INTRODUCTION

Each season we support and guide hundreds of people and groups taking on the National 3 Peak Challenge. From individuals and groups of friends, to charity and corporate groups. Whether for charity fundraising or just for fun – it’s a fantastic challenge and adventure to remember.

Our mountain guides and drivers have completed the challenge many times over the years and know it inside out and the best ways to maximise the chances of successfully completing the 3 Peaks Challenge

All of our mountain guides are qualified Mountain Leaders or higher and are certified by the MTA (Mountain Training Association). They are confident and experienced on the mountains in any conditions. They also hold a valid first aid certificate for your peace of mind.

Transport is a critical part of the challenge, we transport you between all of the mountains and one of the main advantages we have over other companies is that we do not outsource this element to a third party, we have our own team that we work with.

For group / private bookings you can choose any date to suit you depending on availability. You’ll have your own private luxury mini bus, mountain guide and driver.

What is the National 3 Peaks Challenge

There is nearly half a century of tradition involved with the 3 peaks challenge with lots of variations in style. The typical challenge though involves climbing

Ben Nevis Scotland’s biggest mountain at 1344 meters
Scafell Pike England’s biggest mountain at 978 meters
Snowdon, the biggest mountain in Wales at 1085 meters.

To complete the 24 hour challenge you must start at the foot of Ben Nevis and finish at the foot of Snowdon having reached all three summits in under 24 hours.

3 Peaks Itinerary One

Below is a suggested itinerary for a weekend challenge. We also run this challenge during the week.

Friday – We can all meet at Chester train station on Friday morning. At Chester train station you’ll be picked up by coach and transferred north to your accommodation in Fort William. That evening we can hold an event briefing and do an equipment check.

Saturday – We’ll take a transfer to the base of Ben Nevis and climb it, roughly taking 5 hours. We’ll descend and journey south to the Lake District and summit Scafell Pike. Once down we carry on our journey south through the night and into Sunday morning.

Sunday – We’ll carry on our journey south to Snowdonia and climb Mt Snowdon, usually at around sunrise. We’ll descend and depart back to Chester train station.

3 Peaks Itinerary Two

Friday – We can all meet at Chester train station or Glasgow airport on Friday morning. You’ll be driven to the base of Ben Nevis where you will start you’re climb in the late afternoon, getting back down as it gets dark. You’ll then drive south into the night.

Saturday – The journey south will continue to the Lake District and summit Scafell Pike as the sun is coming up. Once down we carry on our journey south to Snowdonia and make an afternoon climb of Mt Snowdon. Once down you’ll get dropped off at Chester train station to make your way home.

We also run this challenge from South to North and over a three day period.

Environment

We are aware of the negative impact three peaks challenge events can have. Mainly littering, erosion to the mountain caused by people deviating from paths, anti social driving, the carbon footprint, getting lost and needing to call mountain rescue and defecating on the mountains.

We feel that most of the instances of the above are caused by self guided groups who have not employed the services of a company such as ourselves. As a responsible operator we make sure that we address all of the above issues.

We’d recommend our itinerary one and staying the night in Fort William. This means you’ll have more time to enjoy the event and not continually drive up there and then back down.

All of our team are professional outdoor pursuits instructors and passionate about the mountains where they spend much of their time. They have worked for years to gain professional qualifications to allow them to guide in the mountains. We operate a “leave no trace” policy and support charities which work towards the preservation and maintenance of the mountainous areas, national parks and footpaths that we use. With respect to the carbon footprint of the challenge, we think that a group of people would have a similar carbon footprint over the 2 day period if they were not taking part in the challenge.

Snowdon summit with a group on a 3 peaks event

Accommodation

Our typical itinerary means you’ll be staying in comfortable hotel or hostel accommodation based on sharing a room with one of the other challenge participants. Our guides will often stay in the same accommodation so that you can have a group briefing, a meal out together and ask any questions about your 3 Peaks Challenge.

Your Preparation

Everyone is different and will need to prepare for the challenge in different ways. There is much information available online as to what is entailed with taking on the 3 peaks challenge and people should make themselves aware of this.

We are happy to discuss individual requirements with members of the group and help people decide what preparation they may need to do before hand.

We can arrange training days or weekends with our staff where you can head out into the hills to get a taste of what the challenge will be like and some idea of your own level of readiness. You can also learn about navigation and safety on the mountain.

Summit of Pen y Fan on a Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge

Team after finishing an adventure challenge day

Safety

Being based in The Lake District ‘The Adventure Capital of England’, a place which many professional mountaineers, guides and instructors call home; we have managed to bring together a team of dedicated, qualified and experienced people to work with us.

All of our staff hold nationally recognised Mountain Leader qualifications and are certified by the MTA (Mountain Training Association). They have spent their working lifetime guiding and instructing in mountaineering and climbing; both in the UK and around the world.

Alongside the usual required kit for leading groups on the mountains we also utilize satellite phones, GPS and radio communications for added safety.

We keep our ratios small and follow current best practice outlined by our national governing bodies.

Transport

Depending on where you are starting from we may be able to pick you up at the start of the challenge and drop you off afterwards. We usually find that groups make their own way by train or plane to Glasgow on Saturday morning, arriving for pick up between 10 am and 12 noon. We do often get asked if we can collect and drop off in locations such as London, this would add an many extra hours of minibus travel time onto the challenge and in fact increase the time needed to complete by an extra day. Flights from London to Glasgow are from around £25 and take just 1 hour, this is a very sensible option.

Transport is in comfortable modern minibuses. You will not be travelling on a 50+’s seat coach with 50+’s other people as with many other provides.

Its your challenge and any stops you wish to make along the way either for food, the toilet or whatever can be made no problem. However people who really want to complete the 24 hour challenge have been known to wee in bottles to avoid having to stop the minibus!.

If you would like to use your own transport then this is not a problem.

Descending back into the clouds on the national 3 peaks challenge

Ultimate 3 Peaks

The Ultimate 3 Peaks consists of scaling the three highest mountains in each of the national regions: Ben Nevis in Scotland (1344m), Scafell Pike in England (978m) and Snowdon in Wales (1085m). However, rather than increasing your carbon boot print you need to cycle between the mountains instead of driving. This radicalises the usual 3 Peaks Challenge into the ultimate duathlon (an event with running / cycling) test: 450 miles of cycling and 24 miles of steep hiking.

NATIONAL 3 PEAKS

The ultimate UK challenge on the UKs highest mountains