Mastering the Bluff

Hay Bluff (left) and The Twmpa (right) at dawn on 16th Feb.

Hay Bluff.. Many of us who work at AndersonBrecon have heard of it, seen it and quite a few have climbed it. But as a small group we gathered in the factory car park at 8am on Saturday 16th February, seven of us (Adam T-R, Lyndon P, Mark A, Fred S, Steve Mans, David H and Gemma L) who plan to tackle the Three Peaks were today joined by two more walkers, Deb W and Rita W. Deb and Rita are also planning on taking on a walking challenge in June called the WAAT4 challenge (http://www.waat4.co.uk/), this challenge involves a 30k walk up and around the Brecon Beacons including a climb of Pen-Y-Fan. This challenge also raises money for The Wales Air Ambulance. The girls wanted to get some training in, so what better way than to train together.

Fred was the designated navigator for todays challenge and briskly set the pace as we set off down Brecon Road towards the start of the world famous Offas Dyke Path which we would follow for most of this walk by looking for the little acorn symbol and following the point of the arrow to the next style or way point.

The start of the hike was mostly flat as we covered the fields below Hay and Cusop with relative ease, lots of friendly chatter and a few introductions between staff who had never had an opportunity to meet before. The weather was kind to us once again as the sun began to dance in and out of the low clouds. But after about 2 miles we hit a boggy, steep and slippy hill that raised the heart-rate and lowered the conversation rate in equal measure!

The killer bog-hill!

After a lovely stroll across the common we reached the little carpark at the base of The Bluff, while we re-grouped a few sneaky snacks were digested, and one even managed a sneaky cup of tea! We then tackled the foot of the Bluff, For many this was quite a task, except Fred aka 'The Mountain Goat!' but with much determination and encouragement the team made it to the peak of The Bluff, and in pretty good time too!

Hay Bluff

We decided at this point to make the walk a circular one, and Mark took over navigational duties to offer an alternative route down the mountain, using the OS map he'd brought along!, the descent was wonderfully steep and we had stunning views of the surrounding hills. Alot of the return walk was on roads, which is pretty hard going on the feet and ankles - but we've got to harden up I suppose!

We returned to the Factory car park at 12.30pm, 

Total time 4 hours 20 mins, total distance walked 10.49 miles.

Well done everyone.

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What is the Three Peaks Challenge?

A few times since setting up the blog i have been asked 'What is the three peaks challenge?' or 'who runs the three peaks challenge' etc so i thought it best to write a post on the history and give a bit more information on what the actual challenge involves.

The National Three peaks challenge at its heart is an event in which an individual or team attempt to climb the  highest mountain in Scotland (Ben Nevis), England (Scafell Pike) and Wales (Snowdon), usually within 24 hours including driving time. 
Overall it is approximately 23 miles of walking and over 10'000 feet of climb with 11 hours of driving.
A common mistake is that people think they are the three highest peaks in the UK, but there are over a hundred peaks higher than Scafell pike in Scotland and over 56 peaks higher than Snowdon.
There is no 'official' Three peaks challenge and nobody really knows who first attempted to see if they could do it in under 24 hours but 'the challenge' is now attempted by more than 30'000 teams and individuals each year!
Some people complete this challenge in 24 hours; others prefer a more leisurely alternative, taking two or more days to complete. It does not have to be completed in 24 hours neither does it have to be attempted in June.

Timings.

As we are attempting the 24 hour challenge, an approximate timing for the challenge looks like this.

5pm - Start Ben Nevis (5 hours walking)
10pm - Finish Ben Nevis and begin drive to Scafell Pike (6 hour drive)
4am - Start Scafell Pike (4 hours walking)
8am - Finish Scafell Pike and begin drive to Snowdon (5 hour drive)
1pm - Start climbing Snowdon (4 hours waking)
5pm - Finish Snowdon - complete.

Total time 24 hours exactly. (not a lot of room for error!)

The Mountains.

Ben Nevis

Ben Nevis, the highest of the three peaks at 1344 metres (4409 ft), has one main path.Unlike Snowdon and Scafell Pike, the path to Ben Nevis starts close to sea level, meaning much greater vertical ascent.Popularly known as The Pony Track, this route is 10.5 miles long, 17km, up and down, and includes 1352 metres of ascent.

Scafell Pike

While Scafell Pike has several paths, most Three Peaks Challengers will begin at Wasdale Head, to the North of Wast Water.The Wasdale Head route is six miles long, up and down, and includes 989 metres of ascent.

Snowdon

While Snowdon has many paths with varying difficulty, most Three Peaks Challengers will follow either the Pyg Track or Miners Track, leaving from the Pen-y-Pass car park, on the A4086.

The Pyg track includes a distance of 7 miles, 11km, up and down, and an ascent of 723 metres.The Miner's Track also ascends 723 metres, and is 8 miles, 13km, up and down.

And So it Begins!

Its Saturday the 2nd of February, its 9am, we're stood at the highest natural point in southern UK, its well below freezing, snow and ice is being whipped up from the ground by the powerful Welsh winds.Pen y Fan, 886 meters(2,907 ft) above sea level.A handful of AndersonBrecon employees of all ages, job titles and fitness levels stand almost alone at the peak.

About 4 weeks ago I (Adam) was approached by Lyndon asking if i'd be interested in doing something special for charity, intrigued,I asked for more information. It turned out that Lyndon was looking for a team of staff from AB to possibly complete the UK Three Peaks Challenge in June 2013 to raise money for the Wales Air Ambulance.
The Three Peaks Challenge involves climbing the three highest peaks in England (Scafell Pike), Wales (Snowdon) and Scotland (Ben Nevis) usually within 24 hours.
We have had about 20 names come forward to do the challenge at present all with widely varying fitness levels and backgrounds, but all with a personal reason for wanting to take up one of the toughest challenges in the UK. Over the coming weeks I'll be asking them to share the reasons for this blog.

So, four weeks later we decide to test our fitness levels and start the training (We have only got just over four months after all!), We chose an ascent of Pen-y-Fan; A: as it was close to where we live, and B: its somewhere i expect we'll spend a lot of time training over the coming weeks so lets get familiar with it!

At 8am (and about -1°C)) seven of us met in the surprisingly quiet Story Arms car-park-Adam T-R, Mark A, Lyndon P, Craig W, Steve Mans, Vince R and Fred S. With a chill in the air and a spring in our boots we headed for the path, The skies were blue and cloud free (for now), we took the Pont ar Daf path as this is thought to be the easier path. The path was pretty icy on the way up and still very quiet, id say we passed less than a dozen people coming down, at about 600m we reached the snow level, which was only a couple of inches deep but frozen over and pretty slippery. We made it to the summit of Pen-y-Fan in about 1 hour, which was actually quite an achievement for a few of us, some because it was the first time they'd been to the top (myself included) and some because it had been harder than they thought it would. Unfortunately the clouds had rolled in and the views didn't stretch much beyond 10m. Pleased with our time we decided to head onwards to the next peak along, The Cribyn.

Getting off the summit was a bit dicey as the winds were howling and the steep trail down was very snow-covered, cloudy and slippery, but the team did well assisting and talking each other down. We then had a beautiful walk with a nice challenging scramble up the Cribyn where we were presented with stunning views of the Wye valley in one direction and all the way to the Bristol channel in the other. 

After walking the Craig Cwm Cynwyn to meet 'The Roman Road' that gracefully cuts through the mountain range we decided to head back. We took the Gwaun Perfedd route from here almost to the peak of Pen-y-Fan then cut back across towards Corn Du. Corn Du was by now bustling with climbers of all experience up here for a stroll. The descent was filled with jubilant chat between us about what to do next, what our kit was like, reasons for doing the challenge.. spirits were definitely high. 

We got stopped near the bottom by a rather frail looking 70 year old man on his ascent, he had set himself the challenge of climbing the mountain that day. Even though it looked like it would be a real struggle for him, he had a steely, determined look in his eyes, we warned him of the icy paths and the snow and wished him farewell.I hope he made it to the top because although he may not be walking the same distance we may be in a few months, to him it was a Challenge, as this will be to all of us.
A physical, personal challenge to overcome.
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