3 Peaks Challenge - anyone done it ?
Discussion
As I will be doing the challenge in April for Lewis Mighty, when he was 3 years old and was sadly diagnosed with stage 4 high risk neuroblastoma cancer (only treatment for him is in New York as lovely NHS wouldn't offer him !!)
Any tip for doing the challenge and where is the best place for parking etc.
If you want to read more about it
http://lewismighty3peaks.wordpress.com/
Any tip for doing the challenge and where is the best place for parking etc.
If you want to read more about it
http://lewismighty3peaks.wordpress.com/
Quickest way up Scafell is by parking at Wasdale Head but it's quite a drive to get there and a steep walk to the top. A friend and I did the top and back in 2 hours from there. Depending on your timings you might want to approach from the top of Langdale - much closer to the motorway but a longer walk.
Local residents do tend to get a bit annoyed with noisy/littering 3-peakers so try to be as considerate as possible, leaving no trace of your trip.
Good luck.
Local residents do tend to get a bit annoyed with noisy/littering 3-peakers so try to be as considerate as possible, leaving no trace of your trip.
Good luck.
ewenm said:
Quickest way up Scafell is by parking at Wasdale Head but it's quite a drive to get there and a steep walk to the top. A friend and I did the top and back in 2 hours from there. Depending on your timings you might want to approach from the top of Langdale - much closer to the motorway but a longer walk.
Local residents do tend to get a bit annoyed with noisy/littering 3-peakers so try to be as considerate as possible, leaving no trace of your trip.
Good luck.
Doing it in Thursday and Friday so parking at Wasdale Head should be ok ?Local residents do tend to get a bit annoyed with noisy/littering 3-peakers so try to be as considerate as possible, leaving no trace of your trip.
Good luck.
I am aware of local residents get bit annoyed with noisy (but we all are deaf so shouldn't have that problem
... will be careful with littering)The parking at Wasdale Head is fine, it's just a bugger to get there as you can only get into the valley by road from the South West. I'd work out whether it's actually quicker for you to drive into Langdale and do a longer walk - depends on your walking pace. The 2hrs I mentioned was a strong walk up and a run back down but running it is not something I'd try in the dark (depending when you get there).
Did this in the summer (early July) and I was the driver. There are many, many factors involved in doing this within the time.
The choice of vehicle is critical, we were stuck due to the size of our group with a Transit minibus which are physically limited to 60mph (although you can get around this by knocking it out of gear!). This was nearly our un-doing, I had to drive the nuts off it, particularly around the lakes bit.
A separate driver (non walker) is also a necessity.
We started the clock as the walkers set off from Glen Nevis and stopped the clock when they were back down off Snowdon at Pen-y-pass.
As your doing it April, daylight will be against you, so think about your start time. Finishing Ben Nevis as it goes dark then driving across the highlands in the middle of the night misses most of the traffic (watch out for deer!!!) and gets you to Wasdale with dawn approaching.
Our start point was Glen Nevis by the youth hostel, there is a foot bridge across the River Nevis, this saves a bit of time by shortening the route up Ben Nevis.
Avoid the Loch Lommond road, take the A84 around to Stirling, that way you miss the worst of the tourist traffic (coaches are the worst) and Glasgow.
We went for the Wasdale Head option for Scafell, off the M6 at Carlisle then skirted round the lakes (again to avoid tourist traffic). We exited round the south lakes (A5092 & A590) as a lot of it is now dual carriageway.
Snowdon, we went from Pen-y-pass which gives the walkers the shortest route to the summit.
We did it with 28 minutes to spare!!, so as you can imagine any motorway hold up, roadworks, bad weather can be your undoing. Are walkers were all very fit so no time was lost on the walks, but the with minibus stuck at 60mph it really, really cut it fine.
Having said all that its great fun, an amazing experience. Spare a thought for the driver as its nearly 500 miles on the day, not to mention getting up to Fort Bill in the first place.
Any questions post 'em up.
Good luck to you!!
The choice of vehicle is critical, we were stuck due to the size of our group with a Transit minibus which are physically limited to 60mph (although you can get around this by knocking it out of gear!). This was nearly our un-doing, I had to drive the nuts off it, particularly around the lakes bit.
A separate driver (non walker) is also a necessity.
We started the clock as the walkers set off from Glen Nevis and stopped the clock when they were back down off Snowdon at Pen-y-pass.
As your doing it April, daylight will be against you, so think about your start time. Finishing Ben Nevis as it goes dark then driving across the highlands in the middle of the night misses most of the traffic (watch out for deer!!!) and gets you to Wasdale with dawn approaching.
Our start point was Glen Nevis by the youth hostel, there is a foot bridge across the River Nevis, this saves a bit of time by shortening the route up Ben Nevis.
Avoid the Loch Lommond road, take the A84 around to Stirling, that way you miss the worst of the tourist traffic (coaches are the worst) and Glasgow.
We went for the Wasdale Head option for Scafell, off the M6 at Carlisle then skirted round the lakes (again to avoid tourist traffic). We exited round the south lakes (A5092 & A590) as a lot of it is now dual carriageway.
Snowdon, we went from Pen-y-pass which gives the walkers the shortest route to the summit.
We did it with 28 minutes to spare!!, so as you can imagine any motorway hold up, roadworks, bad weather can be your undoing. Are walkers were all very fit so no time was lost on the walks, but the with minibus stuck at 60mph it really, really cut it fine.
Having said all that its great fun, an amazing experience. Spare a thought for the driver as its nearly 500 miles on the day, not to mention getting up to Fort Bill in the first place.
Any questions post 'em up.
Good luck to you!!
I have done it, I'd say a reasonbly fit type is around
4 hours on the Ben
3.5 hours on Scafell
3.5 on snowdon
It is possible to descend very quickly, but for at least one peak you will be coming off in the dark.
Start Ben at 6:00am - should give you enough daylight to climb Scafell and get off the top before its dark (assuming good weather) - however you will be going up Snowdon in the dark.
If you are thinking of self driving, don't - find a pal to help out, or ask on here for a driver....
Driving up to Fort Williams day before (7th) the challenge and stay there overnight. Start at 4pm on Ben Nevis and drive overnight to Scafell Pike and hopefully start doing it at 5.30am (the sun rise should be around at 6am on 9th) and hopefully finish the Snowdon by 4pm on 9th.
There will be 3 walkers and a driver (he won't be walking).
There will be 3 walkers and a driver (he won't be walking).
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