On the 31st of May 2024, I completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge along with most of Modo25. If you are not familiar with the challenge, it is climbing the three highest peaks in Yorkshire - Pen-y-ghent, Whernside, and Ingleborough in under 12 hours while walking a loop covering approximately 24.5 miles with around 1,585 metres (5,200 ft) of ascent.
I managed to keep up with the front group for most of the day, finishing under the target time of 12 hours. It was a brutal test of physical fitness and willpower, but a fantastic experience.
It was an early start, leaving Leeds before 6am and starting for Pen-y-ghent from Horton in Ribblesdale at 7. A fast scramble to the top saw us at the summit by 8:20. Next the route takes you across to Whernside, over twelve miles of hiking and the iconic Ribblehead Viaduct along the way.
We stopped near the viaduct to wolf down a few sandwiches before heading off on what I found to be the toughest part of the challenge, the ascent of Whernside.
Whernside is the highest of the three peaks at 736 metres (2,415 ft). The climb up Whernside is not steep, but it is long and was the closest I came to giving up completely. About halfway up I felt exhausted, everything was aching and my thinking was muddy and slow. I had not done anything like this in the months of training, and I really hit the wall. Either the continuous climb, or not enough food and water or both took a toll on me and I was done about mid-way to the summit, but thanks to the encouragement of my colleagues and eating a few of the snacks I was carrying, I managed to make it to the top by 13:13.
A change of socks and another sandwich and I was ready for the next leg to Ingleborough. The decent from Whernside to Chapel-le-Dale was steep and challenging. A colleague who had managed to keep the pace despite only joining a few days before the challenge dropped out when we met the support team at Chapel-le-Dale. It was no small achievement to get as far as he did and I was soon to get a taste of the same blisters and exhaustion.
Chapel-le-Dale to Ingleborough is boggy, you follow tracks that are slowly leading you towards a steep accent. As someone who is not a fan of heights, it was intimidating seeing the near vertical route and false summit we were about to attempt. I finally fell behind the front runners as I had to stop and gather myself before attempting the climb. Like most tasks, once started it was not as bad as I first thought. The false summit was something I expected but still took a mental effort not to stop at that point. There was a pinch point that felt dangerous and then the final trig point was in view. With a surface like something from another world, the broken top of Ingleborough was not easy to walk on, but I made it. Some other friendly walkers took a picture for me and that was peak three at 16:34.
The path down to Horton in Ribblesdale should have been an easy few miles after the day, but broken ground, exhaustion and walking alone at this point dragged the leg out into a tunnel of putting one boot in front of the other. I finally arrived at Horton in Ribblesdale at 18:34 and finished the day with a pint and a meal at the Golden Lion, catching up with the front runners and waiting for the rest of the groups who all made it in over the next hour and a half.
As a challenge, it was something I had never thought I would be capable of doing. It was a real test of will and endurance. As someone who expected to be near the back, I was really pleased not only to make it in under the cutoff, but also to be one of the faster people on the day. I am not in a hurry to repeat it, but like many of the people I met along the way on their 2nd Yorkshire Three Peaks, 3rd or more I would be up for doing it again sometime.