Three Peaks Challenge success for our first mate Jim and employer partners Valto

In May our first mate Jim and Team Valto successfully completed the gruelling National Three Peaks Challenge in support of WeMindTHeGap!

Over the last 12 months, the dedicated team had tirelessly trained and prepared for this monumental task, to be ready to tackle the highest peaks in Scotland, England, and Wales in just 24 hours. It’s was an incredible journey filled with challenges, but the team’s determination and spirit never wavered.

WeMindTheGap’s first mate Jim shares his reflections on the challenge…

I got to meet the majority of the valto team the day before our first peak. I arrived at the office at 9am, and shook the hands of the people I would be going on this great adventure with. We filled up on water (I spilt some) and we got on the bus, our ears full of the motivational words of Shelley (our bus driver) and our heads full of excitement.

After a longggg bus journey we arrived at our B&B for the night and quickly got our grill on! Sausages, burgers, lamb koftas, you name it, we grilled it. As the sun set over Fort William we each shared a few beers and a few laughs.

“This is what its all about.” Said Sam – I agreed!

We all rolled out of bed, ready for a 5:30am taxi to the visitors centre at the base of Ben Nevis to start our big hike. We were all filled with nerves and excitement. This was what we have all been training for!

“Its a bad day to be Ben Nevis” said David ‘rocky’ Buckley

I agreed.

It was indeed a bad day to be climbing Ben Nevis, but the team managed to get up and down in 4 hours and 30 minutes. Easy peasy for team Valto after what I assume was their 30th snowdon hike the fortnight prior.

Before Ben Nevis had any idea what was going on, we were already zooming down south, ready to head to Scaffell Pike.

Due to delays, a short break, and bad luck, we arrived at Scaffell an hour later than scheduled. We realised that we would need to be up and down Scaffell Pike in 3 hours if we wanted to finish in time. The atmosphere on the bus was buzzing with the help of Hughs infectious positivity and some good tunes from Sam!

We got off the bus, and started stomping. Scaffell was the hardest peak for some, with a few of us succumbing to injuries from the difficult descent. Myself included. But the weather was on our side, with beautiful views of the lakes and the sun on our backs.

“My knee is feeling diabolical” said Tom. I agreed.

After a looooong bus journey, we arrived at the base of Snowdon. We could hardly see a foot in front of us it was so dark.

We switched on our head torches and started stomping. Halfway up the Pyg Pass, we put some music on on my little portable speaker. The vibes were good.

We got to the final stretch of the mountain and Alex ‘the pheonix’ ushered us to go on ahead, he didn’t want to slow us down. With heavy hearts, we all went ahead.

“I’ll see you on the way down” squawked the Phoenix. I agreed.

Before we knew it we were almost at the top, we paused for a quick rest, with the sky getting ever so slightly brighter, out of the ashy dark, we spotted Alex ‘the pheonix’ in his white shirt rising up the hill, just 30 seconds behind us! Absolute machine.

We finally reached the top of Snowdon and posed for a photo, and scanned the view.

As the sun rose, we saw a trail of little tiny head-torches decorating the path we had walked.

Head torches of brave and silly people climbing the tallest mountain in Wales at 3am, people just like us.

We clambered down the mountain as a group. Some of us limped, some of us walked, all of us united by our desire to finish the hike on time.

We approached the final stretch of the walk; the gate which we walked through that morning and 3 of us found the energy to run across the line.

We finished with a time of 12 minutes and 58 seconds remaining.

Good times!

Valto is immensely proud to share that they exceeded their fundraising goal of £5,000, with a whopping £ 5,705 donated – thanks to the incredible generosity of Valto’s and WeMindTheGap’s supporters.