, the lot – just horrible. But there was nothing we could do about the weather, and we weren't prepared to abort the challenge.

So we set off up Snowdon at 10am Saturday morning, and within approx 5 mins everything on me was drenched through to the skin – including all the dry clothes that I carried up with me in my camel pak – Mistake Number 2!   As the 'easiest' mountain of the 3, I should have found Snowdon a comfortable climb – whilst it was the easiest of the 3 in retrospect, it still hurt!  The paths had turned into waterfalls, so the going was tough, slippery and wet and the visibility poor.  But we pressed on as quick as we could safely do so and were up and down in 2 and a half hours, so not bad going- especially as I am a huge wimp running down steep hills, so had to constantly battle with my mind to keep going at faster than my comfortable speed.  Even after the 3rd mountain, it still didn't feel natural to launch yourself down a mountain in heaving rain, gushing wind and poor vis – but we did and I tried my best! (on the way down Snowdon, Matt got asked if he was a member of the police team, so I guess we must've looked serious!)

We then had to change – the thing that cost us more time than we planned for – having to get into dry clothes for each journey (my PJ's – the comfiest clothes going), and changing back into wet clothes for each climb.

North-bound we then traveled in our people carrier – but with 5 sets of kit, and 4 blokes- guess who got wedged in the back middle seat?– yes the only girl!  So in the whole 11 hours of driving, I think I managed an hour and a half of sleep – but hey, sleep is overrated!

We arrived at Scafell just in time to complete before darkness set in, if all went to plan.  Wet clothes back on and we set off for the summit, again in rain and gales. It was climbing up Scafell that I had my lowest points  - my mental grit was weakening on me as my legs were suffering, leading to thoughts of not getting to the top.  But with a bit of support from the guys and a few more jelly babies and haribo sweets, my mood thankfully changed half way up and we continued to plod up the steep steep climb.  The summit presented no time to hang around – again we had no view and time to descend before darkness was against us.  The descent was again tough- very steep and very slippery – so of course I was on my arse more than once (well, closer to about 10 times!).  We just managed to complete before darkness, and dashed to the pub as quick as possible to grab last food orders.  Imagine our despair then when the pub refused to take our order 2 minutes past 9pm – how stingy! We were starving – so had to make do on malt loaf, energy bars etc until we reached a service station 3 hours later!

We had a long journey to Ben Nevis, and in such a beautiful part of the world, it was a real shame we were traveling in darkness and couldn't admire the views (since sleep proved to be so elusive!). We arrived at the bottom of Ben just after 4am and decided it was too dark to begin the climb, so opted to wait for some daylight.  I spent the next 40 minutes in the public toilets trying to dry out some clothes before the climb (incidentally, it didn't do much good but at least my hands were warm!).   We set off the climb up Ben Nevis just gone 5am. When most people do the 3 Peaks, they begin at Ben Nevis – as the tallest mountain, it's one you'd rather do 1st than last as we were.   So with tired and sore legs and no sleep, it wasn't going to be an easy climb; but spirits were high and completion of the challenge didn't seem too far away.

We soon got into a steady pace – Gary was the exception who seemed to have endless amounts of energy left so was quite often ahead of us picking the route.  Climbing up Ben, you have to admire the scale of the mountain range, and ultimately give respect to the beast of the mountain that it is. It goes on forever and ever and ever....  As we felt like we were approaching the summit, we somehow lost the path and ended up scrambling up scree at what felt like a vertical approach.  This scrambling continued for some time and panic was starting to build in me that we would also have to get back down this same route which would have been horrific. But thankfully we found the path again and looked for the summit.  'Oh there it is' – we would say...nope, false summit. Bit further on – 'ok, we're there now' – nope again, false summit again.  Ben Nevis is the biggest tease of a mountain – promising you the top, and then teasing you with yet more rocks to climb before getting there.  

Eventually we summited  - but when we should have felt elation, what we actually felt was anxiety – it had taken us 2 hours 30 to get to the top, a lot longer than we expected – leaving us with just over 2 hours to get back within 24 hours.  We made the decision to run all the way back down  - something that was truly agonising – every step hurt more than the last, my quads specifically were in tremendous pain, making my legs unstable.  This of course led to a few more falls – only one of which hurt when I hit my shin on a rock.  But by then, everything hurt so it didn't make too much difference!  Pure determination got us down that mountain, and I don't remember enjoying anything more than crossing the last bridge and hitting the home soil within the 24 hours.

We finished the challenge in 23 hours and 34 minutes, and estimated that we wasted about 3 hours getting changed and waiting for daylight.  The bottle of champagne back at the car was well deserved – this challenge was by far the hardest and toughest thing both physically and mentally that I have ever done.   It actually took a few days (once the pain had subsided) for the enormity of the task to sink in and the feeling of pride to sweep over me.  I still remain proud of the achievement – as a team we worked so well together, kept each other going and never let the task get us down even when in pain and every part of our bodies were wet and cold – that just added to the challenge and added to the satisfaction of completing it.
     
So now it is a just a fond memory, and the level of pain is almost forgotten.  Would I do it again? Probably, but on 3 conditions:
I'd prepare for it properly – I.e. Climb a few mountains in practise first
Do it in sunny weather
Climb the hardest mountain 1st (Ben Nevis) and the easiest (Snowdon) last

Timings:
10h 00 Snowdon (2h 30 ascent, 1h 10 descent) - 1085m
12h 30 Transition (0h 26)
12h 56 Drive to Scafell (4h 20)
17h 16 Arrive Scafell/ transition (0h 29)
17h 45 Scafell (3h 04, 1h 32 ascent, 1h 32 descent) - 978m
20h 49 Transition (0h 33)
21h 22 Drive to Ben Nevis (6h 49 incl food stop c.0h 45)
04h 13 Arrive Ben Nevis (await light/ transition 0h 59)
05h 12 Ben Nevis (4h 22, 2h 32 ascent, 1h 50 descent) - 1344m
09h 34 Finish
 
Totals:
Trekking/Running/Walking/Climbing/Crawling: 9h 56
Driving: 11h 09 (less about 45 mins for food)
Transitions/ waiting for light: 2h 26

Total: 23h 34m
 

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