The 7 Sons of Serevi 3 Peaks Challenge

It was a simple plan, get 14 people (5 girls, 9 boys) up and down 3 peaks in 24 hours, preferably still in one piece. Looking around at the motley crew assembled in a Llanberis hotel at the foot of Snowdon on a grey Friday afternoon I realised this might not be as easy as I had first thought!

Not everyone knew each other so we went around the room. The confusion had started already with 3 Matts in the team, luckily they were all from different countries; France, Australia and England so new names were easy to sort out for our 3 international mountain climbers now known as Michelle, Bruce and Daniel (though we already had a Daniel who was his brother so we had to change his name to Dave...).

Finally after a few jaunts to the shops for forgotten essentials and a few last minute toilet trips we set off up our first peak selecting the tricky but quick Miners track so we could negotiate the more difficult parts whilst it was still light. Spirits were high and we were told we couldn't possibly get lost on the well signposted route we had chosen; we saw this as a challenge and met it head on! We had no idea if we were following the path for about 30 minutes, in fact I'm still not sure if we had followed the path or luckily stumbled across the original path after a bit of off piste scrabbling but it got us to the top which promised amazing views of Wales and beyond. We were greeted by rain, wind, freezing conditions and mist (visibility of about 5 yards at best). A quick head count was performed and I realised we only had 13 people, panic! Ah no it's ok, I forgot to count myself. Head torches on, hats on (those who managed to keep hold of theirs on the windy peak) and down the hill we went on the longer but easy LLanberis Path to the bottom to meet our coach and head to Scafell Pike. The coach was a little late, the language barrier was proving difficult with the coach drivers, my Glaswegian really wasn't up to directing them to the hotel at 11:30pm. Once they arrived the lucky few slept and the rest of us shifted uncomfortably in our seats till we arrived at Scafell Pike at around 5:00am.

"3 peaks, a 7th of a week, 14 men, none who will ever do it again"

Scafell is the shortest but as were about to find out the most challenging climb of the 3 peaks. The path is not as clearly defined as the others, especially at the top. Underfoot conditions are not as friendly as Snowdon or Ben Nevis. There were even some rapids (well a slightly angry stream) to cross, one of our troop (I'm likening us to monkeys here not the army) nearly didn't make it and still has a bump on her head. On a clear day the views afforded at the top are amongst the most glorious in all of Britain, on that day I couldn't see past my nose. One or two of the guys nearly fell of the edge I'm told! Had they done so the coach might have been a bit more comfortable on the way to Ben Nevis, not to mention less fragrant.

As Ben Nevis approached our two Glaswegian coach drivers were laying it on thick (I am guessing here, again I was struggling with the language), we were going to breakdown in tears at its very sight after the baby mountain of Wales and the wimpy hill of England. Ben Nevis is tall, the highest of the 3 peaks at 1344m but it is also well travelled and the underfoot conditions were the easiest of all 3. Thankfully, and surprisingly, the weather was also by far the best of the 3 mountains, we could actually see! Coats, hats and gloves were all stowed away in our bags. The fastest among us made remarkable time covering the mountain in the same time as the other smaller mountains had taken. The rest were just glad to be alive. As people walked back into town the biggest decision of the whole challenge was debated... whether to shower before or after the pub. Those who chose the latter, I hope you can live with yourselves for the pain you inflicted on the innocent towns folk and tourists of Fort William.

In total the group raised around £5,000 from their (mis)adventure.