On top of the world

On Friday I got up at 4.30am and caught an early morning flight to Glasgow with three friends. At Glasgow airport we met up with my parents and four other friends and acquainted ourselves with our home for the next 36 hours, a 15-seater minibus. We headed north, up the side of Loch Lomond to Fort William, from where we were going to start our ascent of Britain's highest mountain. Sadly this wasn't your average long weekend in Scotland. There was nothing remotely relaxing about it. We were there for one reason, and one reason only; to climb Ben Nevis as quickly as possible before heading south to climb Britain's third and second highest mountains - Scafell Pike in the Lake District and Snowdon in Wales. All in 24 hours. It was a crazy thing to do, but I would highly recommend it. And I'm once again so grateful to T for making it all possible.

On 19/07/09 at exactly 21.02, T emailed a group of his friends to ask if any of them would be up for joining him on the Three Peaks Challenge. Back came the usual excuses of lack of time, childcare issues, DIY issues etc etc. All perfectly plausible but nonetheless a little lame with hindsight. Yes, we're all busy people but sometimes we get so caught up in the daily grind that we lose sight of what life is really about. In doing so, we miss out on some once in a lifetime experiences. And I'm in no way having a go, I'm as guilty as the next person and I certainly didn't intend to join him on the Three Peaks Challenge. But one of the things T has gifted me with is the insight that life can be too short. And that it's there for living. For T, it's irrelevant whether he'd painted the bedroom or fixed the leaking tap or achieved the billion and one things on his to do list. When he died he was having the time of his life. He was really living his life and enjoying it. There's a lesson there for all of us.

Anyway, following T's death, one of his best men, Rich, bravely ressurected the challenge in T's memory. It was the least we could do. Funnily enough, almost all of the friends T had originally emailed were up for it this time round. Plus me and a few others who got wind of it. It's interesting, and very wrong, how your perspective changes in light of death. But I'm pleased that it did. It turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. I got to climb Britain's three highest mountains. I got to know my friends even better and spend some quality time with them. My parents were able to get involved (and without their support we wouldn't have been able to complete the challenge). And I feel immensely proud of our achievement. You can't beat that feeling. You faced a seemingly impossible hurdle head-on. And came out the other side grinning like a fool. It would have been easy to say that it wasn't possible/we weren't fit enough/we didn't have the time. But it was possible and we trained to ensure we were fit enough and we made the time. In this life, anything you put your mind to is possible. I'm slowly learning that.

After piling on some carbs in a pub in Fort William and preparing our bags for the various transitions, it was time to wave goodbye to Team Cox - our good friends Cheryl and Rich. As training for the national challenge, we recently completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks walk - a massive 24.5 miles that took us just under 11 hours. To say Cheryl didn't enjoy it much may be an understatement, but she resolved to be there for the national Three Peaks - for T's sake. To avoid putting herself under any unnecessary pressure, Chez and Rich started ahead of the rest of the group. I have the utmost respect for Cheryl's sheer determination. Again, it would have been easy for Cheryl to back out, but she faced her fears head on and came out the other side a better person. R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

We followed them up the mountain at 4.30pm. Thankfully, the weather was on our side. We knew we could walk in the heat as the temperature was nudging 30 degrees for the Yorkshire Three Peaks, but my biggest fear, especially being on the west of the country, was that we'd end up getting soaked to the skin. Fortunately that didn't happen and the evening was very settled. Ben Nevis was a hard slog. It took us 5 hours to complete our ascent and descent, taking us up to 1344m (4409ft). The summit wasn't in sight for most of the ascent, so it was hard to pace yourself and know what was left to come. The path was good though and it was just a case of plodding on, through one small bit of snow, to reach to the top.

Rich and I had talked about wanting to do something to remember T by whilst on the challenge, but ruled out t-shirts and clothing for practical reasons. Before T and I got married we collected about 80 stones from Bamburgh beach in Northumberland. We planned to use them as place names at the wedding but decided against it and dumped the stones in our back garden. When T died I took one of them to Brands Hatch and left it there with some flowers. Another was placed in T's hand in the coffin. I thought it might be nice to take three of the remaining stones and leave one on top of each peak. That way we were being sensitive to the environment as well as leaving a little memorial to T on each mountain. So, on the top of Ben Nevis we got out a photo of T, passed around a miniature Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 yr old single malt, poured a dram on the peak for T and placed one of the Bamburgh stones in a quiet place away from the crowds. The stipulation was that the stone had to have a good view. We also lit a candle on each peak, but it was so windy on the tops that it wouldn't stay alight for long. It felt like a fitting way to remember T and the reason why we were all on top of Ben Nevis at that moment in time. It was very poignant for me and I shed some quiet tears behind my sunnies. It felt so wrong that we were all there yet the one person who really wanted to do this challenge wasn't with us.

The descent seemed longer than the ascent. It was never-ending and quite hard on the knees. But we finally made it down at about 9.30pm. After a very quick transition we were on the road and making our way down to Cumbria. My Mum had done all the catering for the trip and on the advice of her PT served us Greek salad and chicken drumsticks followed by fruit salad for dinner. It was a bit like being on a plane (only better, I should add). She'd thought of everything - there was even tea and coffee in those takeaway cups with lids to stop it slopping around on the bus and an after-dinner TicTac. As darkness fell it was time to try and sleep. Easier said than done. I ended up popping a sleeping tablet at about 1am, knowing I would be walking again 3 hours later. It didn't really work but I guess I must have dozed. My poor Dad had to drive through the night with my Mum beside him chatting to him about anything and everything to stop him nodding off. Oh, and the other thing that none of us had realised, is that all diesel minibuses are fitted with a speed limiter. They can only do 62mph max!!!!

At 4am we began our ascent of Scafell just as the sun rose so no head torches for us. Mum had fed us again so we had enough energy for the climb. We all felt sick - probably with exhaustion and the thought of what was still to come. But there was no choice but to get on with it. Again, the summit wasn't in sight but we knew this one would be shorter as it was considerably lower than Ben Nevis at 978m (3,209ft). Only Britain's third highest mountain! Once again the weather was in our favour and it was a settled morning, although chilly in the breeze. I can't remember too much about the climb and haven't taken many photos. I think it was probably the hardest climb mentally as it was so early and you knew you still had the drive and Snowdon to come. I remember that the top was in cloud so it was cold and not somewhere you wanted to hang around. We got the photo of T out, lit the candle, had the whisky and left the stone, then it was back down to the minibus. Scafell took us just 3.5hrs in total. It was comforting to know that T had already climbed Scafell with his dad. I could imagine them being there and I know T loved that trip.

The road to Scafell is narrow, parking is bad and there were lots of minibuses everywhere so we made the decision to drive straight out of the valley and stop at services to freshen up. Here we had some warm lamb stew, changed our clothes and used the facilities. It was still only about 8.30am. Hard to get your head around. I managed to get a bit more sleep on the Scafell to Snowdon leg. Not proper sleep but sleep nonetheless. Then we got stuck in a traffic jam. There was nothing we could do. We just had to sit there. We were stuck for a total of 45 minutes. So frustrating. Eventually we made it to Snowdon and started our walk up the Miner's Track at about 1.50pm. The path is good and fairly flat until you get to the point where the Miner's and Pyg Tracks join. Then it's pretty vertical and pretty rocky. At that point you can also see the summit. We had to do lots of scrambling and the path was very busy - partly with other Three Peakers, partly with day-trippers (a sunny Saturday in June) and partly with people who'd got off the bloody train at the top and were walking down. Grrrrr. It wasn't easy but you just had to push on. Rich and Andy got me to the top where we did our usual ritual with T. The views were incredible but, as usual, no time to enjoy them. I thought the descent would be hard, but it wasn't too bad picking your way over the rocks. I decided to go back via the longer but gentler Miner's Track as I didn't know the Pyg Trail. This meant for a very long but flat walk out. I know I looked like a bit of a knob doing my fast walking with my poles, a few people commented, but at that point I didn't really care. I had to finish in the best possible time.

I eventually made it back to the car park at 5.30pm. It had taken me 25hrs but 45 mins of that we were stuck in a traffic jam. That would make it 24h15. Then there's the 62mph limit to consider. Which means, had all gone according to plan, I would have done it in well under 24hrs. And to be perfectly honest, I don't really care that I took longer. It was such an achievement and I know I did it to the best of my ability. I don't think I could have pushed myself much more. I was proud of myself and know that T would have been proud of me too. In fact, he would have been proud of all of us. And completely astonished that so many of his friends pulled their fingers out to do it for him. He would also kick himself for not being there with us. But then, had he been there, chances are none of the rest of us would have been there with him.