Hello,
Well, its taken longer to write this blog post than I thought it would do, there’s an incredible amount to write about mine and Siobhan’s attempt of the Welsh 3000s Challenge.
First and foremost, Siobhan and I are delighted to reveal that over the course of two hiking days, we managed to ascend twelve of the fifteen mountains that comprise the Welsh 3000s Challenge. Even though we did not manage to ascend all fifteen mountains, I cannot understate how incredibly proud we are of our achievements, especially after the difficulties we faced during last month’s trial of our Welsh 3000s Challenge route.
For those of you who are interested, I have uploaded a few pictures that we took during our Welsh 3000s Challenge attempt, which you can view by clicking on the picture of us at Llyn Padarn below. The camera we used was a Panasonic Lumix FT2, which was kindly lent to us by Panasonic UK Ltd.
As you may remember from my previous blog posts, we were no longer attempting to ascend all fifteen of Wales’ 3000ft mountains within the space of twenty-four hours as was our original goal. Instead, we were intending to complete our Welsh 3000s Challenge route over the course of two days by traversing the Snowdon Massif and Glyderau on the first day and then the Carneddau on the second day.
We began our Welsh 3000s Challenge at 6.00am at the Pen-y-pass YHA and managed to ascend to the summit of Crib Goch for 7.30am, far quicker than it took us during last month’s trial. From Crib Goch, we slowly traversed the arête through strong wind and low cloud and eventually made it to the summit of Garnedd Ugain at 8.30am. We then proceeded to the summit of Snowdon for 8.50am and after a brief pause, began our descent of the Llanberis Path. Upon reaching Hebron Station in very good time, we left the Llanberis Path to descend the northern slopes of Derlwyn to reach the A4086. We then followed the road to reach Nant Peris for 11.00am, half an hour earlier than expected.
After stopping to pack our waterproof clothing and replenish our food and water, we began the tedious ascent of Elidir Fawr at 12.00pm. During the ascent, Siobhan began to feel exhausted, which was not helped when we made the mistake of misidentifying Elidir Fawr’s summit and left the path to scramble over rocks. Upon reaching what we thought was the summit, we realised that the path continued to the actual summit… oops. We reached the real summit of Elidir Fawr for 14.00pm and stopped for a break. We then continued along the path to the gully of Bwlch y Brecan, where Siobhan’s exhaustion became even more noticeable. We reached the summit of Y Garn for 15.40pm and made the decision to descend via the Devil’s Kitchen rather than continue to Glyder Fawr, Glyder Fach and Tryfan. As the wind was becoming stronger and rain clouds were beginning to conceal the next three summits, it would have been foolish to continue. Up until our descent, I had managed to keep my tiredness in check but whilst coming down through the Devil’s Kitchen, exhaustion sunk in very quickly.
We decided to rest throughout Tuesday in order to recover for hiking the length of the Carneddau range on Wednesday. After somehow managing to eat the ‘Even Bigger Breakfast’ at Pete’s Eats in Llanberis, we travelled to South Stack on the isle of Anglesey to see the seas birds, including razorbills and puffins, and visit the lighthouse.
We resumed our Welsh 3000s Challenge on Wednesday at 6.10am at the northern tip of the Carneddau range. As this was the first time that either of us had stepped foot upon the Carneddau, we decided not to rush our traverse so that we could enjoy a full day of hiking on Snowdonia’s most overlooked range. We reached our sixth summit, Foel-fras, at 9.00am after a slow ascent over the lower foot hills. We then reached the summit of Carnedd Gwenllian for 9.30am and took a quick break before leisurely reaching our eight summit, Foel Grach, at 10.40am. From Foel Grach, we began the steady ascent to Carnedd Llewelyn, Snowdonia’s third largest mountain, for 11.30am. We then proceeded to the summit of Yr Elen for 12.00pm. After stopping for another quick break, we retraced our steps and instead of reascending Carnedd Llewelyn, cut over its southern slopes and met the ridge that led to our next two summits at the gully of Bwlch Cyfryw-drum. We continued along the ridge to our eleventh summit, Carnedd Dafydd, for 13.50pm. From here we could see all of Wales’ 3000ft mountains and began to visually trace our route over the last few days. After another short break, we reached the summit of Pen yr Ole Wen, our twelfth and final summit, for 14.30pm. We called our parents to let them know what we had achieved and descended to our camp site where we both promptly collapsed.
Now that our Welsh 3000s Challenge attempt is over, it is hard to believe that six months have passed since Siobhan and I made the decision to climb all fifteen of Wales’ 3000ft mountains in memory of my uncle, Stanley Wilfred Keyte OBE, who passed away earlier this year after a long struggle with cancer. It would be selfish to say that our achievements are entirely our own as there are several people who we are incredibly grateful towards for their support every step of the way. First and foremost, we would like to thank our parents, families and friends, as well as those who have generously donated towards Cancer Research UK. Of particular note, we would like to thank my brother in law, Paul, as well as my neighbours, Nick and Arlene, for taking us to the Brecon Beacons and joining us for our trial hikes earlier in the year. Last but by no means least, we would like to thank Dougie, Siobhan’s Dad, who took us to Snowdonia for both our trial hike and eventual attempt.
Through our Welsh 3000s Challenge attempt, we have so far raised £1,230.45 for Cancer Research UK. This sum includes the Chelsea F.C. Signed Football mentioned in my previous post, which sold on eBay for £45.01. Although there are many more donations yet to be received, my aunt, Beryl Keyte, has kindly offered to match our final total donations sum. We are both greatly indebted to my aunt Beryl’s generosity, as well as the support and donations that everyone has contributed. Most importantly of all, even if my uncle Stan never said it, I know he would have been proud that Siobhan and I attempted the Welsh 3000s Challenge in his memory. Knowing that my uncle would have felt honoured is one of the most important reasons for our attempt of the Welsh 3000s Challenge and we hope that our achievements will help in some way in the fight against cancer.
As to the future, Siobhan believes it is unlikely that she will reattempt the Welsh 3000s Challenge any time soon, whereas I aspire to reattempt it at some point over the next few years. Regardless, both Siobhan and I have agreed that our next trip to Snowdonia will be nowhere near as exhausting or strenuous as our Welsh 3000s Challenge. We have therefore decided to start exploring the lesser known and overlooked mountain groups in Snowdonia, as we enjoyed the remoteness of the Carneddau range. At some point we would also like to ascend Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach, as they are the only two 3000ft mountains that we have not successfully climbed together.
Many thanks for reading,
Simon.
