Neil’s Welsh 3000s

The day was finally there! The day Neil would attempt to summit all Welsh peaks over 300 ft within 24 hours. With a small group, lead by the mountain guide I had done Crib Lem with. He would do it after spending months training, and wondering how it would go. He could control himself, but he could not control the other people in the group. Would they be so slow he would get frustrated? Would they be so fast he wouldn't be able to keep up? Impossible to know, until they would be on their way!

He would set off Fron Pen y Pass at 7 in the morning. And it was a wet morning. That must have been a trying start! But he knows North Welsh weather. He would have been both mentally and physically prepared. 

At 8 I got my first update. They weren’t doing Crib Goch! Too dangerous in that wind. Disappointing in a way, but it is clearly more important to survive than to do the original route. Even though the Crib is one of the over-3000 peaks. 

While he was out there, I could see the weather improve during my marshalling duties. I was glad! That must've made a big difference.

The next time I heard something it was lunchtime. They had reached Nant Peris. They had done the first mountain ridge! Now they would go to the Glyderau ridge. And at about 3, they were at y Garn; about halfway along that ridge. That meant they had done that in 1.5 hours. Maybe only 1.5 hours to polish off the whole ridge? But no. It was over four hours later, and therefore evening, when I got the next message that they had to come down that second ridge as well.

I figured they would do it. If they wanted to do the whole route in 24 hours, they still had almost half that time for the Carneddau. And you have done most of the climbing by then. When it comes to horizontal walking you are only about halfway, but the sting is probably more in the climbs.

I was just having a cup of tea on my sofa when I heard a car pull up, and then a knock on the door. It was Neil! That must mean they had abandoned the attempt. But he looked quite happy. I was confused.

It turned out that the whole rest of the group wasn't up for continuing. Neil still felt he had the energy, even though of course by that time he was a bit worn down. But he figured that going on with only Jacob the mountain guide wasn't quite the same as doing it with the group. He said he would've pushed on if they would have done Crib Goch, but they hadn't. It wouldn't have been a full Welsh 3000s anyway! So he figured he might as well bail as well. But he said he did have an amazing day. And that is important! 

Armed with the experience of this day, he could try again next year, hoping to catch a day when Crib Goch would be possible. There were several things he said he would do differently if he had another chance. So he might be more comfortable next time.

He had also had some strong coffee to get himself ready for the last push, before the decision was made to not make that push. He was a bit hyper! And the day after he told me it had affected his sleep. Oh dear.

I was glad he had had a lovely day, and that he was fine with how it had panned out. And I was proud that he had been the last one to hold out. All the others were about 20 years younger than him! And they seem to have been suitably impressed. 

Hearing all his stories confirmed me in my decision to not consider that sort of shenanigans myself. My feet would have been killing me. And it would've been difficult to drink enough. You can't bring too much water on a hike like that as it would tire you out, and there is little water on the ridges. Filling up your bottles takes time they don't want to lose. Next time I will be just keeping an eye on my WhatsApp again!