Thankfully, there were no incidents on the drive down to Snowdon so the 24 hour time limit was still on! We arrived in the car park at the base of Snowdon at 1238 and were ready to start our final part of the journey half an hour later. The stop watch was on 19 hours 44 minutes. We had just over 4 hours left in which we had to get to the top and back down again! It was going to be close but we were still confident we could do it!
There are several routes from which you can reach the summit of Snowdon. We were to use the most popular - The Miners Route.
We hurried along from the base following the trail towards the summit. I really was on "auto pilot" by now! Snowdon is not a technically challenging mountain, but I found it very tough going! The ascent just seemed to drag on and on! There were some sections of the route that had sharp drops on one side! Now, I must admit I'm not too keen on heights and found a few sections a little nerve racking! I was aware that I was very tired and had to be careful not to accidentally trip or fall. I must admit clinging on to the rocks on one side on a few occasions!
After 1 hour and 47 minutes of climbing, the summit was reached! I did not have the elation here as I had done on Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike. I just wanted to get back to the bottom and for it all to end!
One piece of good news at this point was that we were fairly certain to make the whole challenge within the 24 hour time limit. By the time we began our descent, we had 2 hours and 19 minutes left to complete the challenge. Considering we had reached the top in 1 hour and 47 minutes, and that the descent was likely to be quicker, it was
quite safe to say that we would be successful. We may even be able to ease off a little on the way down!
The journey down was strange. The pace within our group was very conservative and we hardly spoke a word to each other, with a few exceptions to let out a groan or two!
We reached the bottom at precisely 1654, completing the entire challenge in 23 hours and 30 minutes! Just half an hour to spare! When you consider that this was the only time we had left, it shows how fragile the whole challenge is. If we had been caught in even the slightest amount of traffic, or lost our way on one of the routes, we could have found our challenge in jeopardy!
We opened a can of celebratory Fosters as we sat in the car park at the base of the mountain, whilst nursing the many niggles we had all picked up.
It was time to find our hotel and have a few drinks!