Last year I took part in and completed the Care International UK 24 Peaks Challenge 2005. I also said that I would never do it again, but last weekend off we went again to the Lake District to try and beat our time in the First Title Group 24 Peaks Challenge 2006.
Unfortunately, the weather had different ideas. When we started at just gone 6am (don’t you just love 2:30am wake-up calls?) it was actually quite pleasant, and in the photo I managed to take I think the sun is out. Then at around 7:30, the sky darkened and the waterproofs went on, never to come off.
Courtesy Care International UK
Think gale force winds, horizontal rain, 20m visibility and you’re a fraction of the way there. It was thoroughly miserable for everyone who took part, but there was always the target of completing the event of climbing 24 peaks, each over 2400 feet, within 24 hours. However, even this became an impossibility when the event was called off on the Saturday afternoon with our team, Urban, just two peaks of that day’s ten to go. Fortunately we heard about the day being cancelled when bumping into the (very strong, and leading) India team who had managed to get lost on Great End after overtaking us earlier, as our radio had ceased to work by this time. We therefore descended with them and the mountain guides waiting for us with some other teams (but not a ‘lone walker’ who had apparently left his team as they were too slow!) further down the mountain.
This did mean that we got back to the hostel in Grasmere slightly earlier than we would have done otherwise, but still meant we wouldn’t get much more than 4 hours sleep that night before getting to the starting point for 5am on Sunday. At least we had some “better” weather to look forward to…
Or so we thought. Although we started our ascent of Red Screes in the drizzle, the conditions gradually deteriorated with the summit of Fairfield being particularly hazardous, just before the event was called off completely after our descent from Seat Sandal. Even though it was only 10:30 by this stage, apparently the conditions at Helvellyn were absolutely treacherous and the organisers had no choice but to cancel, with us having just one major climb (Dollywagon Pike, which India managed to complete before having to backtrack to get to the escape route) and eight smaller ones left. Again, it was quite lucky that we bumped into another team to find out the event was cancelled as our radio had packed up by this stage.
Courtesy Care International UK
So that was it. We had managed to complete just 13 of the 24 peaks, but this was all we could have done in the circumstances, even though we all wanted to continue due to the effort we had put in both on the weekend and in training for the event. I think we would have finished in the top three teams, but ultimately everyone was given the same time of 24 Hours on their certificates, presented at the (unimproved, dubiously four-star) Low Wood hotel that evening.
To top things off there were only a couple of amusing moments worth mentioning, including two people attempting to tackle Scafell Pike wearing jeans, looking like they had got lost on their way back from the Leeds Festival. The other was when we passed some Asian youths also on their way to the same peak (after our day had been cancelled), without even a map. They did have a long pole and one had fluorescent orange trousers though!
I suppose there’s always next year >:O
