By Matt Connelly, Sales Manager at Adaptable Travel.

Usually a space for writing about travel experiences, we thought the Adaptable Travel Blog was a good opportunity to write about an experience of a different kind, the National 3 Peaks Challenge, completed by Sales Manager Matt Connelly and 7 fellow adventurers.

The challenge was to climb the 3 highest peaks in the UK (Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon) within 24 hours and raise money for Cancer research in the process.

Well, to sum it up, I completed the 3 peak challenge in less than 24 hours, no thanks to driving licence issues, horrendously cold and foggy weather conditions, traffic jams, team injuries and mini bus breakdowns.

This is our eventful journey….

Ben Nevis (Scotland) was the killer. We set off on our climb at 18:30, already 2 hours behind our starting time as our original driver could not drive the minibus due to licence issues, so we quickly roped my Dad in at the last minute. The hassle of finding another driver earlier in the day meant that the final part of our Ben Nevis climb would actually be at night. We were unaware how crucial these lost hours in the day were to be. Mind you even if we did know this whilst we were travelling up to Scotland, it wouldn’t have made a difference as you simply can’t prepare for what we experienced.

As the sun set, the final hour of ascent up Nevis truly was tough and really took a lot out of the group. Darkness, fog, rain and bitterly cold (-10 degrees) and windy conditions on the tough terrain were a MASSSIVE challenge that eventually forced a group member to pull out of the 3 peak challenge altogether. We did reach the top as a group and somehow found the highest peak through the eerie rock paths and endless fog. Due to the freezing cold winds within 5 minutes we were turning back on ourselves and walking down into utter darkness. Already being over our allocated (Ben Nevis) climb time it would have been nice to have been able to hastily jog down, but this would have been too dangerous in dark, icy and slippery conditions. So as safety conscious hikers we committed ourselves to just getting down in our own time, which in turn made us 2 and a half hours late… time which we would soon regret losing. The sight of our minibus at the bottom of Ben Nevis truly was a sight for sore eyes. We all agreed that if these conditions were to plague every climb then maybe we would have to admit defeat sooner then we thought.

We started our climb of the second peak Scafell Pike (England) at around 07:30am the next morning, after a speedy 6hour drive from Scotland. However we were now behind schedule which meant a quicker pace was needed to stand any chance of completing the challenge in less than 24 hours. The hardest part to this climb was certainly the sharp gradient for the majority of the climb. It was much steeper than Nevis but actually being able to see most of it made the challenge more feasible. We reached the summit in 1 hour 45 mins, which bearing in mind how much Nevis took out of us and the fact we allocated 3 hours on the original itinerary was a great accomplishment. The hike down for some unknown reason soon became a jog down which looking back actually gave us all more motivation to get on and tackle Snowdon as quick as possible… However our minibus had alternative ideas and on return we soon discovered that our battery had died. After 30 minutes of wasted time, we finally got it started and we were again under way and travelling towards our final destination… Snowdon (Wales).

The journey there couldn’t have gone worse really, as we constantly found ourselves stuck in traffic. With the clock ticking and time running out the atmosphere in the minibus became tenser and we all became slightly more agitated. We had initially allocated 5 hours for Snowdon including breaks. This had now become 3 hours as we were all keen to complete the challenge. We set off on Snowdon and ran the first 2 miles. The following part which actually made me regret running the previous track was an extremely steep climb up a never-ending mountain side, which exhausted me completely and tested our composure. Within minutes we were struggling on the climb towards the summit, pushing past innocent tourist climbers along the way eagerly trying to reach the summit. After no sleep for 24hrs, over 1000 miles of travel on a cramped minibus and 2 mountains behind us, at this point we had nothing left and were all running on adrenaline. All of the 6 remaining challengers had to dig deeper than ever before to stand any chance of summiting in time. After various zig zagging paths and steep rock corridors we did reach the summit and I can still even now remember my relief knowing that all I had to do now would be to run down (somehow). Our challenge was now starting to resemble near reality, remarkable after all of the obstacles we had overcome. We had reached the summit in 1 hour 30 minutes (instead of the allocated 3hrs), now to get back to the minibus within 1 hour. I instantly felt my body starting to shut down, my knees no longer had any feeling and my feet were blistered and sore. Our group split into 2 groups of 3, with my group jogging down the mountain paths trying to achieve what we thought 2 hours ago was the unachievable.

As we saw the minibus in the distance with 15minutes to go, the last mile down the rocky terrain did not feel real, and we powered on towards the finish line. As we sluggishly ran around the final corner, the rest of the team were there cheering us on, and I remember the overwhelming sense of relief and achievement.

I completed the 3 Peaks Challenge in 23hrs, 54mins, having hardly slept, climbed over 3000 meters and travelled almost 1000 miles in under 24 hours.

I had achieved something I would remember forever under very difficult circumstances. All of the team could now pat ourselves on our backs and say that regardless of all the problems that we had encountered the 3 Peaks were conquered within 24 hours!… Job well done… And all for the benefit of Cancer Research.

A big thankyou to everyone involved and all of those who have agreed to sponsor me. Thanks again for the support.

Matt Connelly, Sales Manager