Sponsored Three peaks challenge - Snowdon
7am Chris was first behind the wheel again for a hair raising drive with the early morning sun in our eyes over Hardknott pass to Ambleside where Dan took over the driving for the A591 which took us down to the M6. The A591 is another good road with dual carriageway after Windermere. It took about an hour to get from Wasdale head to the M6 motorway at 8am and the rest of the 2h30 drive down to Snowdon is a breeze down the M6, M56 and A55 to the A4244 down to Llanberis where we found yet more 30-35mph drivers: one in an MGF sports car who wouldn't even overtake a tractor!
10:30am Arrived at pen-y-pass but the car park was full so we decided to drive back down to the park and ride car park and got the bus back up to Pen-y-pass, costing us some time and meaning we weren't climbing till 11:10am. Just under 5 hours to go up and down Snowdon sounds like a doddle...
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11:10am Start of the Pyg track.
12:10pm A quick fishing break...
... looking down over Llyn Llydaw.
12:30pm Stitched image of the summit ahead with Glaslyn below (click for large image)
1:15pm The summit looks quite forbidding from the top of the Pyg track.
1:20pm Finally reached the railway and the summit is now only a short distance away.
1:30pm The summit at last. Now 2.5 hours to get down - where did the time go?
Panorama of the Pyg track and Llyn Llydaw from the summit (click for large image)
After some discussion we decide to descend using the Llanberis path. It is a lot longer than the Pyg track but looks a lot more gentle and with at least 2 pairs of knees not feeling up to a steep descent it seems like the better option.
2:15pm Just past Clogwyn Station looking at Llyn Du'r Arddu- about 1/4 way down. 4pm finish is not looking so comfortable now.
2:40pm Quick stop at halfway house. The steepest part of the path seems to be behind us but still no time to break for long.
3:30pm Made the bottom with just half an hour to spare. The Llanberis path was quite a demoralising descent as the path is so long and boring compared to the Pyg track. Opinions are divided over which route would have given us a quicker finish but we made the 24 hour deadline anyway - just.
Standing still just long enough to get snaps at the bottom before we all hobbled off to meet the Wives who had been doing the three kids challenge for a very welcome beer and finally a rest stop where we don't have to clock watch.
We were very lucky to have such great weather on all three mountains. To have all three peaks clear of cloud must be quite a rare occurence for the UK. Pain doesn't have much of a memory and what's left is a great experience having seen some of the most breathtaking and beautiful scenery in Great Britain in just 24 hours.