Over the weekend of 1st/2nd July 2000, I was involved in an attempt at the Welsh 3000s challenge. This requires the walker to summit all of the peaks in Wales that exceed 3000' in height in a single day.

The number of Peaks is subject to debate. Some say fourteen, others argue that Garnedd Uchaf should count and still others claim that Castell y Gwynt should also count which makes fifteen or sixteen depending on how you view the additional peaks. I'm not going to argue either way, although personally I would not include Castell y Gwynt as a Peak, rather a feature on the Glyders, otherwise you could argue for many other small rock outcrops. It made no difference to our challenge as we had intended to visit all fourteen plus the two debatable ones anyway. Fortunately for such an attempt, they are grouped reasonably close together in Snowdonia. For more information about the reasons for the argument, you need to understand what makes a mountain top which is basically that it needs to have a prominence above the surrounding land. Google it for the full explanation!

The total walking distance is in the order of 27-28 miles.

We elected to start at the top of Llanberis Pass at the Pen-y-Pass Youth Hostel, and it was a somewhat bemused team that set off at 4:30am on the epic walk.

The support team, having delivered us to the start, had a relatively short drive to Nant Peris at the bottom of the valley to the next checkpoint.

The first set of mountains take the walker to the highest mountain (Snowdon) via the excellent exposed ridge of Crib Goch (3028'), then to Crib-Y-Dysgyl (3494') and finally onto Snowdon (3559') itself.

We chose to descend to Nant Peris from the Clogwyn station, a steep, but relatively quick descent, and arrived at Nant Peris at 7:30am feeling fresh.

After a breakfast, we set off at 8:00am for the climb up to Elidir Fawr (3031'). Following a contour path, then upwards to the summit of Y-Garn(3106'), where we stopped for a well-earned energy bar.

It was 10:30am, and five peaks conquered.

Taking advantage of modern technology, we called the support team to let them know that all was well and we would be in the Ogwen valley at the next checkpoint by 1:00pm, the estimated time.

From Y-Garn, there is a descent to the top of Devils Kitchen, then a steep climb up to Glyder Fawr (3277') and a tedious walk to Glyder Fach (3261') via Castell y Gwynt (Castle in the Wind) made worse by the lack of visibility. In fact, so far, there had been no views from any of the summits, all summits being well entrenched in mist.

Seven (or eight) summits completed and we were off to Tryfan.

This involved a long and painful descent on a scree slope to the col below Bristly Ridge, then up again, past the South summit and onto the main summit (3002'). From here, the valley was in sight and we elected to descend the North Ridge.

It was perhaps, not the best choice as legs complained about the steepness and the traffic coming up caused delays.

It was 1:30pm when we reunited with the support team at the car park at the foot of Tryfans North Face.

Eight (or nine) peaks done, six (or seven) to go.

An excellent lunch was enjoyed, having been prepared in advance by the support team. We checked our feet for blisters (none found), and after about 45 minutes, set off for Pen-Y-Ole-Wen (3208').

It was at this time that the weather turned and soon waterproofs were needed on the long climb to the summit. Once on the summit, the rain stopped and it was in ever clearing, but never totally clear conditions that we made our way to Carnedd Dafydd (3425').

It was then a long slog to Carnedd Llewelyn (3490'), the highest on the Carnedd massif, a somewhat tedious detour to Yr Elen (3156') and equally tedious return, skirting the summit of Llewelyn saw the final peaks of Foel Grach (3202'), Garnedd Uchaf(3055') and finally Foel Fras (3090') conquered in fine style.

The last being reached at 7:00pm, after a day lasting 14 1/2 hours.

A final 30-minute walk to be reunited with the support team and it was all over.