Welsh 3000s Expedition

The Welsh 3000s is a classic fellwalking endurance challenge, in which participants aim to scale all 15 Welsh peaks over 3000 feet tall, ideally within a 24 hour time limit from first to final summit. Including the ascent of the first peak and descent from the last, the route is over 50 km in length and includes around 4000 m of ascent. Not for the faint hearted!

An ambitious team of six students signed up to attempt the challenge, which was initially scheduled to take place on the first day of the summer holidays. Anyone familiar with the area will know that summer does not necessarily mean good weather and the first attempt was postponed to August in the hope of better conditions. The team, now made up of Toby M, Lauren H, Ollie W, Alfie G and Will G, made a 4.30am start to climb Snowdon before, supported by two Mountain Leaders, crossing the famously exposed Crib Goch ridge and descending to Nant Peris for refreshments kindly provided by the support team. Climbing two more peaks saw over half of the total ascent completed, but deteriorating weather (with winds forecast to exceed 70 mph on the latter part of the route) caused the attempted to be curtailed.

Determined not to be defeated by the weather, those students who were available (Toby, Lauren and Alfie) returned in September as part of the Senior Adventure Club weekend with the specific goal of completing the route from where they left off. Again starting at 4.30am, but this time bathed in moonlight rather than cloaked in mist, the team to witnessed a stunning sunrise over Glyder Fawr before scrambling over Glyder Fach and Tryfan. Another brunch of bacon rolls fuelled the team’s ascent of Pen yr Ole Wen, after which the remaining six peaks came in quite rapid succession, albeit with views only of the inside of a cloud. The team completed the route in a summit-to-summit time of 19 hours and 58 minutes, albeit separated by a few weeks back at school. An impressive achievement!

R Whittle

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