Lakeland 3000’s in 24 Hours 2013

The Lakeland 3000’s is one of  the toughest mountain challenges the Lake District, England, and the UK can throw at a walker. The challenge is to summit the 4 summits in the Lake District that stand taller than 3000ft. These mountains are Skiddaw, Scafell, Scafell Pike and Helvellyn. Anyone who knows the Lake District will know that these mountains are split across 3 different areas of the Lake District, making the route a giant 45 miles long with a total ascent of 11,000ft.

I met the group of 7, plus George my assistant guide outside the Moot Hall just before half 7, and after a short brief and kit faff we we on our way. 19:39 was the magical time that we needed to be back in Keswick by the following days. What was the next 24 hours going to hold? How we’re we going to feel when/ if we got back to Keswick? These were all unknowns to us, but one thing we did know was it was a beautiful evening and we we’re ready for the challenge!

We set off through the streets of Keswick heading northwards, Skiddaw was our first objective. We set off at a good pace, everyone was keen to get this first mountain out of the way. After heading up Spooney Green Lane past Latrigg we made our way up the steep and laborious Jenkins Path. As we climbed the sun was setting and casting an awesome light across the Lake District. We made sure we stopped from time to time to admire these fantastic views. At the far end of our views we could see the Scafell massif standing there, looking so far away at this point, and then over to the east Helvellyn. The extent of the challenge we were taking on had just hit home.

By 21:44 we we’re standing on the summit of Skiddaw and we had made it just in time to see the sun drop out of the sky leaving an amazing  sunset. The usual Skiddaw winds we’re present so we were on our way back down the Jenkins path within 10 minutes. On our way down the path the darkness set in and the moon rose from behind the Helvellyn range. It came up completely full, massive and glowing orange, it was as though the sun had dropped out of the sky on one side of the hill and risen on the other.

We dropped into Keswick and picked up the kit that we didn’t need to lug up and down Skiddaw. Now we had the first tough bit of the challenge. The 8 mile road walk down Borrowdale to Seathwaite in the dark was going to be more of a mental battle than a physical one, but there was no use in moaning about doing it, so we just got on our way. We walked at a good pace down the road, looking pretty swish in our hi-viz kit!

We managed to keep the pace up and ate up the road quite quickly, much quicker than I had previously thought.  2 and a half hours passed in the darkness and we arrived at the cargo drop I had pre-placed at Seathwaite. I put the water on the stove and dished out some food. Everyone started sorting their feet and filling their bags with more food and drink. 40 minutes passed, a little  longer than planned, and we we’re once again on our way. Unfortunately one of the group had opted to stop at Seathwaite so we left her in the tent where she could get some sleep till morning. We now had 25km until we got another chance to re-supply, or drop out of the challenge.

We we’re now on very familiar ground for me, we we’re going to follow the same route towards the Scafells that we take on our guided walks up Scafell Pike. We continued to make great progress up towards Styhead Pass. We arrived at the pass at about 4:00am and it was already getting quite light, light enough for us to take off our head torches.

By 5:00am we we’re high on the corridor route. We looked northwards and could see the obvious shape of Skiddaw standing what looked like miles away with the sky going pink behind it. Although we had made it underneath Scafell Pike, our second peak was to be Scafell. We followed the lesser trodden path that traverses underneath Pikes Crag until we were standing in front of Scafell. Scafell has multiple ascent routes, two of which were options for our ascent. Lord’s Rake will have been the easiest effort wise but unfortunately a big slab of snow was still present on the lowest section. This meant we had a tricky couple of hours to deal with, this time both physically and mentally.

We had to ascend to Mickledore, Descend about 100m, ascend to the summit of Scafell, then Descend 250m and re-ascend 100m….once again, it had to be done so we just got on with it!  We tackled the loose rock up the Micledore in quick time and then started to make our way down the other side towards Eskdale. I located the East Buttress traverse which meant we didn’t have to descend quite as much. From the end of the traverse we made our way to the summit via another loose scree slope. It was 7:00am when we reached the top, 9 hours had passed between summits, it was good to finally be on another.

We descended off of Scafell and made it back to Mickledore all feeling a little bit drained. The heat of the day was starting to set in so we took a moment to have a rest. A short walk from Mickledore took us to our third summit, Scafell Pike (8:15am).  Although we had 3 of the 4 summits, we had only done about half of the distance.

We stopped for some lunch (breakfast really) on the summit and enjoyed not having to pick out a space amongst hoards of people, something that was bound to be happening about 4 hours later. As we rested we sat and admired how far we had travelled already. but we could also see Helvellyn standing on the skyline about 10 miles away.

We were soon on our way again. We headed over Broad Crag and Ill Crag to Esk Hause where we dropped down to Angle Tarn. Our route now traversed around the side of Rosset Pike to the Stake Pass. This next section of the walk was to prove to be one of the hardest parts, just as the books had warned. It was now about 10:00am and the sun was starting to radiate some real heat. At our own paces we trudged our way up to the summit of High Raise, a summit that didn’t come soon enough. Our route up was via a steep grassy slope, all 300m vertical ascent of it!

Once again we had to rest on the summit. 5 miles down, 5 to go to get to Wythburn, our next re-supply. By this point we were slipping back on time, I think most of it had been lost on our way up Scafell as we had to take the longest route up. From the summit we descended down to the Greenup Edge from which we picked a route through the Wythburn Bog. Fortunately the bog wasn’t all that boggy so our progress wasn’t slowed up too much. This part of the walk seemed to drag on and on, the valley didn’t seem to want to end. By 13.10 we were in the Wythburn Church car park re-supplying our bags once more. The original plan had been to have another 30 minute break here, but some quick timings in my head, plus not knowing how people would fair going up the steep slopes to Helvellyn, we had to call it short and head off ASAP. Naomi had been waiting for us at Wythburn and she had made us all some bacon sandwiches. At this point in the challenge they were amazing, and exactly what we had needed. Unfortunately this last section had taken its toll on a couple of the guys and so they decided not to continue.

 

From the car park the track is steep right from the start. We set off with the aim of getting up Helvellyn in 2 hours. As we reached the end of the trees I sent Colin and Tony off ahead as they we’re travelling much faster than the remainder of the group. I was happy they knew the route so the next time we would see them would be in Keswick in a few hours time. I continued to plod up the steep slope with 3 of the guys. We actually made amazing progress and reached the summit of Helvellyn after just 1hr 30. It was now 3.00pm, we had 4hours 45 minutes to descend off of Helvellyn and walk 6 miles back to Keswick. Our chances were now looking good again, provided we made a reasonable time off of the mountain.

Just over an hour passed and we had reached the roadside. Neil, one of the guys who had dropped out at Wythburn had waited for us and wanted to complete the final few miles along the road. It is always a shame to finish a walk along a road, but on this challenge we just wanted to finish, however it was. Once again we got into our stride and started to eat up the distance. Mentally we weren’t helped by the miles to Keswick signs and markers every mile. Each mile felt like 2 miles on our legs.

It took us just under 2 hours to get back to Keswick. The final mile as we made our way back through the back streets took ages, but finally the Moot Hall came into view, we had done it! Colin and Tony had completed the circuit in 21hrs and 50 minutes, and I finished with the 4 other guys in 22hrs 38mins, both great times for such a challenge.

We rounded off the challenge with some champagne to celebrate, as well as finding the closest bench to sit down on!

Thank you to all that came along and took on the Lakeland 3000’s. It was a fantastic challenge, made better by having such a good group!

For a full album of pictures please follow this link.

If you would like to take the Lakeland 3000’s in 2014 please drop me an email at lakelandmountainguides@live.co.uk to register your interest.