The 3 Peaks Challenge started in Glen Nevis Valley on Friday 16th July afternoon.  After a nice pre-walk meal in the Ben Nevis Inn I was pleasantly surprised Malcolm managed to track me down before setting off.  After a quick photograph, a man hug, and wishing us the best of luck Malcolm left us to the gorgeous Ben Nevis weather.  Even after 6 months training, we had very little experience walking in the rain.  It was soon apparent that none of my waterproofs were 100% waterproof, and despite walking through ponds, streams and rivers to test my boots out, it wasn't long before my socks were drenched and my boots were squelching.  Not a pleasant experience putting them on for the next 2 peaks.  We managed to get up and down Ben Nevis in 5.5 hours.  The horizontal rain, high winds and poor visibility meant we weren't hanging around for long on the top and photo opportunities were minimal. 

We arrived at Wasdale at 4am Saturday morning and were given an hour to have a sausage butty and tea before starting the 2nd Peak - Scafell Pike.  Unfortunately the awful weather seemed to be following us and again the waterproofs were tested to the limits.  Having already completed Scafell and Snowdon in our training sessions we knew what to expect and this was a huge advantage.  Having had experience with this mountain, other members of the group often turned to us to ask about difficulty and how far was left.  Although we thought we knew what we were talking about, the poor visibilty played tricks on our minds, and the last 15 minutes of what we thought continued on and on for a good 45 minutes.  Our popularity in the group was waning, but we assured them that we were merely acting as motivators by giving them a shorter time...  Towards the end of Scafell was the biggest struggle for me, and reaching the summit I was exhausted.  Scafell took just over 4 hours to get up and down, and coming down is definitely my favourite route.

On route to Snowdon we stopped off for some pasta lunch and carried on to Snowdon.  I was pretty confident the sunshine was hiding in Wales and on arrival I seemed to be right.  For the first time, we had views to enjoy going up Snowdon.  However, this luxury was short lived and halfway up we entered another cloud, the rain set in and the waterproofs were back on.  The ascent took us 2 hours 15 minutes and on reaching the summit our clock stopped and the 3 Peaks Challenge was technically over.  We clocked a time of 22 hours 40 minutes!  We hit the cafe on top of Snowdon and enjoyed the best cup of tea and cream scone imaginable.  To my disappointment the train had stopped running by this time and we still had to walk back down!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me over this challenge.  We are close to breaking the £5,000 barrier all raised for the Christie - a charity close to my family's heart.

Wow!  It's now the last few days before we take on the 3 Peaks challenge and having been training most the weekends since February we have now seen more of the Lake District in the last few months than in the previous 25 years.  What originally sounded to me as a boring challenge, has proved really enjoyable and who knows, we may even carry it on after the event :o  We can now boast of having completed Coniston Old Man 5 or 6 times, Scafell Pike twice, Snowdon, The Langdale Pikes, Latter Barrow and Black Combe - all mountains/hills I had never reached the summit of before.  Although, we no longer get the same adrenaline rush as on our first few climbs - worrying about poor visability on Black Combe, scrambling up Jack's Rake with some old doddering professionals and thinking my Dad had been blown off the top of Coniston Old Man with the dog, I think we can safely say we are as ready as we will ever be.  Who knows... we may even continue our new found hobby on and try the Crinkle Crags of Bowfell and Helvellyn - places we fancied climbing this time but didn't want to risk getting lost or injured so close to the event.  We ended up sticking to ones we knew i.e. Coniston Old Man again and again and again :)  Thanks very much for taking time to visit my page and viewing any of my training photos.  Look out for more photos with our new printed flag (which looks pretty sweet I might add).  Wish us luck :)  And pray for nice weather - not too hot, not too cold, maybe with a welcome breeze, NO RAIN  :P  X

Training update - we have now completed Scafell Pike once which was a shock to the system.  Starting at Wasdale Head, we had the shortest, more direct route, to the top of the mountain.  The first third was extremely steep, and I started to question whether the 3 Peaks was biting off more than I could chew.  Another 2 mountains that day would have been too much I'm sure, but I hope to be better prepared by July (2 months time).  Great Manchester Run has also been completed in a time of 55mins53secs, which I am quite pleased with.  Anything sub 1 hour was my target but I'm feeling the strain in my thighs some 3 days after the event.  In conclusion, more training required :)  19/05/10.

Our training regime began by tackling Hoad a few times which was knackering and being only a generous tenth of the size of Ben Nevis (but much steeper I'm sure) we knew we needed to start training further afield to prepare fully for the 3 Peaks.  We have since defied death climbing Coniston Old Man, Black Combe and the Langdale Pikes - check out the photos to see the highest points with me looking absolutely shattered on each .  To keep fitness up we are also competing in the Great Manchester 10K Run on 16th May representing the Christie.  And for further training, we hope to complete Scafell Pike, Coniston Old Man twice in a day and possible even attempt the 3 Yorkshire Peaks before the big one!  Soooo, please dig deep as we have a minimum fundraising target per person to achieve to take on this challenge so every penny counts ;)

Jamie has started a training blog so have a look!  It's a bit shabby but he's put his heart and soul into it so don't be too critical:  http://jmi7.wordpress.com/2010/04/

After a successful Charity Football Event and Great North Run last year I decided to look for a fresh, new, TOUGH, exciting challenge.  This year myself and James Irvine are joining the Christie Team to take on the 3 Peaks Challenge in memory of my brother, Martin Pears, who sadly lost his life to cancer in November 2008.  Martin was aged just 23.

The event is to be held over 16th and 17th July 2010.  The challenge is to climb the 3 highest peaks in the UK within 24 hours (not including travelling time between peaks).  The challenge starts Friday afternoon in Glen Nevis Valley in Scotland, from which we attempt to climb the largest mountain in the UK, Ben Nevis, standing at 1,344m.  Overnight we try to get some sleep on the coach whilst travelling to the Lakes to climb Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England, and then on to the highest mountain in Wales, Mount Snowdon, finishing Saturday evening.

More information on this challenge can be found at:  www.charitychallenge.com/expedition.html?id=1041.

All money raised from the event will go to Martin Pears’ Fundraising Fund for the Young Oncology Unit (Y.O.U) at the Christie.    The tribute fund running total can be found at:  www.justgiving.com/martinpears.

Thanks to everyone for their kind support.

Chris

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