Author David Bull, Business Data Partners Senior Consultant
Following the Business Data Partners National Three Peaks Challenge announcement, the team will be updating on their progress via the BDP Blog in the lead-up to the event on the 6th – 7th July. If you’d like to show your support for the team taking on this challenge to raise money for SANDS Lothian, please do so via the Just Giving page.
In less than four weeks, ten consultants from Business Data Partners will be attempting the National Three Peaks Challenge. The Three Peaks challenge consists of walking the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales, all in 24 hours.
As consultants, we spend the majority of our day in an office, so some serious training is needed to make sure we’re prepared come July 6th. For our first training a group of us jumped in the car on a bank holiday Monday and headed to the shores of Loch Tay to conquer not one, but two Munros; Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers.
Weather in Scotland being what it is, we all had packs fully loaded with waterproofs, plenty of layers and emergency shelters. In fact, after setting off from the car park, the temperatures were well over 20°C and it wasn’t long before the we were really feeling the heat, and stripping off jumpers (and in one case, trousers).
The path up to Beinn Ghlas is a short, but a relentless slope up to 3,600ft resulting in several short pauses for water and pep talks. Unusually, there was barely a cloud in the sky and the views were spectacular for miles around.
There followed a short descent off the first summit, before a steep, rocky climb up to the top of Ben Lawers at a touch under 4,000ft. The refuelling break at the top was curtailed by flies and biting midges, so we made our way back down and took a slightly different route though a valley (avoiding extra hill!). We arrived back at the car park, sweaty but with a sense of achievement, feeling much more prepared for the challenge that awaits!