Training started

So I'm the other half of the brother clan and just to wind Rog up, I thought I'd give some details on my training so far....

Training started, just! Could not find a mountain to walk around in Cambridge so two short planks and a trip to Tahoe for some exercise! Just need to work on the technique...

See you in April for the warm up...

Mike

Team Changes

We're down a man and his Defender! Because Rob's an IT Guru and all round genius makes him a fortune being self employed so he can't make the Challenge now we're doing it in weektime.

This means we need to find another driver or change the ways we're going to do things but on the plus side probably increases our chances of survival as he was the man who took a Lotus off the side of a mountain in Italy last year!

And credit to Mr Simon Fisher - the industry leader in Lighting Design has suggested the he may be interested in donning walking boots with us instead of driving... all will be revealed in due course.

Archie - finely honed machine.

Rob: Requires lot's of liquid, hard to get started in the mornings and requires lots of attention and gadgets.

Training on Snowdon

Over the weekend of 13th April our team of intrepid explorers are going on the first of our training weekends.

Matt, Mike, Roger, Jules and Mandy (last two King & Queen of the Mountains, first three liabilities!) will stay in the rather luxurious Ysgubor Gwersylla Bunkhouse. I myself will aim to book the penthouse at an eyewatering £22.50.

This jewel in Wales' tourism crown can be found at http://www.snowdonia-wales.net/acc/bunk/bryndu.asp

It will do the job, as the plan is: Friday - travel up and then drink lots of beer. Saturday, long walk and climb, Sunday AM - climb Snowdon, finding the best route for us, lunch, then PM, when we're all tired do a timed assent and decent. Our thinking behind this is that when we're actually doing the Challenge and really tired at least we won't be going into the unknown. We'll know what time we can do Snowdon in when we're tired.

Thats the plan anyway!

The Training Starts...

Now, me and Bodge are not the fittest guys in the world. Not the worst, but not the best, you get the idea. To do the challenge we both would rather not carry too many excess pounds around with us and also get a hint to our legs as to the trauma they will experience soon.

So, we have decided to go up in instalments. We will have a weekend in Snowdonia in April doing some timed climbs, and also Scarfell Pike at some point. To build up training we felt it was important to start at the bottom. We decided to assend to the highest point....... in Eastern England, the rugged and harsh landscape of Dunstable Downs.




There are those who say the biggest threat is the gliders, there are others who say that to replicate the altitude we had to encounted you only need stand on a milk crate, but for us, it was a start. We decided it would be fun to take some pictures as we go along.

We really felt the we were at the 'proper' start of things when we set out on the first walk. Us intrepid explorers were about to walk some hills.










Well sort of. we DID manage to take a bit of a detour through Dunstable and 'discuss' route options the map seemed to give us from time to time...










...but we did manage to get a few steep climbs in, I did manage to fall over in the mud...








...and we DID walk 7 miles in 1hr 55mins, which we didn't think was too bad for our first attempt. In a couple of weeks we want to get some more climbing in rather than distance and time.

The Team and our Strategy

A couple of weeks ago we decided it was high time to sit down and start to work out HOW we are actually going to do this thing. The idea is simple - up, down, drive, up, down, drive, up, down, pub. The logistics are still way up in the air and I'll be amazed if they stay the same, but here goes for now...

Walking Party:
Roger Staplehurst
Mike Staplehurt
Matthew Izzard
Jules Webb

Support Party:
Claire Staplehurst
Kirsty Izzard
Rob Talbot
Simon Fisher

Itinery:
Sunday 17th June 2007 – Travel to Fort William, Scotland – overnight in Hotel
Monday 18th June 2007 – Climb / Travel
Tuesday 19th June 2007 – Climb / Travel – overnight in Hotel
Wednesday 20th June 2007 – Travel back home

Time Breakdown:
18/06/07 17.00 Begin Ben Nevis assent. (5hrs)
18/06/07 22.00 Finish Ben Nevis – Dinner & drive to Scafell Pike (6 hours)
19/06/07 04.00 Begin Scafell Pike assent (Seathwaite) (5 hours)
19/06/07 09.00 Finish Scafell Pike – Breakfast & drive to Snowdon (5 hours)
19/06/07 14.00 Lunch – Begin Snowdon Assent (3 hours)
19/06/07 17.00 Finish!

Travel:
2 cars – Honda CRV & Nissan X-Trail

Things to do:
Book Hotels
Sort out road maps
Prepare list of things to take in vehicles- food, first aid etc.
Prepare list of things to take – climbers.
Training itinery.

The Cunning Plan

Now gather round troops, we may be asking questions later.... it's 26 miles in 24 hours.

BUT..

The Challenge:

First climb this monstrocity - Ben Nevis. Highest point in Scotland and the United Kingdom.










Next this baby - Scarfell Pike, highest point in England....












...and finally Snowdon, highest point in Wales.










All in 24 hours. Including driving. Oh dear.

The General Idea

Last December I found myself sitting in our local - The George And Dragon in Potton, trying (in vain) to have a sensible night out with my best mate, Bodge. I admit that this has never happened before and this particular evening was no different as, despite our best protestations, our wives remained highly sceptical about the condition we would return. How right they were, and then some.

For during the many and varied subjects discussed that night was the importance for a man to have a sense of fulfilment, acheivement. Something he can hold up to his children in years to come. The time had therefore come, we felt, to take on a feat of daring-do. To undertake a challenge, designed to push us to the full, to make us become men amoung men.

The first challenge, as it turned out, was walking home in a straight line. However, before this we had agreed and shaken hands on our first assignment. To climb Kilamanjiro.

Now I know what you are saying: "ah-ha, this blog is called the 'Three Peaks Challenge'!" And how right you are. Upon opening formal negotiations with our wives it was quickly established any such blog may as well be called 'Matt And Rog Completely Overstretch Themselves And May Die Challenge", so we decided to downsize. The Three Peaks Challenge was formed.

This blog will hopefully be added to be THE TEAM. You see we have sat down and pulled together the finest that no money can buy. I will send a blog later with the current details and our cunning plan, but for now we are dreaming of being intrepid mountain men.