3 peaks challenge Steves story

UK 3 Peak Challenge in under 24 hours

The UK 3 Peaks Challenge is an attempt to walk up and down Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, one after the other, in under 24 hours.

23 hours and 55 minutes...I kid you not. Talk about dramatic finish. *We had a long and rainy drive from Birmingham to Fort William, then the clouds opened and we saw the majesty of Ben Nevis. It was a tough but awe inspiring walk, then the clouds came down and temperatures dropped to minus 4 and you couldn't see more than 30 yards. Not good but as good as it was going to get over the next 20 hours.

We got down in just over 5.5 hours. But more superb driving got us to Sca Fell back on schedule. Then the weather changed from bad to worse and we started Scafell in pouring rain. Conditions worsened the further we went up and all of us agreed that nothing could be as bad as this 'Hill from Hell'. We lost valuable time at Scafell and everyone picked up injuries, but we clawed back time with more fantastic driving.

But as we got to the base of Snowdon it was obvious that things were conspiring against us. It was sooooo bad that you could barely see your hand in front of your face, and that was in the car park. But it was to get even worse. The rain went from 'pouring' to 'hammering' and the wind was at least 100 mph. At several points our group had to stop and cling to the rock to stop ourselves from being blown off. At one point it was so bad that my lips were being buffeted around my face because the wind had torn into my mouth as I gasped for air.

3/4 of the way up we stopped and seriously considered coming back down. The challenge could be attempted next year but only if we are alive to do it. However, myself and my friends decided that it had been so hard after so far that we probably wouldn't be able, physically and mentally, to attempt this again, so we cracked on. At the summit the conditions were ridiculous (and that's putting it mildly). I had to crawl on all fours to touch the summit rock and then I lay down and waited for death. I looked at my walking partners and we all had the same thought, "When will they find our dead frozen bodies up here and inform our families?".

We shared a banana, took a swig of water and looked at our options. We had just over 90 minutes to get back down and beat the challenge of doing it in under 24 hours, and with that we went tearing back down the mountain. Jumping and running when we could. As we past Crib Goch we knew we had just over 20 minutes left and so we tore into a sprint, driven on by the fact that we could never and would never attempt this again. I was the last to cross the 'finish line' after 23 hours and 55 minutes of traveling, walking and climbing. We did it!

I'm hoping to make a film of this adventure and you will see for yourself just how bad the conditions were.

*Our team was; from Catlin Insurance, Paul, Mark, Jane, Nick; from BMG Research, Jon, Claudio, Gerard and from St Basils, Steve.

St Basils would like to recognise the effort, commitment and support that went into this challenge from everyone concerned, especially Catlin Insurance, BMG Research and North One Productions.

Advise for anyone attempting this challenge: I would like to pay a special thank you to the 2 drivers of this challenge Paul and Gerard. It is simply impossible to attempt this challenge without dedicated and competent drivers, and we had the best!

St Basils
St Basils works with young people to enable them to find and keep a home, to develop their confidence, skills and opportunities and to prevent homelessness.

Fundraiser:

Steve Rainbow

My page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SteveRainbow