In planning this challenge was always going to be hard, but we had to do something worthwhile to raise the profile of Sands, fund the Why17 campaign and do something positive in memory of our beautiful son Henry.
Watching the long range forecast we all expected bad weather, all week a series of low pressures systems promised high winds and rain. Then from nowhere a high pressure moved in just in time for Hike4Henry. It was more than welcome. 30 miles, 5000m of climbing, and 17 summits across the roughest mountains south of 
way radio training, and everyone had a reasonably early night.
At about 7am on friday, Andrew, Katie, Anna and Wayne set off from Pen-y-pass to climb Crib Goch. The 2 highest peaks in
They next had to climb Elidir Fawr, which was the biggest single climb of the route, starting from only a 100m above sea level and climbing up to 950m on a constantly steep gradient. The support crew met them at Llyn y Cwn (
between Y Garn and the Glyders. Hot tea and flapjack served.
The remaining 3 carried on, knocking off Glyder Fawr andGlyder Fach in good time. Eight summits done in one day and
only Tryfan remained
The support crew returned to base camp and the extraction team headed to Ogwen at 9pm to collect them just as it was going dark at around 9.50pm. All the
one day hikers and the remaining support crew had arrived and set up camp.
On Saturday, the 6 one day walkers and the first support walker set off from Pen-y-pass bang on schedule at 4.30am. Soon the daylight started to break through and the two Peter’s peeled off up the Pyg track to be met on Garnedd Ugain.
The remaining 5 blitzed up Crib Goch, enjoying dry conditions on the knife edge arête and arrived on the summit at 6.05am. The clouds rearing up the near
vertical sides of the Goch with the morning sun silhouetting the ridge was a sight to behold. Amazing views on an awesome summit were toasted with a small dram of
The summit of Garnedd Ugain was reached less than an hour later and we collected Peter and Pe
te. Crib Goch proving a bit much for Pete’s vertigo.
9.35am. 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
The support team loaded us up with cups of tea and bacon sandwiches and food for the next leg. Whilst we got word that the 2 day team started their climb of Pen yr Ole Wen.
We headed off up the evil climb of Elidir fawr at 10am in glorious sunshine, now joined by Lex a fresh-legged support walker. Although we planned
this climb to take 2 hours, with fiery pace and grim determination we despatched it in half an hour less. This was the 4th peak and we had already walked 10 miles. A crystal clear radio call came from the 2 dayers
who were on Pen yr Ole Wen summit, the other side of Ogwen valley.
Here we noticed other hikers who we also saw early on
Welsh 3000s. We chatted to a group of 3
who we leapfrogged up Elidir fawr. This
group included Dave, little did we know at that point how later he would become an important part of our team.
The first “extra” peak was next, Foel Goch, followed by Y Garn. From here the views showed us the full extent of the
marathon of mountains we were undertaking. To the south the Snowdon range, the pinnacles of crib go
ch looking like dinosaurs teeth, before the ridge disappeared up into the cloud around Snowdon. Out to the east, the way ahead, Glyder Fawr and Fach and Tryfan’s shark fin tickling the nerves of those who had yet to experience this fantastic hands-on mountain. To the north the looming Massif of the Carneddau, after summiting the first peak here was 8 miles of hiking where we would never drop below 3000 ft.
Once again the support crew made the hike up through devil’s kitchen to meet us at Llyn y Cwn, only just arriving in time for us as we descended Y Garn. Hot ribena and flapjack gave us all the energy we needed for the steep scree ascent onto Glyder Fawr, and a short hop, skip and bouldery jump soon got us to the rocky summit of Glyder Fach.
Around here the timing went a bit awry.
We burnt far too much time getting everyone on the Gylder Fach summit for a photo then had to stop for a much needed food break. The descent down Bristly Screes was steep, loose
and had to be taken with care. Consequently, we were already an hour down
before we started up Tryfan. South col to summit and back was a quick scramble and nobody risked the Adam and Eve jump today. We had a call to say that the 2 dayers were on Drum, they had completed the 17 summits! Congratulations two dayers!
From Tryfan south col we intended to descend the east face scree gulley to Heather terrace. Which should
be renamed Rainbow Terrace. As you can
only see it from a distance, it disappears
when you get close and you’ll never find the end. We gave up and carried on descending into the valley to pick up the more obvious track to Glan Dena and our support crew.
“The best soup we ever tasted!” was consumed with gusto. Socks and tops were changed, extra food and warm clothing packed. And Matt, our final support walker joined us.
We started up Pen yr Ole Wen, on the final leg, at 7pm. 2 ½ hours later than planned. We knew we were on for a 1am finish at best, so
we got stuck in to the fantastic scramble in the face of a freshening breeze. Dave, the 3000s attemptee we met earlier joined us alone. His companions
abandoning in the Ogwen valley.
Carnedd Dafydd came next, 11 summits
done. The sun had set and darkness was all but on us. We lit our headtorches and
hung glow sticks to our packs. Climbing up to the summit cairn of Carnedd Llewellyn in the dark with the lights of
Yr Elen was despatched quickly, and no-one was for hanging around on the summit. Returning to Carnedd Llewellyn, Matt and Pete were found quickly with a blast on the whistle, replied by a flash of their emergency strobe. Despite the darkness visibility was, up to this point, quite good, but now the cloud had dropped and the rain started. Visibility rapidly dropped to around 15 feet. The path towards Foel Grach wasn’t clear and
we had to start doing some proper navigation.
To the right we knew there was a cliff with about 50m drop. We preferred not to walk off it, so taking a compass bearing we leap-frogged for a short
distance. Realising we
were heading into steeper ground, we took a gps position fix and decided to move left onto the spur, where we should have a less steep descent and would have clearer idea of deviation from the route due to the aspect of slope around us. We continued to follow compass bearings backed up with GPS
route tracking and position fixes until we finally reached the col between Llewellyn and Foel Grach. That last half a km took an hour to cover.
The wind was now gusting maybe to 40mph and there were showers of rain and the cloud was scraping the top of the hill, lifting occasionally to allow glimpses of the lights of
We finally made it to the shelter at 1am. We knew the support crew would be waiting in the car park to collect us so we attempted to make radio contact. No answer. Walked a bit higher. Still no answer. Walked further east. Finally got a response. They were clear but the power in the handheld radios was not good and this was the limit of their range, they could barely hear me. I swapped to a fresh battery and the support team finally managed to piece together the message that we were staying in the Foel Grach shelter and would be down for an 8am pick up.
The shelter had a solid roof, thick stone walls, steel doors and window shutters. It kept out the elements. It was also damp, cramped and stank of sheep crap. Maybe not a lifesaver in this instance, but it was 5 star mountain weather protection. Everyone put on all their warm clothes and the hipflask was passed around. An attempt at sleep was made but I doubt anyone got more than an hour in short bursts. By 4am everyone was shivering, so we decided to warm up by moving on, quick breakfast and we were on the way to Garnedd Uchaf.
The dawn came with a grey cloudy light, howling gales and driving rain. But still we pushed on to Foel Fras. Completing the Welsh 3000s in 22hr55. This was the end for our extra team member, Dave. As he headed off to find his car, we pushed on to the summit of Drum, the 17th and final peak of our challenge.
Drum was clear of the clouds but the wind was roaring across it’s top. We sheltered in the lee of the summit cairn 23h50 after leaving the summit of Crib Goch. The hipflask was passed around and I thanked everyone for supporting us and putting in so much effort.
The thought of my son Henry kept me going through the pain in my feet, the bad weather, the fatigue and the stress of navigating difficult ground in poor weather. Seeing his picture on my pack and attached to the packs of my friends, and hung around the neck of the support crew was a comfort and I truly felt that he was with me every step of the way. In a small way we managed to raise the profile of Sands and the Why17 campaign. I hope with the money we raised we will make a difference to someone else’s life and they may not suffer the loss we have. I will always want to keep the memory of my beautiful son alive. His time was so short but he will effect our lives forever.
The descent from Drum was slow and steady, from our path we saw the extraction team arrive at the car park and they walked along the roman road to meet us. Although tired, we were elated to have completed a major mountain challenge. It was epic, pushed us all to the limit and maybe a little passed it. Yet it is an achievement of which everyone can be justifiably proud. We had a fantastic support crew, without which we would never have completed it. Thank you Support Team.
I think our target time of 17 hours is possible so maybe I will have another crack next year?!
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