Five intrepid adventurers smashed the Five Peaks Challenge raising £3,000 for the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice – three times their original target.
Jasmine Roebuck, Natalie Smith, Alex Fowler, Ryan Day and Alex Garber set themselves a challenge to climb the UK and Ireland’s five highest mountains in just 48 hours.
The five friends climbed Ben Nevis (1,345m), Scafell Pike (978m), Snowdon (1,085m), Slieve Donard (850m) and Carrauntoohil (1038m).
Overall, the challenge covered 64km and involved 5,300 metres of ascent, the equivalent of Everest Base Camp! Not only that but the challenge had to include all travel time, with Tom Woolfe, the team’s driver, taking on 23 hours of driving.
And it certainly was a challenge! Even before they arrived at their first mountain, Ben Nevis, a car clipped their van knocking off the wing mirror.
Jasmine said: “We were worried we’d fallen at the first hurdle, but luckily the van owner met us at a service station and fixed it at Formula One pitstop speed in the middle of the challenge!”
The group completed the Ben Nevis ascent in under two and a half hours, and while Jasmine was unwell and couldn’t climb Scafell and Snowdon, her teammates did both in exceptional times too.
In Northern Ireland, they climbed Slieve Donard in the dark, navigating paths they’d never done before, reaching the mountain’s peak at dawn, rewarded with a stunning sunrise.
Then they faced their final climb – Carrauntoohil in the Republic of Ireland, with six hours to conquer the final peak, the team were confident after the success of previous mountains.
This was when the weather took a turn for the worse, a number of routes were flooded.
Jasmine said: “Searching for alternatives meant we lost about two hours! We eventually made it to Devil’s Ladder, which is not an easy route even in good conditions.
“Three of us made the tough decision to call off the attempt as there was a risk of getting into difficulty. Natalie and Alex Fowler carried on – fuelled by the fundraising efforts of the team – and they made the summit in extremely tricky conditions, beating the weather and the 48-hour time limit.”
To be precise the team completed the challenge in 47 hours 33 minutes which, as Jasmine understates, was “quite the achievement!”
She added: “There were moments when we certainly didn’t think we’d do it but we’d push ourselves on. We wanted to do it for the charity and for eachother. We’re still a bit overwhelmed by what we’ve achieved, I don’t think it’s sunk in yet.”
The team has smashed their original £1,000 fundraising target – their total now stands at over £3,000 and continues to rise. “We’re over the moon about that,” said Jasmine. “We’ve had such good support throughout.”
If you’d like to donate to their fundraising page – you can do so HERE.
