This section of the Web Site contains details of our Three Peaks Expedition of August 1998.
The Story:
One winters evening in 1997, Tim Ecott was having a pleasant pint in the London public house, passing seemingly innocent conversation with an old friend Martin Torzewski. Little did Tim know that it was to be this conversation that would shape the idea for an activity for the following summer. In the conversation Martin mentioned that he had done the "Three Peaks Challenge", climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in North Wales - in less than 24 hours. Looking for an adventure to equal the previous years excellent White Water Rafting trip to Scotland, Tim's initial thought on Martin's achievement was "I think I would like to try that". Over the next few weeks Tim planned the logistics for an attempt at the 24 hour operation and began a search for "volunteers" who were willing to take up the challenge. His first idea was to drag his son along. Of course, Dan jumped at the chance. From this point on, Tim sought other possible future members of his very own "Three Peaks" team. After some last minute changes, the final line-up was:
Tim Ecott, Dan Ecott, Jim Rae and Ben Rae.
As time passed, the '24 hour' aspect of the challenge gave way to a more stately attempt on the peaks, giving the team time (or so we thought) to admire the no doubt beautiful scenery on the way up, on the peak, and down each mountain - instead of doing the climbs at sprint speeds. It seemed more manageable for the team (which was going to have to drive between the peaks as well as climb) to have more time. Hence the expedition turned into a four-day event.
Logistics required the following main tasks to be done:
The Roads:
Details of journey distances and times for the Expedition.
Our B&B accommodation was in Spean Bridge, Threlkeld and Llanberis. Our expedition vehicle was a Renault Espace 7-seater, with middle seats removed to provide the required space for rucksacks, boots etc.
Major journey times must be increased to allow for food stops, refuelling etc. Allow some contingency to cater for traffic jams (M25, M6-Birmingham, M8-Glasgow etc.).
The Equipment:
Some of the items of equipment that we took with us are listed here. We had no idea what to expect in terms of weather, so we prepared for cold, wet ascents (despite going in August).
The Climb Routes:
Check out our climbing route maps HERE
Some hints:
August 8th, 1998. Our 'Base Camp 1' for Ben Nevis was the visitors Centre Car Park. We started in dull and overcast conditions at about 09:00 (but at least it had stopped raining). The climb followed the Ben Path over the Nevis River to Achintee House and toward the foothills. A steady climb in Glen Nevis gave us no problems until the path turned left into the valley between Ben Nevis and 'Meall an t-Suidhe'. After this turn the path got much steeper. We all began to think 'have we done the right thing?' as we began to feel the effects of the steep climb. The weather was improving steadily as we climbed though. This helped as clouds gave way to clear blue sky. We continued up the path till we could see a small Loch (Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe). Near this Loch the path turned sharply right and we began to climb Ben Nevis proper. We crossed a large stream and continued up to the point where the grassy slopes gave way to loose rocks. Here the path became steeper still and begins to zig-zag up towards the Peak. We stopped for a short breather at each path bend. Here a flat rock would provide a resting place before we set off again for another few hundred metres of climbing. We were encouraged as we began to get closer to the Peak, and other climbers coming down said that we had about 45 minutes or so to get to the top. At the end of the zig-zag stage of the path, it levelled out a bit and continued up to the Peak as a steady, easier climb. At the top we took our Peak photos after congratulating ourselves for actually getting there. On the peak, we had our lunch and looked around at the sheer drop which surrounds the peak on the northern side. We remained on the peak for about 30 minutes before starting down via the same route we had used to come up. The steepness of the path meant that the downward climb was as tricky as the route up. Owing to the loose rocks underfoot, we had to pick each step carefully. Because of this it took us nearly as long to get down as it did to get to the top. We arrived back at the Visitors Centre to find it packed with tourists enjoying the hot sunny conditions. We had spent about 7 hours on the mountain.
| Height climbed | Distance walked | Time to ascend | Time on peak | Time to descend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1343m (4406 ft) | 11 miles | 3 Hrs 28 Mins | 36 Mins | 2 Hrs 48 Mins |
Check out our Ben Nevis climbing photo gallery HERE
August 9th, 1998. At ‘Base Camp 1’ at Scafell, we made a spot decision to climb via the Lingmell Beck route, rather than up via Mickledore. So we set off at about 10:30am along the path towards Great Gable at Wasdale Head. Our navigation let us down, and we followed the wrong path, up the side of Great Gable instead of alongside the Beck. This didn’t matter too much as we were still heading towards Sty Head – by rather a long route.
We reached Sty Head and stopped for a few minutes to sample the view over the Tarn. Here the path meets the path up from Seathwaite. Other climbers were arriving from there.
The next stage of the climb was along a route known as the ‘Corridor Route’. This was a steep rocky path frequently crossed by streams. At times, this route took us over steep rock climbs towards the summit. From the Corridor Route we could see Lingmell and Great Gable, but not the top of Scafell or the Pike.
At the top of this climb, the ’path’ disappeared. We were faced with climbing to the summit up a rocky slope with little or no route marked out – although higher up we did begin to follow Cairn markers. We then knew we were on the right track as we were passing other climbers who were on the way down. They confirmed that we had about 30 minutes or so to go to the top.
Continuing over the loose rocks, we reached the summit of the Pike. Some other climbers were there also. The top is marked by a large Cairn, the Trig Point, and a plaque. It was very windy, but clear skies meant we had another great peak view. We stayed on the peak for about 30 minutes, during which time we took our peak photos and made the 'peak' mobile phone calls. Then we began to look closely at Scafell – clearly visible about ¼ mile away. To us, and some of the other climbers who were on the Pike, the Fell looked a good deal higher. We didn’t expect this of course, and could not understand how this could be. According to the map, the Pike is higher by about 13 metres – but it did not look like it!!!
After a short ‘lunch’, We decided to take a shorter route down from the Pike to Wasdale Head. The planned route would take us down towards Lingmell Gill, past 'Hollow Stones'. Unfortunately, we again read the lay of the land wrong and finished up heading for the Lord's Rake and Mickledore on the North-East side of Scafell. The route at Mickledore took us straight down a near vertical climb for about 200 feet. We stood at the top for a while, looking down somewhat uncertain before deciding to go. We climbed separately to avoid sending loose stones down on each other. At the bottom of the 'cliff' we were walking on scree rocks, which were loose and liable to fall away under us. Luckily, we all made the drop down to firmer soil without mishap. The rest of the descent took us alongside Lingmell Gill, and across it at a fairly big 'watersmeet'. Further down, we eventually got to within sight of Wasdale Head. Unfortunately, we were still about 1 mile from the car. Again we had taken the wrong route and missed a right turn. We trudged alongside the Lingmell Beck again back to where we had parked up. The round trip took us a little over 6 hours.
| Height climbed | Distance walked | Time to ascend | Time on peak | Time to descend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 977m (3210ft) | 9 Miles | 3 Hrs 30 Mins | 35 Mins | 2 Hrs 13 Mins |
Check out our Scafell Pike climbing photo gallery HERE
August 10th, 1998. As we had decided to take the 'easy' route up Snowdon, Base Camp 1 for the climb was the Railway Station Car Park in Llanberis. We set off following the narrow road as it climbed very steeply out of the town up to a gate where the footpath started. The steepness of the road came as a bit of a shock - as we had assumed this climb would be easy. "Is it all going to be like this?" we all thought to ourselves. From the gate at the end of the road the foot path takes a route alongside the railway line for most of the way up, and begins with a gradual climb. From Halfway House, the path steepens markedly towards Llechog and maintains a steep gradient up to Clogwyn Station, where the path crosses under the railway line. Beyond this point, the path surface changes from grass and laid stones to loose rocks. With the weather a bit 'close', we drank more water on this climb than on the previous two, and there were no streams from which to refill water bottles. (There were one or two dodgy 'oily' looking ones, but we decided to pass on these). The summit became visible as we passed Bwlch Glas. From there a steady pull got us to the top. The peak has the requisite trig point, and little or no room for anything else. The view was a bit misty compared to the previous days, but we could still see a good distance, out to Anglesey for example. We took our peak photos, had some 'lunch', and attempted somewhat unsuccessfully, our now standard 'peak' mobile phone calls. After this, we then made the most of this mountain's unique facilities - we had a cup of tea! - actually several. We finished up being on the summit for over an hour - as train after train loaded with visitors arrived and they crowded onto the relatively confined space on the peak. We looked down at the alternaive routes up - via Crib Goch and the Miners Track. Climbers were on these paths too. Setting back down via the same route we had used to come up, we all felt elated that we had completed all three peaks. As we made our way down - gingerly at first owing to the steepness of the path - we broke into a jog and then a sprint in an attempt to get back to the base camp in less than an hour and a half - which we just achieved with seconds to spare. We had spent a little over 5 hours on the mountain.
| Height climbed | Distance walked | Time to ascend | Time on peak | Time to descend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1085m (3560ft) | 8 Miles | 2Hrs 31Mins | 1Hr 12Mins | 1Hr 30Mins |
Check out our Snowdon climbing photo gallery HERE
August 10th, 1998. We arrived back home at approx. 10pm following a five-hour drive back from Snowdonia, to a Champagne reception with a welcoming banner to mark the achievement.
Check out the Finale and all our Three Peaks climbing photo galleries HERE