the rain on the window woke me up even before the alarm rang at 5am. conditions didn't look good.
saturday morning fort william

by the time we'd driven along glen nevis and were at the foot of the mountain, the rain had stopped and the nervous preparations began. by 6.53am we were assembled on the footbridge that forms the traditional start line to the challenge and after a quick team photo the watch was started we were off

the early stages of the climb were steep and saw lots of faffing as the many layers of clothing were removed. before long we were into the clouds and then above the snow line

two and a half hours after leaving the car we were celebrating the first and highest peak of the challenge. things were going well. two of the guys were travelling quite slowly but they were steady and that was fine.

going down was hard. there was a lot of 'traffic' with people and dogs blocking the trail at many points. i was also discovering that the muscles in my legs were fine at going up but were tiring quickly coming down.

back at the car in four hours and 23 minutes. legs were a little shaky but feet were good and by the time i'd dried my feet and given them a good talcing the rest of the group were back and i was ready to head off to the next peak