Kay, Dave and Jake Conquer the Welsh 3,000’s

Total distance from start to end: 33.3 miles Total ascent: 14,000 ft Time between the first and last summit (Snowdon to Foel Fras): 11 hr 09 min 53 sec Total time elapsed, including getting up to the start (first summit) and down from the final summit: 14hr 30 min 18 sec.

The last few days when you’re prepping for a big challenge are funny.

On the Wednesday night I was stood in Lidl reading the back of food packets comparing which has the more carbs per 100 grams: Angel cake slices or Pain au chocolat, own brand fruit pastels or Henry Hippos, custard or rice pudding.

On Thursday I was distracted at work clicking through the route on OS Maps, Garmin, Google Street View and looking at Strava segments instead of the never ending list of tasks I probably should’ve been prioritising.

On Friday I was in bed by 8pm.

Myself, Jake and Kay were attempting The Welsh 3000s.

The rules of this challenge are quite basic in that you just have to stand on all the 15 summits in Wales that are over 3000ft within 24 hours. There’s no strict route you have to follow and no order you have to tick them off in. The summits are in three ranges separated by two road crossings, so looking at it logically you work your way through the Snowdon collection, then the Glyders, then the Carneddau range, moving from South to North.

With the challenge being a point to point, rather than a round, it creates its own logistical headache of where to start and finish and how you’re going to get there. After looking at many options including the possibility of just taking one car to the finish and getting a taxi from a remote car park three miles up from a tiny Welsh village, accessed only by a single track road, to the start at Pen-Y-Pass at five in the morning, we accepted going in two separate cars was the only option.

We left Rochdale at 2am Saturday 25th July excited, nervous, unsure and confident all rolled into one.

As we were starting our attempt from the top of Snowdon, we obviously had to get up there first. We left the car at 5:30am for the biggest climb of the day and in my head I’d dismissed this as a sort of free hit. You’re not being timed and it’s not part of the main challenge so it’s a chance to warm up into it and enjoy the views.

In reality though it’s roughly 4.5 miles, 800ft of elevation and for us was 1:45:00 before you even start the main business of ticking off the 3000 footers.

We got to the summit and were rewarded with incredibly clear 360 degree views over all of Snowdonia and a clear view of the three ranges we’d be completing throughout the day. Jake had borrowed a drone, planning on getting some aerial footage of the day. An impressive bit of kit, however, a strong gust of wind took off one of the blades and sent it back down to the rocks below somewhat quicker than expected. That was the last time the drone came out that day…

After a good 20 minutes or so of faffing about we were officially off with the first serious summit of the day quickly upon us. Crib Goch’s knife edge ridge is as incredible as it is intimidating with some very exposed sections threatening a straight 800ft drop either side, but we were fresh and moved well through the sharp rock picking what felt like safe and decent lines, no dramas.

After a fun scree run we hit the road section to Nant Peris and had already boxed off one of the three ranges.

I confidently claimed that was the most technical, slowest moving part of the day done with. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d be wrong…

Starting the next major ascent up to Elidir Fawr I commented that the weather forecast said clear until 10am then we might get a bit of drizzle, but as we were glowing nicely in our vest and shorts I think we might get away with it and the MetOffice had got it wrong. Not sure why I said this looking back now, it wouldn’t be long until I was regretting it wrapped up in a waterproof with hat and gloves on!

The Glyderau range is like a different world. It’s one massive grey boulder scrapyard. Huge lumps of rock somehow dumped and left high up a mountain by a glacier of the distant past. This terrain makes for slow progress, gives you very little rhythm to your ‘running’ and it isn’t easy to know if you’re on the right path or actually at the summits, especially as by now the cloud was down and well and truly settled in. It was raining and visibility was closing in.

The last summit to box off in the range is Tryfan, an exposed rocky outcrop, looming large and separated from the main horseshoe. It’s a very popular spot with rock climbers and scramblers. Technical and serious, you have to pick your line up the rock, always trying to look up and plan three moves ahead. Every now and then the cloud would break and you could see the sheer drops where one slip or misplaced step could put you in real trouble. It was even more baffling to see a couple of day trippers half way up in t-shirts and converse trainers really not enjoying themselves.

After a series of false summits hidden by the cloud we finally reached the famous Adam & Eve stones where legend says if you hop between the two you will gain The Freedom of Tryfan. Not today ta, that wasn’t worth the risk of landing on wet rock above a vertical drop.

We were now 20 miles into the day and nine hours deep. The first seeds of doubt started to sprout. There was a realisation we still had over 10 miles to go and the prospect of another minimum hour slog up to Pen Yr Ole Wen and the Carneddau range and the final seven summits.

I think if all three of us had said, yeah, lets call it there, there would have been a moment of relief and comfort. I think we would’ve lied to ourselves that 20 miles was still a good effort but that would’ve pretty quickly turned to disappointment and clarity that we definitely could carry on and we’d chucked the towel in.

I think it’s only natural to have these highs and lows on long, tough days in the mountains but it’s those moments where you have to dig deep, remember what you’re about and keep pressing uphill. There wasn’t many words spoken as we continued the grind up the steep mountain side and back into the cloud but we’d accepted this was getting done and we were in it to the finish.

We caught up with a group of two lads who were also on the 3000s challenge. They’d done the same as us and parked one car above Rowen and driven the other to Nant Peris… only they’d now realised they only had one set of keys on them and that was for the car at the start, not the end! They were relieved and thankful we didn’t hesitate to offer them a lift back with us to the start point. Three became five and now we had new conversation about challenges they’d done before, general running chat and riveting gear talk about whether they preferred Salomon or Inov8 shoes.

Not a lot can be said about the majority of the final leg through this unexpectedly still rocky range, other than it was a never ending march in the fierce wind and rain on now tired legs. We had little to no views and were just slogging away ticking over the miles until we finally saw a lone stone trig point.

The final summit. Foel-Fras. A rather uninspiring mountain top if truth be told. A pillar of rocks standing three feet taller than the field of rocks around it. We’d definitely visited more spectacular summits in the day but this was without doubt the most welcome one. We’d done it. The Welsh 3000s had been completed in 11:09:53.

The only issue was, as previously mentioned, the challenge starts and finishes at the 3000ft trig points. We now had about three miles left to go to get back to the car.

Spells of running, walking, stretching and navigation mishaps over the next hour finally saw us back to the car we’d dropped off 14 hours 30 minutes and 18 seconds earlier that day. Exhausted but proud of what we’d done.