Monday 22 September 2008

Mountain 3: Snowdon, Wales, 1067m

After two mountains, in two different countries, in one day, we’d already climbed 2231 metres. Mentally this was probably the most difficult mountain, as our bodies were crying out for more rest, while our minds were saying “only one more to go!”. We already knew we wouldn’t be manage to get up AND back down Snowdon within the 24 period, but Paul, our guide gave the goal to getting to the summit within that time. This gave us the renewed motivation we needed to get our legs moving. On leaving the mini bus we had 2hours and 17 minutes to get up there…
Craig however was spent by this point – his body having been pushed to it’s limit by both the mountain climbing, and the cruel stomach bug. At this point he knew he’d hold us all back from our new goal, so he reluctantly opted not to climb Snowdon. It was still a mighty achievement on his part, to climb the two highest peaks in the UK, within the same day! Well Done Craig!
It was a beautiful morning as we started our ascent, with the sun slowing rising behind us as we trudged determinedly up the slope. We were following the Pyg track up, and although on Snowdon we were covering the least elevation, only 600m of it’s 1067, it was a steep and rugged 600m. Still a rather lovely walk, at a time of the day when normally we’d still be in bed.
As fate would have it, there was only one cloud in the sky that morning. And that cloud happened to want to sit right over the summit of Snowdon, so after a final push to get the top within the 24hours, we were again greeted by a white out! It didn’t matter though. WE’D DONE IT!! All were very happy to be there, and champagne and fosters and hot Ribena (Carrie’s contributions!) appeared out of rucksacks.
Having made that third summit, the urgency seemed to ease off and we all chatted happily as we slowly descended Snowdon, down to the Miner’s track, stopping for lots of pictures along the way – it really was picturesque!
The walk back, although mostly flat, seemed very long, probably because in our minds we’d finished the challenge at the summit! The fact that we all had trains booked home from Liverpool in just a few hours was also playing on Carrie’s mind….
The theme for this mountain was Mind over matter…

1 comment:

Unknown said...

thanks a lot for visiting me and become a follow , u blog and photos are so beautiful :)