Tuesday 2nd September The good work started by the girl’s team was continued by the successful completion of the 3Peaks challenge by the boy’s team in a time of just 22hours and 45minutes. The boy’s team began the challenge at dawn (5:37 am) on Saturday 30th August, quickly summiting Ben Nevis in 2.5 hours, after a brief 10-minute break we were off the mountain in 4 hours 10 minutes. A rapid 6 hour drive south brought us to Seathwaite in the Lakes. The climb up Scafell Pike began at 15:07, and another fast ascent was completed in around 2 hrs 35 mins. Good weather aided the navigation and helped us to complete the mountain in a total time of 4 hrs 50 mins, while Chris our driver caught a few hours sleep. A 3.5 hr drive to Snowdonia brought us to a dark and misty Pen y Pas at 23:45. A tired group plus driver then embarked on a 2.5 hr climb to the summit of Snowdon via the Pyg Track. After a summit photo we descended the mountain via the longer Miners track, completing the mountain in a total time of 4 hrs 35 minutes. So over a distance of 28 miles with 3000m of vertical ascent all three mountains were completed in a total time of 13 hrs 23 minutes. Driving time for the challenge stood at 8 hrs 27 mins; however, we covered a total distance of 1250 miles in our (well-loaded) Vauxhall. Special thanks must go out to Chris, our driver who drove most of the miles over the 3 days, during less than sociable hours, and greeted us at the base of Snowdon with a bottle of Champagne. All members of the team climbed admirably, and without such a great bunch of people I doubt we would have been so successful. Well-done lads! Sunday 29th June: Update! Well, the girls team have successfully completed all three Peaks in 24 hours! The top of Snowdon was reached after a long and painful 22 hours and 36 minutes. Although we should tell you that we didn't manage the walk down Snowdon within the 24 hours as well. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty bad for all of the mountains. Ben Nevis was started at 4 am in cloud and rain which stayed with us pretty much all the way up. We did manage to see a little on the way back down. We climbed the 1300m and 7.5 km of the Ben Nevis tourist track in exactly 5 hours. We were lucky with the traffic and had a fairly easy drive to Seathwaite in the Lake District to begin Scafell Pike, gaining an extra half hour on the way. Scafell Pike wasa successfully done in 5 hours 20 minutes, and again was in cloud from fairly low down! A final 4 hour drive to Pen y Pas to begin Snowdon took us to midnight, and we started Snowdon in the pitch black, hitting rain and cloud very shortly. The very thick cloud/fog made route finding rather tricky in the dark, even on an easy path like the Pyg Track. We also had strong winds to contend with! The bad weather and numerous injured knees and ankles, as well as a very tired team slowed our progress somewhat. But we still made it to the top well within 24 hours! :) We finally made it down (after a very painful descent for some of the team) at 5.40 am! We are now all hobbling around but very happy and proud of our achievement! We'll just have to wait and see how the boys team do..... We are going to attempt to climb the three highest peaks in Britain: Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24 hours to raise money for Venture Scotland. We are doing the challenge in two teams on two different dates: The Girls Team are doing the challenge on the 28th-29th June The Boys Team are doing the challenge on the 30th-31st August Venture Scotland is a charity that runs personal and social development programmes in the scottish mountains. It introduces people to the mountains who wouldn't normally have this opportunity and teaches them some pretty useful life skills too. As we are all people who love the mountains, we are glad to be able to raise money so others can enjoy what we do. You can find out more on their website: http://www.venturescotland.org.uk/ Please sponsor us and help us raise money for such a good cause. Many thanks for your support. Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Venture Scotland will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.
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