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The National Three Peaks: Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24 Hours
We'd been planning this for months, and trying to get in shape for it by doing trial runs of the three hills involved plus training at work by climbing the 11 flights of stairs at the eastern end of the new block. One set of 11 flights, up and down, was called a 'Jaswant' and ten Jaswants was an 'Alan'. Ten Alans, theoretically, was a 'Martin' but no-one ever got to those heady heights. I think the record was 34 Jaswants, done, of course, by Jaswant. It took him 71 minutes. Anyway we had done our best to get fit enough for the challenge, involving as it did about 22 miles and 10,000 feet of ascent/descent, plus a drive of over 450 miles all inside 24 hours. The challenged were myself, Jaswant, Martin, Scott and Graham, plus Dave who had generously agreed to drive the minibus for us.
The weather forecast hadn't been great but all the leave and accommodation and van were booked so there wasn't much option for flexibility. Accordingly we met up at 7.30 on Saturday and set off north for Aviemore where we were staying. We would have stayed in Fort William itself, the logical place, but the Mountain Biking World Cup was taking place that weekend and the place was full up. Instead we were booked into Aviemore Youth Hostel. We arrived there in under 10 hours and were all shoved into one rather cramped room containing six bunk beds. Had a couple of games of pool at the YH, on a table patched with duct tape, then wandered out in search of food and mayhem.
We had a meal at a place called RD's Bar and Bistro just beyond the Mountain Café which I'd breakfasted at back in 2006. The Bistro too had a pool table so we had a couple more games there then wandered back. It was still early though and some of us fancied another drink so five of us called in at a big pub called the Cairngorm Hotel while Jas, concerned about proper preparation for the day ahead, returned to the YH for an early night. In the bar of the hotel a burly old boy called Gilly was playing a guitar and bawling out 'Whisky in the Jar' and suchlike. When I came back to the table after a break there was a young, slightly drunken biker talking to the others and airing his grievance about an encounter with a jeep on the road earlier in the day. It seemed he had gone round a corner on his bike and met a jeep coming the other way, resulting in a wobble and a fall which had damaged his leathers.
'Who's this anyway?' asked the biker at this point, indicating Graham. 'Oh, his name is Graham,' said Dave helpfully before adding completely untruthfully, 'he drives a jeep.' It was quite funny at the time as Graham rapidly tried to deny all knowledge of jeeps but I don't think the biker had made the connection with his jeep driver. Instead he began to take a philosophical line, saying 'never mind, who'll actually give a fuck about it in 20 years? Who'll give a fuck about it in 10 years?' To which Martin replied, quick as a flash, 'well I don't give a fuck about it now!' A slightly risky reply but it was well received and got a laugh. Shortly after that a small drunken Scot called Robbie (I think) was encouraged by someone in the crowd to do a dance. He did a bit of a shuffle and then a few minutes later decided to involve Martin in the action. The first thing Martin knew about it was being seized round the neck by Robbie and dragged/hauled backwards and upwards. It didn't look very comfortable but after a bit of a fandango all was well and we all got back to drinking.
Back at the YH about 11.00 and a patchy night's sleep. Getting a bit nervous now. The next day we had breakfast at the Mountain Café. Prices had gone up since I was last there and the all-day veggy breakfast was now £8 which seemed like a lot for breakfast. I had porridge with honey, berries and raspberry coulis, plus toast and coffee instead. There was a lot of porridge and it filled me up. We then drove west to Fort William, stopping on the way to look at the Laggan Dam and the Spean Bridge Commando Memorial. The plan was to eat at 2.00 but when we finally did eat, about 2.30 I still wasn't hungry because of all the porridge and had difficulty finishing the beanburger and chips I got at the Grog and Gruel. All day the weather had been fine but towards the off it clouded up a bit more. We kitted up in the Tourist Information car park and drove to the Youth Hostel in Glen Nevis. It still wasn't 17.00 but we were too fired up by now to wait any longer so we had the group photo and then set off at 16.50.
There was a bit of a shower as we climbed up the lower slopes of the Ben but that passed and after that the weather for the rest of the outing on all three mountains was good. Saw a couple of other groups of Three-Peakers en route plus a couple of mountain bikers coming down - it didn't look easy. Also a mountain biker pushing his bike up. I said 'You must be a masochist.' To which he replied 'I couldn't find anywhere to leave it at the bottom.' We got to the top at 19.15 - a good time, I thought. Still some snow at the top but for the first time in 5 visits it was clear of the clouds and dry. Nice to see the views and look out over the impressive, snow-corniced northern cliffs. We didn't stay long though and after a few photos were on our way again.
Back down by the Youth Hostel at 21.12 only to find no sign of Dave and the minibus. We rang him up only to get a voice mail message and meanwhile the local midges had put in an appearance and were enthusiastically mobbing us as we futilely jabbed at our phones. We lost about 10 minutes then before Dave turned up - Jas had found him in a layby a bit further up the road. From Fort William we drove through the night towards the Lake District and shortly after setting off I tried the first of my 'Hotcans'. These were self-heating canned meals, supposedly used by the armed forces, which we'd bought off the internet at £4 per can. I'd ordered 2 veg curries and the others had various other options. I pierced the top of the can to set off the chemical reaction that warmed it up and after about 10 minutes I guzzled the mush down. I was quite hungry and it all went down ok, along with a bread roll and cheese & a yoghurt. After that I managed to doze off a bit from time to time as Dave drove along, taking the Stirling route from Crianlarich instead of my usual Loch Lomond route. We reached Wasdale Head at about 3.15, kitted up and set off in the dark at 3.30 with our headtorches lighting the way. Up ahead there were occasional flashes from the torches of some other climbers higher on the slopes.
There was a full moon that night but it was still fairly dark when we started. Slowly it started to lighten up though, with the great black mass of the mountain looming up against the backdrop of a deep blue, cloudless sky. Then about halfway up we saw the sun rise over an unspoilt, natural landscape - beautiful.
We reached the top at 5.15 and once again didn't linger, even though the views were spectacular. Just a quick photo or two then we set off back down and were back at the van by 6.38. As we drove off towards Wales I tried the second of my veggy curries but this time it seemed to taste pretty dire and I couldn't finish it. I think the first one was probably as bad but hunger had masked it then.
We made good time and arrived at Nant Peris in time to set off at 11.38, well ahead of schedule and leaving us a comfortable 5 hours and 12 minutes for the last Peak. It was good not to have to hurry now for we'd been fairly brisk on the preceding two peaks.
Although it was now cloudy the weather was holding and the tops were still all clear. As before we ascended via the Pyg Track; there were more people around than on the other hills as this was the busier time of the day. It seemed a long old slog, probably because we were getting tired now, but we still managed to get to the top by 13.35, a faster time than the previous occasion. (1 hour 57 mins against 2 hours 15 mins)
The new café, Hafod Eryri, was just about ready but still not available for us - it was due to open the following Friday. Good views, a few more pics then it was back down again. We took the rough path down to the Miners' Track whereupon Jas wanted to 'zoom' even though we had ample time in hand. I didn't want to zoom but Martin and Jas scampered off and soon disappeared from view. Eventually we caught up with Jas who had given up the contest when Martin began to run, and the four of us, me, Jas, Scott and Graham, walked together to the end, reaching the finishing line at 15.30. Martin had got there 12 minutes earlier.
An overall time of 22 hours and 40 minutes - brilliant, I thought. We had a very welcome cup of tea in the café at the bottom - I managed to spill mine over my groin to the amusement of my fellow climbers who reacted by reaching for their cameras to take a picture of me with my wet patch. We stayed in Betws y Coed at the same B&B as we were in last March. I had pasta in the evening but despite having felt raveningly hungry on the way down from Snowdon I now found I couldn't eat it all. I felt distended and I couldn't finish my 3rd pint of beer either. In the end it was back to the B&B early and we were all in bed by 9.30. Slept solidly for 9 hours and woke to Graham making a cup of tea for us at 6.50. After a good substantial breakfast we drove back to Hertford and got there by 2.30. Trisha turned up a minute or so later to drive me home. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
