Three Peaks Challenge

[Lazygraduate]

Anybody done this for charity? I've heard it's bloody hard work but nobody I know has attempted to fully commit to it! Any stories, or alternative ideas for fundraising? Thanks!

[shouldbworking]

Done it. It's not difficult physically, a little bit of mental toughness needed to be done for the march of scafell pike in the early hours. Trying to do it in the 24 hours results in it being all about the driving really so I would suggest not aiming for that as a time. It is rather environmentally unsound and the local's are understandably not keen on large groups rocking up at 2 in the morning in wasdale and making loads of noise / leaving litter.

We tried to mitigate this by taking the seathwaite route for scafell pike and having decent discipline when it came to litter, and avoiding the summer months when it's busiest.

Make sure you have the kit to look after yourself for when it inevitably rains / snows / blows gales / blazes sunshine, have a few confident navigators and first aiders.

Edited by shouldbworking on Friday 15th February 09:55

[InertialTooth45]

It's not overly difficult. I've done it twice. 22.5 hours in a stty minibus limited to 60 and full of people.

A reasonable level of fitness is required but it's mostly mental. There are a few threads on here about it.

[bert11]

I attempted it once with a group of about 10 in a minibus. Nevis was awesome, we got lost and took 10hrs decending Scafell at night, gave up before Snowdon! good fun though

[Bill]

What he said. A friend if mine crashed after he fell asleep at the wheel trying to do it.

[Melman Giraffe]

Bill said:

What he said. A friend if mine crashed after he fell asleep at the wheel trying to do it.

Was he ok?

[Bill]

Yes, sorry just realised the smiley suggests otherwise, he and his 4 passengers were fine. He was lucky to get away without a DWDCA charge.

[IroningMan]

There are useful guidelines for fundraising attempts online - including routes and timings. I think the 'official' line is that you should set the driving aside and do the walking in 14 hours total.

In any case it's a good idea to have a non-walking driver.

If you want the record then you need a helicopter...

[Melman Giraffe]

Bill said:

Yes, sorry just realised the smiley suggests otherwise, he and his 4 passengers were fine. He was lucky to get away without a DWDCA charge.

Fell asleep at the wheel I presume? Could have been very nasty

[k-ink]

I did it years ago. We did zero training, aside from getting pissed the night before. We lost at least 1 hour on the driving shifts as one guy was going so slowly. We started at 3am I believe. Including all driving it took 22 hours.


Essential kit for me was a pack of large 'second skin' plasters for my feet. I doubt I would have finished without those!

[GadgeS3C]

Real PHers do the 5 peaks

As has been said - more of a driving than a walking challenge. But don't underestimate it regardless. Although it can be crazy busy on all the peaks it's still surprisingly easy to get lost.

Doing the 5 peaks without a dedicated driver is not recommended - don't ask how I know!

[k-ink]

A dedicated driver is cheating! You may as well hire a helicopter. We all took it in turns to drive.

[GadgeS3C]

k-ink said:

A dedicated driver is cheating! You may as well hire a helicopter. We all took it in turns to drive.

For the 5 peaks?

[k-ink]

This is a thread about the Three Peaks :P

[GadgeS3C]

Well, for the 3 peaks - you don't need a dedicated driver and anyone can do it, even if out on the lash the night before

[k-ink]

Very true!

[Lazygraduate]

Five peaks not on the menu unfortunately!

Thanks all who have replied, it would be a group of 8-10 of us and we would likely hire a minibus and take turns with the driving! I know that's not ideal but I think if we all take turns on the wheel then it would limit the danger of one person doing all the driving!

[Bill]

Melman Giraffe said:

Fell asleep at the wheel I presume? Could have been very nasty

x2

[GadgeS3C]

Lazygraduate said:

Five peaks not on the menu unfortunately!

Thanks all who have replied, it would be a group of 8-10 of us and we would likely hire a minibus and take turns with the driving! I know that's not ideal but I think if we all take turns on the wheel then it would limit the danger of one person doing all the driving!

For the 3 peaks I think that'll be fine.

For the 5 peaks, you have 48 hours and we underestimated how tired we'd all be. Trying to eat and sleep whilst travelling is tough. You don't really get that much sleep so by a few hours in you're knackered.

We had a team of 4 with 3 sharing the driving. With someone navigating (satnavs really help!) there's only 2 getting any sleep.

2 of us managed to reverse into inanimate objects during the event. Only minor damage done but not ideal!

Anyway - for the 3 peaks - enjoy, hope you raise lots of cash.

To the original questions I set-up a Justgiving page and emailed a link to a lot of colleagues, some I didn't know that well at all. Managed to raise £500 with very little effort.

Have fun.

[shouldbworking]

Just for completeness, three pictures to sum up the three peaks

Ben Nevis


Scafell Pike


Snowdon


I'd brought 2 sets of walkign clothes and a set for relaxing in after. Didn't think it would utterly drench us on all 3 peaks.. wrong!