How much?

The Six Hammered would like to thank everyone who has generously sponsored us on this adventure.

To date we have raised over £9000 towards Eikon and Hope House.

This will make a difference to the lives that these charities support - I know they appreciate what you have all contributed to.

Peaks 9-15

Offical Finish Phote - we were all there!



After Tryfan a chance to take a deserved break at checkpoint 2.

This is the point of no return. Once starting this leg, it is easier to finish than to find the route back and get of the mountain.

11 teams started this challenge and only 5 teams finished - ours being one of them. Actually we came in second with a total time of 18 hours, behind the winners - a team from the Marines. Our actual offical Peak to Peak time was clocked at 15 hours and 12 minutes, and our route was 29.17 miles.

There are few pictures of the remaining walk as the weather was absolutely appalling. From 2/3 of the way up Pen-yr Ole Wen (peak 9 @ 978m) it began to rain and it did not stop until we finished some 6 hours later.

I do not think that any of us have experienced wind so fierce or rain that hurt so much or visibility so poor - thank goodness for Goretex and GPS.

To put this into perspective: one team had to be air lifted off this section by mountain rescue, another followed the wrong path and ended up a two hour car journey away from the finish, others were just not allowed to go on.

This was a huge achievement and credit to 6 friends who had a mad idea over a couple of pints.

We clocked in at 10:15pm

Peak 8 - Tryfan 915m

So...the weather did brightened up for one peak.

This is Tryfan (2:12pm) and the views are spectacular.

Peak 7 - Glyder Fach 994m

No picture of the summit as you are probably bored of the sight of us.

Instead a view of the descent from Glyder Fach and the next that needed to be climbed (Tryfan). The dry stone wall marks the route up!

Photo taken at 1:38pm

Peak 6 - Glyder Fawr 999m

We now enter in the range known as the Glyder.

Time now 12:30pm. The weather might be improving as you can see a bit more of the landscape!

Peak 5 - Y Garn 947m

Spirits still high as we reach peak 5 at 11:20am

Peak 4 - Elidir Fawr 924m

We had a choice of descending Snowdon via a path/track or just go straight down...decision was to get down quick. Only problem was because of the damp conditions, the grass and rocks were slippery so a lot of was done buttock surfing!

At the bottom of Snowdon is checkpoint 1 - time to re-fuel, replenish water bottles and put on some dry clothing.

After a short stop it was off to scale Elidir Fawr which is also know as Electric Mountain as it houses a fairly impressive energy plant.

Time arrived at the summit 10:15am.

Peak 3 - Snowdon 1085m

The highest and most talked about peak in Wales was next. Snowdon was conquered at 6:15am.

Weather not getting any better and did Trotty know he reached the top...everything looks a bit fuzzy through his glasses :o)

Peak 2 - Garnedd Ugain 1065m

Next up was Garnedd Ugain. We arrived here at 5:57am

What do you think about the head gear?

Peak 1 - Crib Goch 923m

Crib Goch is the first of the 15 peaks above 3000 feet and was reached at 5:04am

Cloud base was low and wet weather gear was already required.

This is probably the most challenging peak as scrambling/climbing is required followed by a ridge walk onto peak 2.

The start of the 15 peak challenge

The day, or middle of the night had come for the start of the challenge.

As you can see in the picture, it was pretty dark at 3:45am Saturday 23rd June. The weather was not too friendly and rather than keep us hovering around the start until the official 4am kick off, the organisers decided to get us on our way 15 minutes early.

The top of Elidir Fawr

2nd June - The right way out of the "valley of death"

The last time we climbed Elidir Fawr we traversed the boggy floor of the col before climbing up what felt like 1:1 for I cannot remember how many feet. This is what is looked like on an overcast day.

The pyramid shaped mountain in the back ground is Snowdon...some 9 peaks ago.

1st June - The back 7

Only Four Hammered made it for this outing as it was half term. And with no Lee talking complete nonsense from start to finish it was quiet. One saving grace though, we all completed it together!

This was going to be an adventure as none of us had any experience of walking over this section of the course. After a hearty breakfast, we made our way to the base of Carnedd Llewelyn and plodded towards the end. It would have been great if getting to the end meant the end. As we parked the car at the start and there was no car at the end, we had to do the whole thing in reverse...17 miles in all :o(

31st May - The Glyders

JB and Richard had an early start from London and arrived in Snowdonia mid afternoon. Their challenge was to scale and walk the Glyders - correctly known as the Glyderaus. This range is made up of the following peaks:

• Glyder Fawr - 3279ft
  
• Glyder Fach - 3262ft
  
• Y Garn - 3104ft
  
• Elidir Fawr - 3029ft
  
• Tryfan - 3010ft
  

Scene from Return of the King

Just in case you think the walk was easy...here we are escaping down the "staircase" that led to Shelob :o)

Well done boys...great weekend...no injuries and happy birthday Richard!

Weekend Training - 27-29th April, 2007
The team spent Friday and Saturday climbing mountains in Snowdonia in preparation for the big day!. We managed Tryfan at a sprint on the Friday then, after some intial problems finding everyone, did Crib Goch, Garnedd Ugain, Snowdon (though not everyone hit the summit this time round due to unforeseen 'logistical' problems (and the decision of whether to carry two rucksacks each, or just to spend the day with no jackets, food or water). We then yomped down into Llanberis before braving the paddyfields of Esgair and up to Yr Garn then down Devil's Kitchen to Llyn Ogwen before retiring to the bar for a couple of shandies so as not to abuse our bodies allowing muscles to adequately recover.
Everyone survived and a few blisters were the only problem. Looking forward to beating Stu and Lee's time of 1.5 hours to the top of Snowdon, over two other mountains first.

View from Crib Goch - looking down to Llanberis and Anglesey - still can't see Lee and Stu anywhere!

On the cantilever on Tryfan

Boot buying

Friday 16th March

Trotty and I (that is Wongie) last went shopping to buy equipment for the walk. We came away with matching rucksack and trousers. Now hunting for boots we promised ourselves not to by the same pair.

We headed for Ellis Brigham in Covent Garden, London. Faced with a wall full of boots we enlisted the help of Scott from Scotland (he is the short fella in the picture) to find a boot that is up for the challenge!

We tried on at least 5 different makes/models...some did not have enough ankle support and others felt as though you had a pair of leg irons attached to you. After an hour or so and lacking refreshments, we made our choices. You will see form the pictures that we made sensible purchases!

Bike ride - 10th March

Saturday 10th March saw the teams first bike ride...although I have to say only half the team made it.

Stuey, JB and Thwaities set off at 9am on a 26 mile ride from Mill Hill through the shire of Herts taking in Potters Bar, Northhaw, Newgate Street and back again.

The ride took around 2 hours - so a great distance for the first outing :o)