SIX PEAKS INTERNATIONAL TOUR (SPIT)

Our Challenge: To climb 6 mountains in 72 hours

Ben Nevis (Scotland) 1344m

Scafell Pike (England) 978m

Snowdon (Wales) 1085m

Snaefell (Isle of Man) 620m

Slieve Donard (Northern Ireland) 850m

Corran Tuathail (Eire) 1039m

Total walking distance: 50 miles
Total climbing distance: 5916 meters

All charitable donations went to two charities, the Arran Scottish Mountain Rescue Team and St Lukes Hospice in Basildon, Essex.

Monday 8th May 2006 - Valued team member Mark Johnson has a freak accident whilst participating in some extreme plumbing in his new extension at home. He is diagnosed with a sprained ankle and the prognosis is not good. Doctors warn he may not be fit in time for the challenge.

Wednesday 10th May 2006 - Mark Johnson has a scan on his ankle and is deemed not fit to participate in the early climbs. However, he will still travel with the team in the hope that he can participate in the latter stages of the challenge.

Thursday 11th May 2006 - Due to personal reasons a member of the team has dropped out, leaving 8 members including the injured Mark Johnson.

The team leave Basildon, Essex at 6pm to travel to their first challenge, Ben Nevis. Stopping off at Corley services near Coventry, the team successfully cook spag bol washed down with a brew!

Friday 12th May 2006 - Arrive at Fort William at 5am, pitch tents and get 3 hours sleep. After a fine breakfast the team set off to climb Ben Nevis at mid day. Mark Johnson has decided to ignore all medical advice and walk at his own pace as far as he can up the Ben.

Half way up the climb and some team members begin to struggle on the five finger gully. The presence of snow on the ground hampers the climb but the team persevere and reach the summit in 3 hours. Russell cooks the team some soup on the summit whilst Martin decides to lose some of his weight load and add 2 inches to the height of Ben Nevis!

The team descend the Ben and their reward is a pint of beer at the foot of the mountain. Mark Johnson manages to climb to the top of five finger gully before time permitted him to turn back.

The team drive to the Lake district throughout the night for their next challenge.

Saturday 13th May 2006 - The team arrive at Scafell Pike at 1am. They pitch tents in the darkness for a few vital hours sleep.

4am, the team awake to a miserable day. The weather and visibility is poor. It's cold, damp, dark and the team are tired through lack of sleep and having climbed the UK's largest mountain only hours earlier. On a breakfast of only bananas the team begin the ascent.

The weather severely hampers the climb. The rocks are slippery and there is a 100 ft drop into the gully but the team safely traverse across the side of the mountain. After scaling the steep, wet, rocky final part the team reach the summit. After some much needed brandy and Kendal mint cake they descend in the pouring rain and low clouds.

With no time to catch their breath, the team get on the bus and head towards Snowdon. soaking wet and having to change on the bus they are exhausted. A nice bowl of chili goes down well, and it's only 10.30am!

The arrival in Snowdon is greeted my glorious sunshine. The team begin the ascent up Snowdon and they are behind schedule. With no time to stop the team start to split knowing that we have to reach the summit by 16.00 otherwise there is a risk that they will miss the ferry and the nightmare of the 4 peaks will be re-lived.

Russell is the first to reach the summit followed by Carl and Adrian. Clive is the last of the group who will reach the Snowdon summit, looking very exhausted. The team descend together, knowing that they have little time to get to the ferry terminal in Liverpool.

On arrival into liverpool the team appear out of the wallasey tunnel only to make a wrong turn and find themselves heading back under the Mersey. After the second trip through the tunnel the team manage to find the terminal only 30 mins to spare. But Carl's troubles were only beginning! They confiscated our 2 gas bottles, saying that we could collect them on our return. Only problem was that we were retuning to Holyhead, not Liverpool. Anyway, Carl could not disown his gas bottles in such a way, he regarded them as much a part of the team as anyone. So began the campaign 'free the Liverpool two'. After long discussions we had to leave without them, abandoning them like a female cuckoo does to her egg. Carl felt helpless, ashamed, saddened and powerless. But he vouched to fight on in the name of the Liverpool two and never to give up the fight for freedom!! But for now we got on the ferry and drank beer!

We arrived on the tranquil Isle of Man, it was a Saturday night and we were hungry. We took a turn onto the high street in the capital Douglas, only to be confronted by angry yobs and vans of Policemen. It seems even binge drinking and anti-social behaviors has hit this tiny Isle!! Even in the kebab house did one Irishman nearly get beaten up by a local yob just for looking at him. We grabbed our food and headed for the hills.

Sunday 14th May 2006 - The team arrive at Snaefell. It's 1am, belly full of kebab and very tired and cold. Visibility is poor so we decide to follow the railway tracks to the top, not realizing it's three times longer, not to mention boring. The Summit was reached by 2am and we took the short walk back to the car park where the tents were pitched.

We woke up freezing cold, visibility still bad. The tents were packed away and we began to drive to the ferry port. Only to take a wrong turn out of the car park, and then a very dangerous U turn in the middle of the road on a bend in zero visibility! Thanks Martin!

We slept on the ferry and arrived in Belfast at 09.45. First objective was to buy more gas, not to replace the Liverpool two understand, in Carl's eyes they were irreplaceable. Then it was off to Slieve Donard for breakfast. And what a breakfast, the finest in Northern Ireland.

The climb up Slieve Donard was wet, very wet. The team were in good spirits though as the toughest day was behind them and despite the Liverpool two still not being free a wave of optimism went through the air. The top was reached within time and the obligatory photo's taken. The team split up as they descended with 'mountain goat' James leading the way!

We headed into Ireland knowing there was only one obstacle left, but it was one of the toughest and highest. After some pizza the team drove south towards Killarney and their final climb, Corran Tuothail.

Monday 15th May 2006 - Clive was trapped behind bars, he could see nothing ahead of him, it was pitch black! Then a light shone brightly in his eyes, it was blinding. He woke from his nightmare to find Russell pointing the torch in his face, which nearly gave him a second heart attack. Little did Clive know that he had woken from one nightmare and gone into another. The team were lost in the middle of nowhere knowing that they were close to the mountain. It was 0300 and there was little fuel left in the tank. Russell was navigating and James driving. They had been driving in circles for hours down country lanes.

James by this time wanted to enter Clive's nightmare, thinking it was better than the one we were living. He struggled hard but could not think of a solution so resigned to the fact it could not be done. As we passed the road with the two dead cats for the fourth time it was beginning to seem like we would be here forever, there was no escape from this maze of farm tracks. The road signs were useless, we headed out to a garage and slept there until it opened at 0700. We were on the verge of missing the deadline of being up the top by midday!

We grabbed breakfast on the run and searched for the mountain, it appears we were only yards away from the turning but in the middle of the night we could not see any signs.

The final climb began well until we had to cross a river! This couldn't be right, but the path did continue on the other side. It was over knee deep and fast flowing but the team managed to navigate this obstacle. Only a few hundred yards further and we had to cross it again, this time it was wider and deeper. We crossed with no casualties. soaking wet and walking in peat bog we made our way towards 'devils ladder'.

As we approached the devils ladder it started raining again, the climb was steep and we had to use our hands to climb the steep, rocky mountain. Once at the top of the ladder the team made the final ascent to the top, which they made at 11.30 to complete the challenge.

Once down the bottom of the mountain the team were welcomed with a cup of soup prepared by Mark and Martin. The new team member, a tick ridden, filthy, smelly sheep dog also appreciated the soup, lapping it up with the intensity of some of the other team members.

Tired, exhausted and dirty the team drove to Dublin to finish the expedition in style with a few pints of the black stuff.

Tuesday 16th May 2006 - The story hasn't ended yet, there was still a matter of freeing the Liverpool two!! We caught the early ferry back from Dublin and made headway towards Liverpool from Holyhead. Carl could not contain his excitement, not only did he have a new gas bottle but he was going to be re-united with his beloved two. As we pulled up to the docks the cameras were ready to witness Carl appear with the gas bottles, what a tear jerking moment! You can see for yourselves all the highlights in the photos section of this page. Enjoy!!

 

USEFUL LINKS