Feldon Dunsmore's Lake District Three Peaks Challenge 2023

On the 8th of September, myself and 5 members of the team at Feldon Dunsmore completed the Lake District Three Peaks Challenge in aid of Helping Hands Community Project.

The challenge consisted of climbing to the top of three of the highest points in the Lake District on the same day, being Scafell Pike, Helvellyn and Old Man Coniston.

Helping Hands Community Project is the local charity which the firm has chosen to support this year, and we set ourselves the ambitious target of raising £4,000 from this event.

Helping Hands Community Project offers practical help, emotional support, and on-going mentoring to those facing issues of homelessness, domestic abuse, addiction, and related mental health problems within Warwickshire.

Everyone at Feldon Dunsmore had the privilege of meeting the very hard working and inspiring Lianne Kirkman, founder of Helping Hands Community Project, prior to the challenge and heard first-hand about the amazing services and support they provide for the most vulnerable members of our local community. Along with the motivation provided by Lianne we received overwhelming support from the wider Feldon Dunsmore team, our sponsors and donors, managed to maintain unwavering team spirit up the mountains and consumed copious sugary snacks, all enabling us to complete the challenge in just under 15 hours, on one of the hottest days of the year.

We surpassed our fundraising target and raised a staggering £4,485. A huge thank you to the generous sponsorship of our colleagues, clients, contacts, friends and family and the extremely generous corporate sponsors. The corporate sponsors for the challenge were: ERLS Vehicles, STAT Building Consultancy Ltd, O’Brien Real Estate, Rosconn Group, Swakeleys Ltd, Elevation Wealth Management, Christopher Taylor Charity and D&S Autos.

For anyone interested in taking on the challenge, or more sensibly just one of the peaks, please see below summary of the routes, timings, and our feedback on each. Note, as we wanted to complete all peaks within one day and during day light hours, we followed the same route up and down each peak. We also opted for routes without any scrambling.

Peak 1 - Scafell Pike

Start time: 5.30am from Wasdale Car Park

Route up: Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head https://explore.osmaps.com/route/18362929/scafell-pike-from-wasdale-head-route-2-one-way?lat=54.454973&lon=-3.249084&zoom=13.6658&style=Standard&type=2d

Distance: 5.47 miles

Moving time: 3 hours

Elevation Gain: 2,952 ft

Feedback: this was by far my favourite peak; we watched the sunrise as we climbed to the top with fresh legs. The route was easy to follow and direct with fantastic views of the lakes and getting an early start meant we had Scafell Pike to ourselves for most of the ascent.

Travel time Scafell Pike to Helvellyn: 1 hour 35 mins by car

Peak 2 – Helvellyn

Start time: 11.45 am from Swirls Car Park

Route up: Helvellyn loop from Rosthwaite https://explore.osmaps.com/route/18504136/Helvellyn-from-Rosthwaite

Distance: 5.18 Miles

Moving time: 4 hours

Elevation Gain: 2,474 ft

Feedback: the 29-degree heat made this peak almost unbearable; my one-word description of this peak would be “HELL!”. The weather aside, the route was easy to follow and direct and I would recommend this route compared to many of the other more technical routes which require lots of scrambling.

Travel time Helvellyn to Old Man Coniston: 45 mins by car

Peak 3 - Old Man Coniston

Start time: 5.30pm from Walna Scar Car Park

Route up: Low water route https://www.komoot.com/tour/1359638283?ref=aso&share_token=ahgbrZOrNNLIHRQG0W04ddZgcUD3INluKMHpsyoPsqS6PfJ7LL

Distance: 4.08 miles

Moving time: 3 hours

Elevation Gain: 1,911 ft

Feedback: we planned to do the much longer circular route with a steadier incline, however, as we were running out of daylight, we opted for the most direct route. It was a steep incline the entire ascent and so I would suggest opting for the circular route via Brown Pike, then onto Buck Pike and Dow Crag before the ascent to Old Man Coniston if time wasn’t an issue.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and are so pleased to be able to make a sizeable donation to Helping Hands Community Project. We would like to give special thanks to our sponsors and corporate sponsors.