Foot by foot...

A great man once wrote:

"However, the signs are there … e-mail traffic on the up, nervous laughter, twitching body language, fake injuries and what’s more, yes the truth … the hills are calling, pain beckoning. Cometh the hour … cometh the man."

I have highlighted the relevant scripture for this blog. I further present for your attention two exhibits:

a) A foot. A perfect physical Pythonesque example.













b) Foot (right) of patient Staplehurst, R.

Now: The above subject, having been a driving force in this expedition is now claiming that his role in climbing may be in jepardy due to a 'squash incident'.

Having raised nearly £1,500 at this point and all the rest of the team carrying a HUGE 35ltr rucksack each we are refusing to allow aforementioned Staplehurst, R to abstain from further physical pain.

Therefore we ask for donations of huskies and sled so that we can haul our founding member if required around on our merry jaunt.

Failing this we can amputate and fit a spring to allow further leverage on his downhill boundings.

The last of the training peaks

Helvelyn.......The last of the training climb for me before the 'BIG' ones. It was cold, damp and windy, but the visibility was reasonable going up & down. The top was simply lost in the clouds.

As for the pace.....We'll need to be a whole lot faster for the real climb, but the boy's did well, 4hrs to cover 4 miles & 800mtrs.

At the top: from the left, Andy, Jonny, David, Jonathan & I.

Behind us would be a fantastic view and a 500mtr drop, except for the clouds. Lesson for the day....take gloves on the climb

Time is now measured in gym sessions, only eight left before the challenge. No more stepper machines. What a motivating thought....Just rock and boot under foot.

Camels And Detachable Trousers

Jules has put together a kit list -

Personal Kit

Wicking Base layer (T shirt – not cotton)
Long sleeve top (ideally not cotton based)
Fleece
Waterproof coat
Trousers (Not jeans)
Shorts
Waterproof trousers
Hat
Sun Hat
Walking socks (3 pairs i.e. 1 pair per mountain – you can’t beat fresh and dry socks to start off a walk!)
Boots
Gloves
Sun cream
Ibuprofen tablets*
Ibuprofen gel*

* You will have aches and pains!

At least 1 complete set of spare clothes for if we get wet

Ruck sack – at least 35L size
Water bottle/Camelbak (will need 3 litres per mountain if weather is hot) – either water or the iso tonic mix you had in Snowdonia
Food for on walk – e.g. Flapjack, Museli bars, Wine gums/Fruit pastilles, Bananas, Oat cakes, Malt loaf, Peanuts, Dried fruit (suggest we buy all this in Glasgow)

Communal Kit (I will supply) but will have to be carried between us all

Blizzard bag x2
2 Man emergency shelter x2
First Aid Kit
Maps

Food for between walks in the car - lots

Fruit juice
Flavoured milk

Now, Roger and I have variations on this. Roger has suggested a high protein liquid diet consisting mainly of err... Guinness and that a 35ltr rucksack is enough to carry a complete team member in.

I went to Track & Field in Cambridge to get sorted - I ended up buying some Raichle boots - great after my steeltoe capped boots from before - my toenails are singing! The 35ltr rucksack's did indeed have enough capacity for an attempt on Everest in my opinion - mind you, Jules has got everything covered, including a nuclear fall-out shelter so we may need it. Me and Rog fancy a tupperware box with some wine gums - less weight, we go faster. I ended up with a Camelbak rucksack with a 3ltr resevoir - I am going to experiment with Rog as to howw many cans of beer that equates to. Breathable top - check, three pairs walking socks, check, walking trousers - check -AND I can do a striptease on the way, the legs are detachable - how great is that!!!! There were also crampons and ice picks in the shop and I was sorely tempted as I would look great but Kirsty made me see reason with A LOOK.

It does not help when you try everything on when you get home , walk round the house looking like a seasoned mountain man, to enter the lounge and have your wife p**s herself laughing at you. My ego is bruised, my bank account hurting but I am ready for the mountains!!!

Nerves beginning to show ....

5 weeks and ticking ... and yes, the team are beginning to show all the signs of nerves. Mike is pacing the lakes and training hard on the stepper at the gym, Rog is walking the mighty hills of Cambridgeshire, Jules does this for a living so he’s fine and Matt (the donkey) makes up lack of training with bloody-mindedness refusal to surrender to pain.

However, the signs are there … e-mail traffic on the up, nervous laughter, twitching body language, fake injuries and what’s more, yes the truth … the hills are calling, pain beckoning. Cometh the hour … cometh the man.

Me nervous! Tick follow tock follows tick follow tock … the day approaches

National Association for Colitis & Chrohn's

OK, now the serious bit. At first our motives were purely personal - a challenge for all of us. However, as time has gone on we felt that if it was possible to raise some money for charity along the way anything we wcan raise would help.

I am not going into personal details on this site - if others in the team wish to make things public then that is their choice - but one of our family members suffers from Crohn's Disease.

We have set up a site - www.justgiving.com/roger_staplehurst to raise money.

If you feel that you would like to give some money to support us then this would be very generous gesture. There are a lot of charities asking for your money these days. This is our personal challenge and it would be great if you could support NACC by supporting us. We also got some media coverage with the Biggleswade Chronicle!

The National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease (NACC) brings together people of all ages who have Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s Disease, their families and the health professionals involved in their care. These two illnesses are both forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and they affect about 1 in 400 people in the United Kingdom. If you would like to find out more their website is www.nacc.org.uk

Best Laid Plans...

As with any project - especially one like this things change - peoples availability, the logistics of travel etc. Once we had completed our Snowdon weekend and discussed what we needed to do with Jules, Mandy and Mike - Roger and myself sat down to work out the best way of doing things. The following is what was finalised, with input from all of us.

It was agreed to now do the Challenge over the weekend. This meant we had access to more people as they did not have to take so much time of work. Also, if we split the driving it gve us more options. So, our cunning plan now reads:

Friday 15th June:
Climbers and 1 x driver (Tony Allen) to fly to Glasgow, hire an MPV and stay over.
This was because all the Bunk Houses etc. near Fort William were all booked)

Saturday 16th June:
Drive to Fort William, buy some provisions and relax as much as possible.
17.00 Begin Ben Nevis assent. (5hrs)
22.00 Finish Ben Nevis – Dinner & drive to Scafell Pike (Seathwaite) (5.5 hours)
Tony Allen drives round to meet other driving team and then return to Glasgow, drop off MPV and fly back.

Sunday 17th June:
04.00 Begin Scafell Pike assent (Seathwaite) (5 hours)
09.00 Finish Scafell Pike (Wasdale) – Breakfast & drive to Snowdon (4.5 hours)
Mandy and Claire drive from Wasdale to Snowdon - 1/2 hour quicker.
14.00 Lunch – Begin Snowdon Assent (4 hours)
17.00 Finish!

This gives us the best chance of finishing and breaks the driving up for everyone. Also, if there are any injuries etc. then we can continue with the Challenge as we will be in two cars from Scafell Pike.
We will also take 2-way radios up with us to radio down about half an hour from the end of each climb so that we can have some hot food to eat as soon as we get down, eliminating down time. We can then eat on route.

At this point can I thank Rob Talbot (and Archie!), Simon Fisher and Mark Dilley for offering their services if we got stuck.

Roger has also done an amazing job booking flights, cars, hotels - everything is really coming together now. Have to say I'm starting to feel nervous now as reality draws in!

Snowdonia Training - April

On the weekend of 7th and 8th May we all met up in Snowdon for our first 'proper' climb. I think most of us (aside from Jules and Mandy!) felt that this was make or break time - to be honest myself, Mike and Rog arn't exactly used to this type of activity and this weekend would let us know if it was physically possible. We were a bit daunted on when arriving on the Friday night, being confronted by super fit Jules and Mandy. They had ALL the kit - nuclear fallout shelter, everything, we had Mars Bars. Mandy said that if we weren't able to keep up with her then we had no chance. We thought we had no chance and with that happy though fell asleep!

We had our hardest climb to start - 923m up to the top of Elidir Fawr. Me and Mike tried an alternative route and quickly decided after that that it was best to follow Jules at all times! We then crossed to 'claim' (we LOVED the 'claimed' bit!) Foel-goch and then Y Garn at 947m. Here are some pics of the day:

Preparing to set off.

Getting higher!

Our first 'Claim' - on top Elidir Fawr.

Amazing views - across 'Devils Kitchen' to Tryfan.

That eveing we assessed our injuried - apart from all of us feeling a bit achey and me minus a couple of toenails we were fine - we went out for a meal, a beer and were so tired a good early night for Snowdon the next day.

Our aim is to climb and get down from Snowdon in four hours. We decided to do a timed climb and also to all stick together to get a team time. We started climbing at 8.00am. We decided that the quickest route for us was up the Pyk Track - longer, steeper at the start than Miners but gentler later on, and down Miners - steeper but then flatter so if we needed to run to get a time in we could do.

Snowdon from the Pyg Track.

Top of Snowdon, looking down Miners Track.

L to R: Jules, me, Mandy, Mike, Bodger.

Well earned rest. On to bigger things!

In total we did it in 3hrs 26minutes. In 24 hours we had done the equivalent of 2 of the three climbs without any real training. We all felt that we were capable and it became apparant that driving would be critical. Another planning evening was organised.

Roger, Mike and myself could not have done this without Jules and Mandy. You gave up real hope and beleif that we can do this lunatic challenge but also made us respect what we are trying to do. It has made me realise that finishing in 24 hours - although our aim is not the vital thing. Finishing is, and more importantly, finishing as a team, together.