RMT RAMBLERS TAKE ON THE PEAKS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: january 2010 :: RMTnews 26 Last September, three RMT London Underground reps myself, Dave Rayfield, Graham Stanbridge and honorary member for the day, Mark Slater undertook the arduous Three Peaks Challenge: climbing Snowdon, Scaffel Pike and Ben Nevis one after the other. When first volunteering to do the task it seemed like a good idea. As it began to dawn on the group what they put their name down for, panic set in. To say they were an unfit bunch was putting it mildly. However, with a bit of training and self determination the lads completed the task with no problems in the end. There are many formats of this task; the one undertaken by the RMT Ramblers was by train, a more environmentally friendly version of the task. We had a bit longer to do the task, 36 hours in total, but we also had a six mile hike over boggy moors after climbing Snowdon and directly before climbing Scaffel Pike. We were raising money for the Railway Children Charity. There are many charities doing good things on behalf of street children all over the world. This particular charity specialise in early intervention. They provide the shelter, food, clothing, education and healthcare that are all essential to a child's wellbeing. But their main goal is to intervene with a child at the earliest opportunity before an abuser does. It's about getting to street kids before the streets get to them. The challenge started with a train journey from Euston to Bangor, a bus to Snowdon and then a midnight climb up Snowdon. It got a bit scary at times on the ascent in the dark using only head torches knowing that if you came of the path it was a long way down. The consensus among the group is that the most physically challenging part was the second part, the climb up Scaffel Pike in the Lake District. It wasn’t so much the mountain itself but the fact that it was straight after Snowdon, with little rest and a six mile hike to reach the start point. With legs like jelly and lungs exploding the summit was a welcome site. The challenge was completed with a pre-dawn ascent of Nevis, the biggest of the three by far. By this time it was heads down, dig deep and a lot of energy bars. They couldn’t see a thing on the way up but the views on the way back down were breath taking. A welcome pint at the bottom tasted like the best beer ever. Another satisfying aspect of the challenge was that there were seven teams from London Underground in total. The rest were all younger, managerial types but the RMT Ramblers had the fastest mean time over all. No mean achievement. The ramblers managed to raise over £3,000 and we would like to thank the many RMT branches and members who dug deep for this worthwhile cause.We are now planning a new challenge for next year with Kilimanjaro and then K2 firmly in our sights. * If you have been thinking about putting a team together for the Three Peaks Challenge, Railway Children will help you all the way with lots of support, training advice and help with fundraising. For more information, take a look at the website – www.railwaychildren.org.uk/events or ring events manager Katie Mason 01270 757596. Jim McDaid reports how he and two other London Underground RMT reps took on the arduous Three Peaks Challenge for the Railway Children charity and survived to tell the tale RMT RAMBLERS TAKE ON THE PEAKS