Saturday 3 July 2010

3 Peaks - again

Changeable weather on the Ben

For the second time in a week I've been guiding on a 3 Peaks Challenge, for Mountains to Water, but this time running north to south. The weather wasn't as hot as earlier in the week and this allowed a very focused group from London to knock off the Ben in under 5 hours. However down on Scafell the wind and cloud had arrived and a few issues with the lighting (forgotten, flat and wind up!) meant that we were slowed by the conditions. Snowden in the early morning was totally different with blue skies and hardly a breath of wind. With some of the group needing very fast times to get in below the 24 hours the challenge was on. In the end 17 of the group summited all 3 peaks with the vast majority being back at the minibuses within the time limit. The new Joe Brown cafe at Pen Y Pass provided an excellent fried breakfast and a very tied but proud team headed off for a quiet night in Manchester! Well done to everyone for an amazing effort and the ten grand plus raised for Red R.

Team shot on the summit of the Ben


Descending with the North Face of the Ben in the background

The final descent in to Glen Nevis

A quick stretch before the long journey south

Getting the carbs in!

More stretching ... on a garage forecourt!

Braving the conditions on Scafell Pike

Approaching the final summit of Snowdon

A well deserved breakfast