On 6 September 2020, a team of six local nineteen-year-old school friends (Sternians) completed the highly demanding National Three Peaks Challenge, raising money for Crohn’s & Colitis UK.
The three peaks challenge is a race against the clock to climb the tallest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales - Ben Nevis (1345m) in the Highlands, Scafell Pike (978m) in the Lake District and Mount Snowdon (1085m) in Snowdonia National Park - within 24 hours.
The team consisted of: Ben Coomer, Toby Seeckts, Ben Reeves, Tom Leonard, Sam Gilley and Will Manuel.
We were pleased to sponsor the trip by way of paying for the minibus to transport the team during their challenge, which was driven by two of their dads - Rupert Reeves, and our Managing Director, Grev Coomer!
The team at the bottom of Ben Nevis ... full of beans!
The team set off at 7am on Sunday 6 September, with a 12 hour journey to Fort William at the base of Ben Nevis, in readiness for their challenge, starting at 11am the next day. The first peak to climb (and the highest) was Ben Nevis, which involved a trek of around 10.5 miles in total. They set off at a good pace, but after only 20 minutes realised the true difficulty of the challenge ahead of them. The mountain track was well-walked and navigation fairly straight-forward. On a couple of occasions, they thought they were nearly there until climbers travelling down the mountain told them otherwise, much to their disappointment! Conditions were difficult - strong winds with heavy rain and a thick fog made it impossible to see anything from the top. They were soaked through and at this point waterproofs made little difference, but nevertheless they reached the summit in a time of 2 hours 11 minutes. Although the descent worked different muscles and was harder on their joints, they were fast and ran flatter areas to make better time. They made it down in 1 hour and 40 minutes, with a total time of 3 hours 51 minutes. 1 hour and 9 minutes faster than the 5 hour allotted time to complete the challenge! At the car park where they started, their legendary drivers were waiting for them with hot Spaghetti Bolognese! As they'd finished Ben Nevis far ahead of schedule, they were able to spend half an hour eating and getting out of their soaked clothes, before setting off on the 6 hour drive to Scafell Pike. They covered their legs with deep heat in the hope of giving their muscles a chance to recover.
At the top of Ben Nevis
On the Monday evening at 9:15pm they arrived at a dark, cold and empty Wasdale Head car park. Their night climb was ahead and none of them had managed any sleep for the shortest but steepest and most difficult climb ahead of them. After putting on a new set of clothes and eating a warm snack, they embarked on the 5.2 mile trek into the light but persistent rain. The navigation was tough especially by head torch, and they overshot and took the wrong route on multiple occasions. The most challenging part was arguably when crossing the roughly 10 metre wide, then-raging Lingmell Gill river which was racing down the mountain at shin-height. They struggled to find the path to the summit, and ended up taking sheep tracks and walking cross-country, until eventually finding the path, and reached the summit by 11:30pm. It was windy, rainy and foggy similar to Ben Nevis, but also pitch black. They didn’t spend long at the top but quickly turned around and headed back down the mountain where the navigation was much simpler, but their legs were in agony and shaking whilst standing still. The team had to be careful as one wrong step could result in a challenge-ending twisted ankle, and didn’t want to stop, so quickly made their way down the mountain to be greeted by hot porridge from their drivers at 1am. They quickly ate, got changed into new clothes and were back on the road to Snowdon within 30 minutes. The total time to complete Scafell Pike was 3 hours 27 minutes.
At the top of Mount Snowdon
The team struggled to sleep at all and after a four and a half hour drive to North Wales they arrived in Snowdonia National Park in the early hours of Tuesday ... tired, cold and wet! They pulled into the empty Visitor Centre car park and motivated each other for the final climb ahead. There are two conventional tracks up to the summit of Snowdon for this challenge. You can either take the Miners Track or the Pyg Track. They both meet prior to the zigzag ascent up to the summit and are by far the quickest routes up to this point. The team took the Pyg track which was a total of 6.4 miles. On this trek the two volunteer drivers joined and motivated the team when many of them had hit the wall. The end seemed to be in sight. Everyone was exhausted and bodies were broken! After 2 hours they reached the summit where once again they could see nothing! It was windy and cold, but all the team were in high spirits as they had just under 3 hours to climb down the mountain in order to complete the challenge. The tired legs of the team-mates successfully descended Snowdon in around 2 hours, exactly 23 hours and 14 minutes since they set off to climb Ben Nevis, 400+ miles away in Scotland!
At the bottom of Mount Snowdon ... THE END!
In total, they covered over 1,200 driving miles, over 22 miles on foot and just under 10,000 feet of ascents up the 3 highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales. All in under 24 hours and all for Crohn’s and Colitis UK! They had done it and had succeeded. By the time they'd got home, they could hardly walk and smelt of a mixture of Deep Heat and sweat!
For the team, the unsung heroes of the whole challenge were their two drivers, Rupert and Grev. Not once did they show any sign of negativity or fatigue and they always kept the spirits high throughout. They prepared meals for the team when they came off the mountains and made up good time on the driving. Without the drivers it would have never been possible!
Huge congratulations to all the team for not only participating for such a worthy charity but for their fantastic achievement! This was no mean feat and at the time of writing this, well over £3,000 had been raised by the team! Crohn’s and Colitis are bowel conditions which can devastate lives and have no known cure. Around 300,000 people in the UK have these conditions and more than half are diagnosed when young.
On 6 September 2020, a team of six local nineteen-year-old school friends (Sternians) completed the highly demanding National Three Peaks Challenge, raising money for Crohn’s & Colitis UK.
The three peaks challenge is a race against the clock to climb the tallest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales - Ben Nevis (1345m) in the Highlands, Scafell Pike (978m) in the Lake District and Mount Snowdon (1085m) in Snowdonia National Park - within 24 hours.
The team consisted of: Ben Coomer, Toby Seeckts, Ben Reeves, Tom Leonard, Sam Gilley and Will Manuel.
We were pleased to sponsor the trip by way of paying for the minibus to transport the team during their challenge, which was driven by two of their dads - Rupert Reeves, and our Managing Director, Grev Coomer!
The team at the bottom of Ben Nevis ... full of beans!
The team set off at 7am on Sunday 6 September, with a 12 hour journey to Fort William at the base of Ben Nevis, in readiness for their challenge, starting at 11am the next day. The first peak to climb (and the highest) was Ben Nevis, which involved a trek of around 10.5 miles in total. They set off at a good pace, but after only 20 minutes realised the true difficulty of the challenge ahead of them. The mountain track was well-walked and navigation fairly straight-forward. On a couple of occasions, they thought they were nearly there until climbers travelling down the mountain told them otherwise, much to their disappointment! Conditions were difficult - strong winds with heavy rain and a thick fog made it impossible to see anything from the top. They were soaked through and at this point waterproofs made little difference, but nevertheless they reached the summit in a time of 2 hours 11 minutes. Although the descent worked different muscles and was harder on their joints, they were fast and ran flatter areas to make better time. They made it down in 1 hour and 40 minutes, with a total time of 3 hours 51 minutes. 1 hour and 9 minutes faster than the 5 hour allotted time to complete the challenge! At the car park where they started, their legendary drivers were waiting for them with hot Spaghetti Bolognese! As they'd finished Ben Nevis far ahead of schedule, they were able to spend half an hour eating and getting out of their soaked clothes, before setting off on the 6 hour drive to Scafell Pike. They covered their legs with deep heat in the hope of giving their muscles a chance to recover.
At the top of Ben Nevis
On the Monday evening at 9:15pm they arrived at a dark, cold and empty Wasdale Head car park. Their night climb was ahead and none of them had managed any sleep for the shortest but steepest and most difficult climb ahead of them. After putting on a new set of clothes and eating a warm snack, they embarked on the 5.2 mile trek into the light but persistent rain. The navigation was tough especially by head torch, and they overshot and took the wrong route on multiple occasions. The most challenging part was arguably when crossing the roughly 10 metre wide, then-raging Lingmell Gill river which was racing down the mountain at shin-height. They struggled to find the path to the summit, and ended up taking sheep tracks and walking cross-country, until eventually finding the path, and reached the summit by 11:30pm. It was windy, rainy and foggy similar to Ben Nevis, but also pitch black. They didn’t spend long at the top but quickly turned around and headed back down the mountain where the navigation was much simpler, but their legs were in agony and shaking whilst standing still. The team had to be careful as one wrong step could result in a challenge-ending twisted ankle, and didn’t want to stop, so quickly made their way down the mountain to be greeted by hot porridge from their drivers at 1am. They quickly ate, got changed into new clothes and were back on the road to Snowdon within 30 minutes. The total time to complete Scafell Pike was 3 hours 27 minutes.
At the top of Mount Snowdon
The team struggled to sleep at all and after a four and a half hour drive to North Wales they arrived in Snowdonia National Park in the early hours of Tuesday ... tired, cold and wet! They pulled into the empty Visitor Centre car park and motivated each other for the final climb ahead. There are two conventional tracks up to the summit of Snowdon for this challenge. You can either take the Miners Track or the Pyg Track. They both meet prior to the zigzag ascent up to the summit and are by far the quickest routes up to this point. The team took the Pyg track which was a total of 6.4 miles. On this trek the two volunteer drivers joined and motivated the team when many of them had hit the wall. The end seemed to be in sight. Everyone was exhausted and bodies were broken! After 2 hours they reached the summit where once again they could see nothing! It was windy and cold, but all the team were in high spirits as they had just under 3 hours to climb down the mountain in order to complete the challenge. The tired legs of the team-mates successfully descended Snowdon in around 2 hours, exactly 23 hours and 14 minutes since they set off to climb Ben Nevis, 400+ miles away in Scotland!
At the bottom of Mount Snowdon ... THE END!
In total, they covered over 1,200 driving miles, over 22 miles on foot and just under 10,000 feet of ascents up the 3 highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales. All in under 24 hours and all for Crohn’s and Colitis UK! They had done it and had succeeded. By the time they'd got home, they could hardly walk and smelt of a mixture of Deep Heat and sweat!
For the team, the unsung heroes of the whole challenge were their two drivers, Rupert and Grev. Not once did they show any sign of negativity or fatigue and they always kept the spirits high throughout. They prepared meals for the team when they came off the mountains and made up good time on the driving. Without the drivers it would have never been possible!
Huge congratulations to all the team for not only participating for such a worthy charity but for their fantastic achievement! This was no mean feat and at the time of writing this, well over £3,000 had been raised by the team! Crohn’s and Colitis are bowel conditions which can devastate lives and have no known cure. Around 300,000 people in the UK have these conditions and more than half are diagnosed when young.
