Conquering the National 3 Peaks in 24 Hours - My journey ~ Kate Phillips

Climbing in the dark is a real treat!

This was a long time coming for me, I was meant to do it to celebrate my 50th birthday in 2020. I had, semi successfully, persuaded my amazing partner John and a couple of friends that it would be fun. They were sceptical though and then COVID happened and all adventuring went on hold for a while, I strongly suspect they were all quite relieved!

I still wanted to do it and, for me, it had to be the “proper” 24 hour version. I had some other adventures but this one was always there in the background. My training wasn’t going well though.

Despite expert help from Kerry something was not right, I wasn’t feeling good. My stubborn streak got me through for a while but I felt like I was dragging my whole body through mud. Stubbornness can only get you so far though and eventually I saw my GP and found out that I have Coeliac disease.

I’d already signed up for the 3 Peaks Challenge with Kerry and a team of amazing women so, 6 weeks post diagnosis we set off to Scotland in a mini-bus. The following day at exactly 11am we set off up Ben Nevis; spoiler alert, turns out that a nutritionally depleted body, very little recent training and a lot of uphill is not a good combination!

As we were heading up Ben Nevis my heart rate shot up to 175, we stopped and it settled quickly but as soon as we set off again the same thing happened. What to do? I had Kerry’s words of “nobody is to be left along on the mountain” in my head but I didn’t want to be responsible for the rest of the team being too slow to achieve the under 5 hour goal for Ben Nevis, or completing the challenge in under 24 hours. I was running through my (limited) options thinking “Shit, how do I get this one sorted” when I spotted a group coming down the mountain….. a quick “Hi I’m Kate can I come down with you?” later and I headed back down the mountain and the rest of the team carried on. They did a fantastic job and finished the challenge in under 24 hours and I enjoyed my honorary support crew role.

I did feel sad that I couldn’t carry on, but I was happy that I had made the right decision. Those mountains aren’t going anywhere and I knew they would be there when I was ready.

Fast forward to September 2024. With so much help and support from Kerry I’m ready. I have trained, I’ve done recces, my body feels strong again and my lovely friend Tess is coming too. As the northern Perpetual Motion Coaching contingent, we were picked up at the, not so salubrious, Lymm Services on the M6.

We headed north in the mini bus past the heart shaped wood just off the M6, the Lake District, the border, Loch Lomond and Glencoe to Fort William. After a yummy dinner at the Ben Nevis Inn we settled down for a good sleep.

The next morning we did some last minute bag sorting, had a yummy breakfast (and bought some lovely soaps) at the Highland Soap Company and headed to Glen Nevis. At 10.50 we set off up Ben Nevis. It was a glorious day and we were soon past the place where I had to turn round before. It felt so good to be on the mountain feeling strong and fit. We slogged on up and up, the glorious weather was a mixed blessing, we had views from the top but oh my gosh so many people!

We didn’t have time to join the queue for the steps to the trig point so I climbed up to it on the other side and got yelled at (sorry not sorry!!). Then we were off scampering back down as fast as we could.

Five hours 15 and we were back at the van, a quick wee later we were on our way to Scafell Pike. It’s a long way and darkness fell as we did the last narrow, twisty-turny bit of the journey. Arriving at that time is a good plan though, because there was very little traffic.

As we set off up Scafell Pike it was dark but the sky was clear and the stars and moon were out, it was stunningly beautiful. We could see snakes of headtorches heading up and down the mountain, it was magical and my favourite mountain of the trip by far.

The path up from Wasdale is clear and easy to follow and before we knew it we were at the trig point and heading back down. We made it down super fast and despite my small navigational error at the bottom which took us into the campsite instead of the car park (sorry team) we were 20 minutes inside our 4 hour target time.

Super fast wild wees later we were in the van and heading to Yr Wyddfa. I managed some sleep on the journey (a new PB for me!!) but unfortunately the journey was not kind to us and the satnav had a bit of a funny turn. It sent us up a narrow bumpy track out of Llanrwst, definitely not the quickest way and such hard work for our amazing drivers.

We arrived at Pen Y Pass and topped up our water and food supplies and set off with a, very tight, 3 and a half hours to do the last mountain. Less time than we wanted but definitely doable. The weather was no longer being kind to us and we were soon up in the clouds with little visibility. It took us 2 hours to get to the top, we all touched the trig and set off back down. We were up against it time wise but we went as fast as we could. With 2 miles to go we had 40 minutes, two twenty minute miles and we’ve done it, but the Pyg track is gnarly and it’s hard to power walk or run.

It was a real dilemma, I knew that I could get down quickly enough but I didn’t want to leave the rest of the team. We stayed together and then with one mile to go I went for it. It was almost a subconscious decision, my legs just started going faster and I was running down the last mile of the Pyg track. It felt amazing to run it in for the team, I stopped my watch at 23 hours and 57 minutes feeling happy and proud, a bit sore and very tired.

Thank you to Kerry for organising the trip, to Kerry and Kags for driving and to all the amazing women on both of these National 3 Peaks Chellenges. Long may the adventures continue 😊