Course Notes - The Welsh 3000 Challenge

Thanks very much for booking onto the Welsh 3000 Challenge, probably the toughest hill walking challenge in if not the UK!

What is the Welsh 3000 Challenge? The Welsh 3000 challenge aims to climb all 15 of the summits of that top the magic 3000 feet mark in 24 hours. It is often referred to as the 14 peaks challenge because there is some debate as to whether there are 14 or 15 seperate peaks over 3000 feet. The entire route is close to 30 miles long and involves over 13000 feet of ascent.

Who is the course suitable for? We walk the majority of the route, you don’t need to be a fell runner. We will try and cover easy ground quickly and you do need to be comfortable on grade 1 ground as we traverse . You need to be hill ft as you will be on the go for about 18 hours from start to fnish. Some prior training is essential as its a tough day out. It is a real challenge and far more people fail to complete it than go all the way to the fnish.

We have target and cut of times for each section of the challenge and if you don’t make the cut of time you will not be able to carry on with the next section. These cut of times are based on practical experience of the challenge and prevent problems due to exhuastion on the remote fnal section.

Course Program We will meet at 5:00am on the day at Pen Y Pass car park and set of to climb Crib Goch, Garnedd Ugain and . We descend to Nant Peris and swap to a fresh leader for the next section. We can refll water bottles at Nant Peris. We aim to complete this frst section in 3 hours.

The next section takes in The and before descending to the Ogwen Valley. Here you will be able to refll water bottles and the leader will be replaced with a fresh one! The middle section should take an additional 6 hours.

The fnal section takes in the and we fnish on the North coast at about 10:00pm. This fnal section should take 8-9 hours giving a total time out of 17-18 hours and the last couple of hours will normally be completed by head torch in the dark.

We organise the logistics of returning to the start of the route with you prior to the challenge. A fresh leader is given in each valley so that we can maintain your safety and enjoyment throughout the challenge.

As with any mountian day the schedue is subject to weather and conditions. If we are faced with high winds or storms then we will alter the route to suit the weather and do as much of the challenge as the conditions allow.

What about accommodation? We do not include accommodation with this course. We recommend staying at Pen Y Pass Youth Hostel as this is at the start of the route.

Kit List

Rucksack - 35 litres Waterproof jacket Waterproof trousers Boots Drink - enough for the frst section ** Food - carry enough for the 24 hours but see below * Hat and Gloves 1 x spare warm layer Personal First Aid & sanitary supplies including blister pack such as Compeed Sunglasses and Sun Cream Blizzard Survival Jacket (Emergency kit) http://www.blizzardsurvival.com/article.php/62/blizzard- jacket-active-range/ab47bae9a8eb0f054d84ed3c8b7ae403

*At the end of the frst section we can transfer some of your kit to the Ogwen Valley so it is worth putting in a pair of dry socks and some extra food that you won’t have to carry over the middle section.

**We will make sure there is drinking water available to top up your water bottles at the end the frst and second sections so you don’t need to carry too much water.