3 PEAKS INSIDER

STORY BY
DOMINIC KILLINGER
18th January 2017

The Three Peaks Challenge is a popular rite of passage for serious climbers and mountain hikers, and less serious charity fund-raisers. An estimated 30,000 people attempt it each year – some doing it themselves, others as part of a group led by experienced mountain guides.

The idea is to climb the highest mountains of Scotland (Ben Nevis 1,344m), England (Scafell Pike 978m) and Wales (Snowdon 1,085m) within 24 hours.
It essentially means walking 42–43km up and down the three peaks with around 3km of vertical climbed (and the same amount descended) – no mean feat.

Scafell_massif CREDIT Doug Sim

Scafell massif – Credit – Doug Sim

The challenge is more challenging because of the 24-hour time limitation; it’s around 800km of driving between the bases of the three peaks, and whilst a large chunk of that can be achieved on motorways at 70mph (112kph), there’s also several hundred kilometres on A and B roads at a maximum 60mph (96kph) so driving times are typically around 10 hours – if there are no traffic delays. Add with an average of five hours for each peak, you’re quickly close to the time limit even if things go according to plan.

But the challenge has been achieved in the past by super-fit climbers taking less time on the climbs, by public transport and even by sailing between the peaks over the Irish Sea.

DSC00885

Top Tips From The Experts

Although many people successfully complete the challenge each year, it does require a high level of fitness and experience of fast mountain ascents and descents in environments which – depending on our ever-changing British weather – can become extreme. So unless you are very experienced, a guided group is usually the wise option.
One of the most popular approaches is to start in the evening at Ben Nevis. The benefits are that it’s seen as the easiest of the three to descend in poor light and the long A road down to Glasgow is likely to be traffic-free through the night (the 400km stretch is the longest for driving).

If you’re not a super-fit climber, you can make the challenge marginally easier at Scafell Pike by approaching from the south side starting at Wasdale Head, which is a shorter ascent but a slightly longer drive to reach, rather than the north side starting at Seathwaite (shorter drive but longer ascent).

Snowdon

Snowdon

Respect the environment and the locals – some critics have complained about damage done to the peaks by people rushing and leaving waste or damaging paths and gates, and they have argued that this results in mountain charities spending more on fixing this than is raised by people taking part in the challenges for charities. No one really knows if that’s true. There have also been complaints from locals living near the three peaks of noise in the middle of the night, so it’s important to keep it down as you arrive and depart from each mountain base.

There are variations on the Three Peaks Challenge, including the Welsh and Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenges – it can be a good idea to try these first (less driving and slightly smaller hills) to see how you get on, then you can build up to the national.

More information: threepeakschallenge.uk.

Guided groups: maximumadventure.com, adventure-cafe.com

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