The Welsh 3000s (aka The 15 Peaks Challenge)

Region: Snowdonia (North Wales)
The Challenge: To climb every 3000ft peak in Wales in 24 hours. (We also run this as a 3-day event)
Distance: 48km (30 miles)

The Welsh 3000’s challenge, also known as ‘The 15 peaks’ or ’14 peaks challenge’, follows a route across Snowdonia taking in every mountain peak over 3000 feet.

This is a long and hard route (in total you will ascend nearly 4000 m (13,000ft) in vertical height) but also a very beautiful and rewarding one. The varied nature of the terrain all adds to the interest; you will encounter not just good paths and grassy slopes but also knife-edge ridges and rocky scrambles as you progress.

Lupine Adventure Co-op run two types of Welsh 3000ers events, the 24 hour challenge and the infinitely more sensible 3 day event.

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The 24 Hour Challenge

This is an extremely difficult challenge. It is grueling and fairly unpleasant at times but the sense of achievement at the end and the associated retrospective enjoyment will stay with you for years to come.

The route is split into 3 sections.

The Snowdon Range.
To maximise the walking in daylight at the end of the day we start before dawn. We walk to the base of Crib Goch in the half light of pre-dawn and if we’re lucky get to watch the sun rise as we scramble up to the first of our peaks. After we have summited Crib Goch and tackled the subsequent knife-edge ridge, some of your leaders will head straight down while the remaining staff will guide you up Snowdon. With Snowdon in the bag you will descend into Nant Peris to meet the van for refreshments . This little lot should take you about 5 hours. It will be about 8 or 9 am. You will have time to refill on snack bars and water.

The Glyders
Next you go up and over the Gylders. This grueling section takes in a couple of peaks before getting onto the Glyders and then onto one of the most popular mountains in Snowdonia, Tryfan. You will then descend Tryfan to meet a fresh pair of Mountain Leaders for the final 20km section of the walk.

The Carneddau
The final 20 km starts off hard with a 700m climb up from the valley to the summit of Pen Yr Ole Wen and then it is just a case of a long walk along the tops with only short and or gentle ascents and descents. Once you are on the final peak don’t celebrate too hard as there is still an hour or two of walking to get off the hill at the end.

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The Logistics

We will have a dedicated vehicle on following you around the route for your food, extra water, spare socks and tea and coffee. This vehicle will be there at the end of the event to take you to your car or accommodation.

We staff this event with relatively high staffing ratio’s. We do this to enable us to deal with situations such as injuries or slow members of the group without jeopardising the success of the whole team. We staff with ratio’s of 1:3 for the ascent of Crib Goch, 1:12 for nipping up the last bit of Snowdon and then 1:6 for all subsequent sections.

The Three Day Event

The route we take is the same as the one day challenge but usually in reverse, meaning we end up on Snowdon on Day 3.

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The Welsh 3000s (aka The 15 Peaks Challenge)

The 24 Hour Challenge

The Logistics

The Three Day Event

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