On this page you’ll find all the info and links you’ll need to plan a successful Three Peaks Challenge, and we’ve laid it out in a handy step by step guide.
Planning your challenge
- Decide on a date. It’s best to avoid school and bank holidays. Parking and local amenities are under considerable pressure during these busy times. The Summer months are the best to achieve the challenge, giving you the most daylight to work. Remember that the weekends will be the busiest. Detailed advice on parking and logistics can be found on the local advice pages for each mountain: Ben Nevis | Scafell Pike | Snowdon
- Seriously consider undertaking the challenge over three days. Just as physically challenging, but you’ll also get to enjoy and appreciate the stunning landscapes your visiting, and considerably reduce your impact on these fragile areas. Learn how to minimise your impact here.
- Plan your route. Local rangers and wardens have put together detailed information for each mountain in handy downloadable guides. Start your route planning now.
- Register your challenge. If your a group of over 10, you’ll need to register your challenge. Register Now.
- Plan your kit. You’ll need a bit more than just the usual hill-walking gear. Take a look at our recommended kit list.
- Stay safe. Keeping you and the rest of your group out of trouble is a no-brainer. Read about the basics here.
- Find out how the experts do it. Many people choose to use a guiding company for the Three Peaks Challenge. We asked a local guiding company to tell us how they plan for a guided Three Peaks Challenge event. Read it here.
After Your Challenge…
Feeling inspired by the stunning landscapes you visited. The Three Peaks Partnership helps look after these beautiful but fragile places. It’s a lot of work and we can’t do it on our own. Find out how you can help here.
Respect the environment
- Be considerate. Overnight, please keep noise to an absolute minimum, switch off engines and lights. Parking at Scafell Pike is right next to campsites and local residents, who experience noise and disturbance every Saturday night from April-October. Please respect the local community.
- Take your litter and food scraps home. Our small, rural communities have very limited waste collections and recycling facilities. Similarly, please don’t build or leave any cairns, artificial objects or memorials on the mountains.
- Take care of the toilets! Please leave in a good condition, taking litter and clothing away with you. Don’t use the mountains as an outdoor toilet, this has significant impacts on local water supplies, ecology and is un- pleasant for other visitors. Where possible go before you arrive. If you do need to urinate, do so at least 30m from streams and burns. If you need to defecate , do so as far away as possible from buildings, streams and farm animals. Bury faeces in a shallow hole and replace the turf.
- Keep to the paths, not the grass edges and avoid shortcuts.
- Follow the National Three Peaks Guidelines on this site, and available for download here.
Stay safe
- Be prepared! Make sure that you have the correct kit and a good level of fitness. Take a look at our kit list for suggestions on what you’ll need to bring with you.
- Check the weather! Mountain weather can change rapidly and turn a great experience into a very bad one. Check the Met Office and MWIS (Mountain Weather Information Service) forecasts the night before your challenge for the most accurate information.
- In case of emergency. The British mountains can be a challenging place at all times of the year. Local Mountain Rescue teams are all volunteers and should only be called in an emergency. Visit mountain.rescue.org.uk for more information.
Want to help?
Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon are very fragile environments and are under pressure from the hundreds of thousands of visitors that come to enjoy these special places each year. Three Peaks Challenge events do have a significant impact on these mountains resulting in additional costs for the charities and other landowners that manage them.
You can help us care for these special places by following the Three Peaks Partnership guidelines.
- Please seriously consider donating, this will help us to protect these mountains and keep these wild places special for future generations.
- You can also help by volunteering yours or your group’s time.
