The Yorkshire Three Peaks

Two weeks out I wasn't even considering going on this trip, but after some convincing to co-lead the trip and realising Selside was extremely well-placed to make an attempt on the Yorkshire Three Peaks, I just couldn't get the idea out of my head. Just a couple of weeks back I had completed my first run/hike over marathon distance, completing the 45 km / 1300 m Hong Kong Trail in 8.5 hours. At the time just thinking about the HKT felt like a faraway dream, but this time knowing my body was capable of doing the distance and elevation I was more confident going in. While in Hong Kong I fell in love with the run/hike, travelling light and as fast as I wished in trail running shoes, wearing only a trail vest. What this meant in reality was walking the ups, and running the downs and the flats. I wanted to try that with the Yorkshire Three Peaks. I managed to convince Dan to come along as well. This was his first time tackling a route of this distance. 

Including the road between Selside and the Three Peaks loop, our route totalled 43 km and some 1600 m of ascent. Separately, Paul Fox committed to walking a slightly shorter 38 km route in under twelve hours (the 'normal' time limit; shorter because he chose to cut directly from the last peak back to the bunkhouse). The day was forecasted to be dry but gusty with temperatures above freezing. I dressed in waterproofs and stuffed my vest with an extra mid layer and a buff, 1.5L of fluids, plenty of food, and the normal safety gear - head torch, bandages, emergency blanket, a power bank and an ankle brace as I roll my ankles far too often to be healthy (on the HKT alone it happened three times). Paul set off in the dark at quarter to seven; we followed some 45 min later as the sky started to lighten. 

From the bunkhouse it was a little over 2 km till we joined the official loop. We chose to tackle it anticlockwise, in order of Whernside, Ingleborough then Pen-y-Ghent, because Horton (between Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent) seemed like a reasonable place to bail. The first section going up to Whernside was a pleasant jog, passing the Ribblehead viaduct and a waterfall that looked like a smaller version of High Force. We were acutely aware that we needed to pace ourselves - we had a lot of miles left to plod, and I was coming into this with developing shin splints and Dan had a funny ankle. The ascent up Whernside was where things started to get interesting. We felt the wind pick up, saw the tarns aggressively rippling up, and by the time we were up on the ridge, it had become quite difficult to walk, see and breathe. My tear ducts had gone crazy and my hands were starting to freeze in the wind chill. We focused on putting one foot ahead of the other, taking one breath in at a time, and making sure Dan didn't get blown off his feet into the dry stone wall that lined the top of the ridge. At one point I did consider bailing. Surprisingly we ran into some seven or eight people up there - walkers, runners and dogs - and everyone seemed to be in reasonably good spirits despite the rapidly deteriorating conditions.  

I didn't anticipate the strong sustained gusts nor did I particularly appreciate the approx. 2 km length of the Whernside ridge so I was quite happy to take the descent at speed - to "get off this stinking mountain". It was stone steps a lot of the way down, which I'm starting to warm to after plenty of practice in HK. At the bottom I had a chat with a fellow running with a pug who complimented my shoes! I was wearing a pair of LS Mutants and overall was very happy with how they performed. My foot only slipped once (but rock in the UK is generally more slippery than rock in HK/BC) but in all fairness, I have not put it through its paces in mud - the Three Peaks route is not particularly muddy - but it felt more than fine in the little mud that it dealt with. 

With the first peak bagged some 2.5 hrs since setting off, Dan and I were feeling pretty good and we stopped briefly in Philpin Farm to use the loo/fill up on water. Their bar was closed but they had a vending machine which is good for stocking up on snacks. In my optimism I convinced myself that the wind at the other two summits wouldn't be half as bad. I was half-right. 

Viewed from below, the top of Whernside was shrouded in clouds and now approaching Ingleborough it was no different. From the B road it was a gentle but sustained ascent until the trail started to rise steeply up the western flank of the mountain. You know it's steep when you can spot switchbacks. My legs were starting to tire - probably a combination of ramping up my mileage too much, too quickly last week, and not getting enough rest, which worried me a little. Halfway up the flank we ran into two blokes coming down, who were doing an out-and-back because they didn't know which route was which up top, which was ... concerning. 

As expected, the wind didn't present itself until we were up on the ridge, and although it again became difficult to walk/breathe/see it felt more manageable than Whernside. The path also wrapped around the western side of the rock ridge which provided a brief respite. We did not spend long at the Ingleborough summit (not like there was anything to see anyway) though we ran into the fellow with the pug again who warned us that getting to Horton was a slogfest. Picking the correct path down towards Horton was thankfully straightforward and faced with a moderate but rocky descent we picked up the pace. I'm not a fast descender by any means, but I love it and am determined to get better at it ... 

We had done 26 km and were approaching Horton by the time we caught up with Paul Fox, who was way ahead of schedule. It was just before noon. We were surprised and he was surprised. He said, so what's with the fell running? I said the goals are to enjoy it, complete the distance and avoid injury, also I'm not fit enough to actually fell run. 

Horton was a bit of a disappointment. We had planned for Horton to be a restock point and all of the shops, cafés and pubs we passed were shut, midday on a Saturday. Nevertheless we took a half hour toilet/food break and set off to tackle the last peak before I got too cold. The wind was still rampant, but briefly the clouds would clear to reveal patches of blue sky. Even the sun periodically peeked out. 

Pen-y-Ghent was by far the best and most fun out of the three. The initial ascent is a little bit of a slog, helped massively by poles - but once on the ridge the great hunk of rock towers over you and it is a tiny scramble (mostly just steep) to get to the top. From there it was pretty straightforward to the trig point, where we snapped a photo and chatted to some people huddling in the wind shelter. 

One woman said to enjoy the descent and boy we did. Running downhill is an exhilarating and (still) slightly terrifying experience, and clearly the pull of gravity trumps all tiredness in the legs. For the length of the descent we get to be laser-focused on optimal pathfinding and foot placement and all fatigue and discomfort appear to vanish in the moment. The descent from Pen-y-Ghent felt like the victory lap that the whole route had been building up towards. Looking back up at where we had just run down was a "holy sh*t we just did that" type of moment. 

Truth was, at the bottom of the mountain, we still had some ten kilometres to plod back to the bunkhouse, first seven to complete the loop and another three stomping tarmac. While we were safely in the knowledge that the challenge was completed I had also by this point lost the motivation to run any further. Dan still had quite a bit left in his legs. We fast-walked/slow-jogged the last section, and it was actually nearly two hours more before we made it back. In total I had logged 45 km and 1600 m of elevation gain, clocking in at 8.5 hours since setting off, and well before sunset! 

Apparently Paul's beeline back to the bunkhouse was a boggy mistake, but he still made it back in an impressive ten hours. 

It was an effort certainly worth a trip to the pub. I don't think I would have done anything differently, though we were lucky that it had been dry - I probably would have given the challenge second thoughts had it been wet. All in all, a pretty incredible day and neither Dan nor I felt particularly wrecked the day after. Thanks to Dan for being a great companion and being up for the challenge!