The National 3 Peaks Challenge - the facts

I thought whilst this info is fairly fresh in my mind (moreso that I've got it all to hand), that I'd note down the facts for ease of reference for next time (hmm?).

The national 3 peaks are made up of the highest mountains in Scotland (Ben Nevis), England (Scafell Pike) and Wales (Snowdon). The challenge needs to be completed in 24 hours for it to be a success.

Ben Nevis is generally the first peak to walk and it stands at 1344 metres. The ascent of Ben Nevis is 1325 metres from the hostel (which stands at about 20 metres above sea level). The distance from the hostel to the summit of Ben Nevis is around 4.75 miles. Ben Nevis has snow on the summit well into the summer months due to its altitude so it is important to be careful when on the top. The maps for Ben Nevis are 41 (OS Landranger) and 392 (OS Explorer).

Scafell Pike is the always the second mountain to complete and is 977 metres high. At this height it is the smallest of three mountains and involves a climb of 913 metres. The shortest walk is from Wasdale Head rather than Seathwaite. This does involve a touch of a longer drive but you are able to make the time back on the walk. This route is 2.5 miles from the base to summit. OS Landranger 90 or OS Explorer OL4 and OL6 cover Scafell Pike.

The last mountain to walk is Snowdon, which is reputed to be the most climbed mountain in the UK. It is 1085 metres high but due to the height at which you start it is only 725 metres of ascent. The miners path is a length of around 4 miles from the car park to the summit. The maps for Snowdon are OS Explorer OL17 and OS Landranger 115.

The driving distance is around 265 miles from Ben Nevis to Wasdale Head (base of Scafell Pike) and is 215 miles from Wasdale Head to Pen y Pass (the starting point for the Snowdon walk), being a total of 480 miles.

A typical schedule generally runs as follows;

4:00pm - Touch water at Loch Linnhe - Fort William
4:30pm - Start at the base of Ben Nevis
6:45pm - Summit Ben Nevis
8:30pm - Be back off Ben Nevis
2:00am - Start at the base of Scafell Pike
4:45am - Summit Scafell Pike
6:15am - Back at the base of Scafell Pike
12:30pm - Start at the base of Snowdon
2:30pm - Summit Snowdon
3:30pm - Back at the base of Snowdon
4:00pm - Touch the water at Caernarfon

It is best to attempt the national 3 peaks as close to the 21st June (longest day) as possible to maximise your daylight hours.

It is essential also to be quiet when you're in the vicinity of Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike as these are residential areas and the locals, understandably get a touch hacked off with noise of cars and challengers at anti social hours.

Try to get a driver in order that you can all rest as much as you can - you will need it.

The National 3 Peaks Challenge - Snowdon (Peak Number 3)

View Snowdon Round Trip in a larger map

It transpired the girls had already made it to the top however they had actually taken the route that the train takes to the top of Snowdon from Llanberis.

We were very well versed now at getting enough clobber together for the ascent of a mountain (this one being Snowdon) and we were set to go in no time. We managed to leave the car at about 2:00pm in blazing sunshine without a cloud in the sky, should we not have been so exhausted and in such a hurry it would have been a really pleasant saunter up to the top. An executive decision was made to head south and take the Miners Path (there are two routes, the Miners Path and the Pyg Track) as it was generally flatter and more meandering than the Pyg track - until they meet about 2/3rds of the way up Snowdon. This turned out to be a one of my all time backfires. Whilst I was walking on the flat or almost flat my heel rubbed on the back of my shoe and it was tender feeling as though someone had packed my shoe with broken glass.

I was trailing the pack by some distance, the time was against us badly but the pain really prevented me making any quicker progress, hopefully I could make it back on the uphill. The walk itself is stunning though passing by various lakes as you go. Llyn Teryn is the first you pass, from here you can see a pretty ugly water pipe that bisects the landscape as it climbs straight up the mountain. This pipe carries water to the Hydroelectric works below in Cwn Dyli. By the waters edge you can see the remains of the miners weekday barracks.

As you continue up the path, there is no real ascent being made at this point and it was pretty punishing, you arrive at the very blue Llyn Llydaw. Blue because of the copper content of the lake which is as a result of all the copper that has been thrown in to the lake by the miners. This naturally means that there are zero fish in here. It's good to know this in advance as it does look pretty welcoming when you're actually there. You head over the causeway that goes over the lake and you pass on the right hand side the remains of the copper crushing buildings. These are reputed to have never made any money, so much so that there is a letter from a Victorian lady who describes "we have a new hobby in Wales, we dig holes in the ground and pour money into them!" great investment - sounds like some of our banks!


You get an awesome view of the summit of Snowdon from here along with the walkers hiking along the ridge line. With it being such a great day - there were hoards. The road-like path continues up to the next lake, Glaslyn, which is smaller than the last. From here the path ascends to meet with the Pyg Track (named after the Pen y Gwryd, the name of the hotel at the bottom of the pass much used by the earlier mountain walkers). This is really where the climb begins and my pain subsided. I'd caught up with the other guys here and I was starting to get concerned about the diminishing hours we had. This was slightly compounded due to the volume of people heading up the mountain which slows you down as you end up going at their pace rather than yours. Everyone stayed positive though and we were striding out where we could in order to ensure that not only did we get to the top but that we get to the bottom by 6:45pm.

Some of the guys exchanged pleasantries with what I assumed was someone they had already met on another hillside before this one. As she left them I overheard her say to her walking companion "They are in totally the wrong place to complete it in time!" My heart sank and so much ran through my particularly mushy and slow brain (it was even slower than normal). I voiced my concerns to the blokes. Some where positive, some were down. We stopped and exchanged views on chances of success, we had three hours to get to the top and back down again. From over our shoulders we heard "You'll easily get to the top in three hours!" from a helpful stranger. I asked him if we'll get down again in that time, the look on his face confirmed our concern. "Yeah, hmmm, if you run."

We'd come all this way, had such nightmares and run into problem after problem. If we hadn't got caught in traffic in Glasgow, if we hadn't got lost in the Lake District, if we had bought an Atlas when we had the chance, if we had brought an Atlas with us in the first place, if we had brought a TomTom, if we'd done any of these things we'd have done it but noooooooooo. That said something took over and the sensation of what we'd already done dawned on us, we were 21 hours in and we have to give it some to do it but it wasn't out of the question yet so with grit and determination we forged our way for the summit, foaming at the mouth as a result of the volume of dextrose tablets I was troughing. Best to go for it then repeat what we'd already done at a later stage.

We managed to get to summit by 4:30pm. We saw Michelle and Nicky and they were full of encouragement which was a top boost - they'd been up here an age so were pretty ready to head down fortunately. There was no time for anything, no cup of tea, as was originally planned, no ice cream no nothing - apart from the photos to prove we'd been there. The Pyg Track is shorter but steeper so we decided to get down this one, jogging on all but the flat bits (jogging on the flat was exhausting and agony). The pad in the back of my shoe was pushing my foot forward and I could feel my toe getting bruised, no time to worry about it. This is exactly where accidents happen if you're not careful but it was dry the light was great and I wasn't feeling the urge to redo this whole 3 peaks challenge in order to complete it in the 24 hours to speed was my best friend.


We made great progress on the descent and when we rounded the corner that revealed the finish like with time to spare we could rejoice, we had about done it, we were there we surely couldn't fail at this point. We waited for all the guys so that we all crossed the line together, which we duly did, with an enormous sense of satistaction and joy and in need of a pint. We got down off Snowdon and into the car park by 6:15pm and the Saturday, completing the national 3 peaks challenge and the mountains of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, along with the four hundred and some miles in between in 23 hours 30 minutes. And we were thirsty, really thirsty, so we quenched it. Oh joy.

The National 3 Peaks Challenge - Scafell Pike (Peak Number 2)

View Scafell Pike - 3 Peaks in a larger map

Bleary eyed we got out of the van in the Lake District and put clean socks on and my shoes ready to drag ourselves up Scafell Pike. This was far from a pleasant experience. I hadn't changed the dressing on my foot as it had wept during the first walk and it had dried so I didn't was to pull the wound off with the dressing. I'm not sure if this was the reason or not as to why it was giving me so much grief from the off. I was thankful that I had the key for the van in case I ended up turning back.

We'd left the van (075873) at 6am and only minutes later started passing people that we recognised from Ben Nevis, I was a bit delirious at this point, due to the total lack of sleep although looking at the dudes heading off for Snowdon I actually felt quite fresh, this was what we were to look forward to and more (or worse). Looking up you can see the path trace up the Scafell Pike and again into thick cloud - ace! This is a spectacular view on a clear day however this wasn't to be one of them.

You follow Lingmell Gill heading up Scafell Pike with the stream on your right. You then cross the stream where the path veers to the right (at 195075). This can be a bit of a precarious crossing and if you stay and watch long enough you should see someone go in, one of our guys did. This is always a source of huge amusement and lifts spirits - even if it's yourself.

By this point everyone is feeling the burn and on little or no sleep anything was an effort. Harry had made himself a strong mix of lemon cordial and water which turned on him with a vengeance and ended up exiting his body with great haste on a number of occasions all over the hillside. The view of Wastwater (the deepest lake in the Lake District and indeed inEngland) is awesome from this ascent. However it wasn't long before we'd hit the fog line and the views that we'd enjoyed disappeared into the mist leaving us staring at the floor and trudging uphill one step at a time. I employed the slow but sure theory and kept plugging away.

The path forks (at 202074) and we took the left fork, I've made this mistake before and the right fork takes you up towards the Lords Rake and some pretty challenging gullies leading to the Scafell Pike summit - this was not the day to be attempting this. There was a constant stream of people heading down now as we trudged up through the cloud one step at a time. The fatigue was setting in pretty heavily now but we had a place to be and a time to be there so no stops were scheduled on this ascent and none were taken, just a steady yomp to the top.

Eventually we arrived, in the cloud, at the top of Scafell Pike with the second of the three summits now conquered. The time was by now around 8am and we had to get down, with very limited visibility there was nothing to hang around for apart from to catch our breath. With the burn affecting different muscles groups on the descent everyone roared off aiming downhill - next stop the bottom. There was still patchy snow at the top with gave a clue as to the temperature, up here though it felt nowhere near as baltic as it was up on Ben Nevis in Scotland only hours earlier.

With poles out to cushion the impact it wasn't too long before we'd emerged out of the cloud and the view of Wastwater was pretty impressive. No time really to take it in, today was a challenge rather than a ramble. In brief sporadic moments the cloud whipped back up and surrounded us momentarily eradicating the view. We yomped back down to the van with knees starting to give a bit a grief but we were through half way now and although time was tight we were in with a shot of completing the 3 peaks in the 24 hours.

We arrived at the van for 9:30am to the smell of sausages as a car next to us (all the other vans had already left for Snowdon) prepared lunch for themselves or their compadres who had hiked off into the yonder somewhere to return to a hearty feast. Feeling pretty shattered now, starving and craving snags we'd managed to get up and down Scafell Pike in three and a half hours, fair play we weren't pulling up any trees but we were pretty pleased with that and it certainly put us back in the running for complete the 3 Peaks in the 24 hours which I certainly thought had slipped from our palms as we were tearing though non marked villages around 4 hours earlier.

Same drill as before we all grabbed food, took off shoes to give our feet a breather and jumped aboard the, by now a bit grotty, fun bus. There were shortbread crumbs all over the back seat and coffee swilling up and down the floor. These were minor issues we could sort at a later stage for now we had to get to Llanberis and the base of Snowdon like yesterday.

With that in mind Ken took the wheel and we tore out of the Lake District (I think) - I managed to get some sleep in and dozed pretty much until we came off the A55.

View Directions to snowdon in a larger map

We were meeting a couple of our girlfriends, who were going to climb Snowdon with us but they'd got a reasonably early start so were already there to our knowledge. We arrived somewhere near the bottom car park and the roads were lined with cars, the weather had brightened up a treat and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. If we weren't so tired we may have marvelled at the view.

Being right up against it timewise we drove to the car park with our fingers and toes crossed for a space. There weren't any so we decided to wait on the off chance people would be leaving. It was the right call and within 10 mins we were in the car park and throwing kit on to get a shift on. It was touch and go whether we were going to get up and down before 6:45pm.

The National 3 Peaks Challenge - Ben Nevis (Peak Number 1)

View Ben Nevis in a larger map

Suited and booted we started off across the bridge opposite the Youth Hostel (717128) at 6:45pm we figured we had until around 10pm before we'd start losing light so we had to get cracking. This became particularly important when we realised that Ben Nevis summit was shrouded in cloud - somewhere, anywhere up in front.

We started off up the foothills following the path that zig zagged as we went. Not 10 minutes after we started everyone was stopping to shed layers that we'd donned in the expectation that it was going to be cold - err wrong, at least for the time being.

The path winds it's way up the hill then crosses a waterfall by means of a bridge. We seemed to be passing an awful lot of people heading in the opposite direction to us however only one passed us heading up the way. On the whole we got off to a great start, my heel was giving me some grief on the flat but anything more than a gradual incline and I walked on the balls of my feet meaning I couldn't feel anything.


The path wound to the left up one side of a huge valley, it was here that we started to get some awesome views of the mountains at the far side of Glen Nevis and Glencoe far into the distance.


As we appeared over the initial ridge on Ben Nevis at a height of about 500 metres and we came across the Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe, here we could see hoards of people (including the only chap that passed us) in the distance heading down the path. Whether they'd hit the summit or not I wasn't sure, it did strike me that they probably had as it appeared to be an odd time for such hoards of people to be yomping up Ben Nevis - the biggest mountain in the UK. As we turned the corner (at 147725) you can start to see where materials have been lifted up the mountain in order to restore the pathways which is so vital for what is really a tourist attraction. With the number of people that walk this path on an annual basis it's state is sure to deteriorate in a short space of time, this is why it is so sad to hear that the operations of the Nevis Partnership are to cease operations (read the full article here) which will largely affect the condition of the mountain paths.


Going was slow giving priority to those going downhill at this time, it was phenomenal how many people were starting to appear from out of the clouds which were now starting to get thicker and thicker.


It was essential that at this point we all stuck together and at all times we could all see each other and should anyone fall out of sight we all hollered until we were all as a group again. Bit slow going but always better safe than sorry. Once we were in the cloud I was constantly checking the Satmap to ensure that the path that we were on was in fact the right path as visibility was limited. This is a very well trodden path and the way ahead is very clear. Some passers by let us know that it was about 20 mins to Ben Nevis summit from the start of the snow.

It seemed to be relentless with no snow in sight and no landmarks to get a gauge of the distance the only fix on location we had was the Satmap Active 10 which gave us the altitude and therefore the ascent we had left.

Realising we were running short on daylight we really had to push on and the thigh burn was really kicking in as was the biting cold. Gloves, hats, jumpers were all thrown on to keep the cold at bay even though we were slogging our guts out to get up there it wasn't enough to warm the extremities. Not far later we hit the snow and we were forcing ourselves on gasping for breath, not down to the altitude more the exertion due to the pace we were doing. Poles were now a necessity, dragging ourselves up the hill, without them would have been a case of 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

Knowing that we couldn't be up here for long as we had to be out of the cloud this side of darkness we were striding out jeering each other on, everyone was well aware of the time frame but hearing it from the other dudes made sure you didn't ease off the gas and I didn't until I got cramp, as did Si. Every step it was firing up my left quad from my knee to the top of my leg both on the inside and out - every step I was screaming into the mist in fierce pain. We'd not eaten a bite since we left the van and we were paying the price. Kenny had some nuts to hand so he loaded my palms and I troughed them, this seemed to do the trick and kept it at bay for now.

I'd never been up Ben Nevis before so didn't know the landmarks on the summit, Ken did however and recognised the cairn with the shelter at the top - which apparently was an observatory in times gone by. Gotta say the view of the stars from here on a clear night would be heavenly, sadly we weren't blessed with that fortune. We had the customary photo where everyone put on a loose smile to prove that we'd been there, we ate chocolate and we got head torches out of bags to guide our way down - all in about the time that it's taken you to read the last two lines.


And we started off down the way at pace to try to get out of the cloud and out of the cold. We couldn't get out of the cold quick enough and checking the temperature it was around -2 degrees. My hands were in agony with the cold. Dave let me borrow his gloves to try get some warmth back into them. I carried my poles under my arm and put all my fingers and thumbs into the gloves together in an attempt to get some feeling back. Sadly we couldn't wait for this and had to truck down in the meantime. Si's cramp hadn't dispersed he was now onto re hydration sachets to try get rid of it. It had instant benefits but didn't get rid of it entirely. As we emerged out of the cloud the night lightened up. Bizarrely the cloud was localised over the summit of Ben Nevis itself and in places the sky was quite clear giving us enough light to descend the hill under.

From this point we didn't need torches until we rounded the valley top and walked past the loch that we'd past earlier on. Lucky really as Pike had lost his (turns out he lost it in his bag, that was on his back, we later found out). The descent was a touch slow and the zig zag path out of the valley and back to the river was pretty rocky. This is where accidents can happen so there was no point in rushing things and writing ourselves off, particularly as some of us were in trainers. My foot gave me a fair amount of grief here not having sight of where I was putting my feet.

Successfully down we got back to the van at midnight with Ben Nevis done. We literally opened up the boot chucked all our clobber in and got some food out, we were on the road within minutes following the 265 mile route to teh Lake District as laid out on the map below.

View Larger Map

Pike was at the wheel this time, giving the rest of us the chance of some kip. Well kip wasn't really what we got as we careered down the Highland B roads and along the windy shores of the colossal Loch Lomond. I more got a headache where my head bounced off the window for around 90 minutes in a semi slumber as we ricocheted south leaving me feeling as though I was wearing the window like a brittle sombrero.

Somewhere around Glasgow (I think, I'm not sure, it was still dark though) we changed driver and Dave had a blaze.

On the motorways now I did sleep-ish.

At around 4am I was woken up (I don't know who it was by) with the words "Dave says can you drive?" I was behind the wheel seconds later to give Dave a shot at trying to get some snooze in before we set to with Scafell Pike in the Lake District.

Having been asleep my eyes were still half glued shut where my contact lens had set behind my eyelids. My vision was a touch foggy although I thought it better to keep this nugget of wisom to myself for the time being. I took over the driving as we'd just come off the motorway heading around the Northern Lake District heading for the coast. This is where we really started to regret not having bought an atlas. We had two iPhones which were both telling us to go in opposite directions. We had an OS map for Scafell Pike, which we would have been able to use in about 9 miles time, so we were in the hands of god and we guessed. After some time of blazing round country lanes in the dusky light, following our noses we somehow successfully arrived at a roundabout that we'd torn round about 45 minutes earlier, the challenge was slipping away from us already. In the end the trusty satmap got us back on track in the right direction and we arrived at the car park at 5:45am to a line of hire vans occupied by drivers awaiting the return of their climbers so that they could get underway to Snowdon, we didn't have that luxury.

The National 3 Peaks Challenge - getting started

Date: 14th-15th May
National 3 Peaks Mountains: Ben Nevis 1344m (Scotland), Scafell Pike 980m (England), Snowdon 1080m (Wales)
Distance: 24 miles
Vertical ascent: 2980 metres
Time Allowed: 24 hours
Road miles 475 miles

In the face of all adversity and totally ill prepared (from a point of view of training not from an equipped angle), on Friday 14th May 2010, 7 of us embarked on a self supported attempt of the National 3 Peaks Challenge.

My day started in hospital having my foot treated and dressed. I had a surfing accident about a fortnight back in Australia where I had the heel of my foot sliced off leaving me unable to wear shoes or trainers. The prospect of doing some 20 odd mountain miles along the hiking trail in flip flops was not turning me on so I had to somehow conceal and protect the yellow and green soggy mess that my heel had become in order to make the yomp palatable. Once dressed I was packed up with plenty of dressings and given strict instructions to strip it all off after each mountain and let it dry out in the hours between walking before redressing it to start the next of the 3 peaks.

All the chaps arrived at mine and we set off in the fun bus just 15 mins later than hoped at 11:45am, not bad considering 2 of the guys had meetings that morning.

Half an hour up the road we realised that we had no satnav, furthermore we had no atlas but with senses of direction and iPhones being overworked we decided we'd plough on and get an atlas when we stopped. This necessity slipped our mind at the first stop and at the 2nd they were £20 so our senses of direction were to continue being overworked unless we acquired one for a fraction of that price.

We were hoping to be at Ben Nevis base to kick off on the first hiking trail of the 3 Peaks by 5pm to get the show on the road. Naturally this plan was whisked out of the window as we hit the Glasgow rush hour traffic. After crawling into Glasgow for what seemed like an age we decided it might be wise to postpone the attempt by a day as mounting Ben Nevis in the dark was a particularly bad idea, well it was never going to happen. It crossed our minds to get a hotel for the night and go out for a few beers. Everyone got excited at this prospect, until we realised that the van had to be back by 2am on Sunday morning not leaving us enough time to do Scafell Pike and Snowdon. Dissapointment spread amongst the ranks, this meant it was do or die (well not literally, more like do or don't).

With that in mind and Kenny at the wheel we forged our way through Glasgow and got the hammer down Fort William wards.

With white knuckles, sweaty palms and palpitations we arrived at the base of Ben Nevis and parked in a layby across the road from youth hostel in Glen Nevis at a time that seemed to be before we'd left Glasgow however it was indeed around 6:30pm (Friday 14th May), here we were ready to start the National 3 Peaks Challenge. We all leaped out of the van and ripped bags out of the boot as we changed into our walking kit in the middle of the road ready to get a wriggle on and get up that hill. Not off to a great start, it could surely only get better. Well that was one way of looking at it.....

The National 3 Peaks are a knocking on my foot

As I previously posted we are attempting the National 3 Peaks this weekend and my heel is currently looking redder than raw following my accident a week last Saturday where I had part of my heel sliced off by a random surfer's fin down under. I am now continually coating it in betadine, aside a days savlon on Saturday, in the hope that miracles happen, healing said wound enabling me to at least put some thing other than flip flops on (which I have been in for the last 3 weeks now and counting - they sure do look odd with a shirt and tie). I can now hear the clock loudly ticking in my lugs without any sympathy for my plates of meat.

The only other alternative is to somehow dress it on the day with micropore or blister plasters or some other fine innovation to stop it from rubbing or giving me grief sufficiently long enough for me to go from the sea near Fort William up and over them there National 3 Peaks and to the finish line in the sea somewhere in North Wales.

In the meantime I am googling like the fury in the hunt of a miracle cure, thus far none have been found in any of the following; salt water, paw paw cream, savlon, betadine, detol.

The search continues............

The National 3 Peaks

I had a chat with the brothers and another good dude, Ken, last night. We've decided that along with Spike we are going to give the National 3 Peaks a shot. The hiking trail ascent (and descent) of the highest mountains in each of Scotland (Ben Nevis), England (Scafell Pike) and Wales (Snowdon) within a 24 hour period. Officially you are supposed to touch the sea to start and again at the end to complete the walk in its entirity.

Coincidentally I had another old chum (she's not old but I've known her a while if you know what I mean) over for dinner last night who has done all sorts of long distance strolls and she told me that the National 3 Peaks is easier in some respects than the Yorkshire 3 Peaks, mainly due to the fact that so long as you stretch after each descent you actually get the chance for a rest in between each mountain.

So the plan as we've loosely battered it out is that we will dip our toes in the water in Fort William (the official National 3 peaks route starts at the sea and finishes at the sea). We shall then travel the mariginal miles to Ben Nevis and get that under our belts first as this is the biggest at (1344m), for sentiment we do not want to spend the day yomping up hill and down dale along the hiking trail of each mountain knowing that the grand finale will be bigger then anything we have done throughout the day - not great for morale (nor legs for that matter). Naturally we'll then drive from here to Wasdale Head. We'll ascend Scafell Pike (978m) from here as this is the shortest ascent route rather than cutting out the car miles and hiking in from Boot (we can't afford the time). Whether we take the short steep or the long flat(er) route is yet to be decided however I think that we'll probably end up going the easier route up. From there we'll jump back in the A-Team van and fire down to Snowdon (1078m) where we'll meet up with our respective better halves and yomp the hiking trail up Snowdon. We'll then drag ourselves off the hillside and get back in the wagon to drive into the sea whereby we will touch the drink and complete the route, our mission and the National 3 Peaks.

Then back to a hotel in North Wales for tea and medals (as previously mentioned - nosh and pints).

We've decided to drive ourselves but we're gonna take a Merc Vito long wheelbase van so that we can lay mattresses out in the back and get some good shut eye in between the mountains. Save the cash for the spa hotel.

A great opportunity to tick one off and get some hill miles in for training for the Lakeland 3000's.