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A Women’s Guide to the Three Peaks Challenge

Thinking of signing up to the Three Peaks Challenge? You’re in luck. WhoSki.com’s Sally is freshly back with insider tips on conquering the UK’s three peaks in just 24 hours.

Read on for her women’s guide to the Three Peaks Challenge, with the low-down on those less-discussed issues you’re dying to know about but may feel a tad awkward in asking…

Sally writes: There were three topics that came up again and again among our eight-strong all-women group in the run-up to our Three Peaks Challenge:

Kit
Food
Loo stuff

Weirdly, these seemed to preoccupy us more than the training. Probably because they aren’t addressed on many blogs, which focus on how to prepare for the event through exercise, steps, hill walking and nutrition.

So here are my women-focused pointers for a Three Peaks Challenge newbie worried about what to wear and take, where you’re going to ‘go’ and what you need to eat to conquer a very challenging 2,957m of altitude over 26 miles in 24 hours.

Let’s start with kit

‘Pack light, don’t overthink it.’

Take walking poles and use them; you may sound like a clippy-clop horse on your gallop to the summit, but using them takes SOOOO much pressure off your knees. I borrowed walking poles from my sister and they were a godsend.
Pack a spare t-shirt and pair of knickers to change into for your final ascent. Simply swapping into a fresh top and pants was a massive mood and energy booster. Forget changing your trousers or shorts, though – it’s not necessary.
Carry some handy wipes (biodegradable, of course) and a small roll-on deodorant for a swift freshen-up during loo breaks.
Take a light blanket for the mini-bus. It was a hot weekend for our Three Peaks Challenge, so I pulled my blanket over my head to block out light while resting on the journey between ascents.
Glasses – a total pain in the backside. I kept misplacing mine on the dark minibus; take varifocals if possible and keep them in an easily accessible pocket.
If you want to take photos (bear in mind that if you’re taking your Three Peaks Challenge seriously, you won’t have time to stop during ascents and descents), keep your phone / camera in a pouch on your front so you can easily grab it for on-the-go photography.
Comfort is key when it comes to walking boots. Our final, relentless walk down Snowdon was the one that created the most foot problems – blisters on toes and bruised big toes (easily hidden using nail varnish). Socks are also so important: do not skimp on them.
Check your head torch at home before you set off on your Three Peaks Challenge. Wear it at night and in action to get the angle right to illuminate the path ahead of you.
Use a heel insert if you suffer any pain during training. I bought some Skechers Arch Fit trainers and wore them every day before the walk. They removed all my pain within 10 days, meaning the training played havoc with my feet, but the challenge didn’t!
Borrow kit or buy second-hand when you can – how often will you re-use walking poles or waterproof trousers? And clearly you should re-sell any kit after your event, if you’re not going to need them again. The WhoSki.com marketplace is a great place to do so!
We went with a Three Peaks Challenge company that provided a thorough kit list; make sure you take everything listed or you will not be allowed up those mountains.

food

I reckon I spent most of my time beforehand visualising what food I would be eating and when, and fretting about whether it would fit the mark to keep my blood sugar levels consistent. All our Three Peaks Challenge pre-meetings included long conversations about food.
Our guides provided snacks, but do supplement these with your own snack choices. Make sure they are easy to grab while you walk and avoid anything too dry as they will be hard to swallow. (My bag of Cheddars didn’t do it for me, as I discovered…)
The guides we went with didn’t supply bananas as they were concerned about the skins being discarded then decomposing too slowly and in the wrong place. I would have killed for a banana en route…
Experiment with different snacks before you set off. I visited Holland & Barrett for the first time in my life, and discovered that they had some great options for a non-nut eater like me.
Being unable to clean your teeth en route is horrid, especially with all that snacking. Chewing gum is the perfect mouth refresher during coach trips between peaks – also a good ice breaker to share with fellow walkers.
Disappointingly, there was no cup of tea or bacon butty for us at the end of the final mountain, so make sure you plan an early pit-stop on your journey home.

toilet stuff: we all have to do it…

If you are an all-women team, expect to queue. You literally cannot take a quick pee anywhere, on any of the mountains: there are basically ZERO trees and bushes to squat behind. Then, after you and everyone’s auntie have saved it up for hours, you will descend en masse for the paltry three public toilets – cross your legs, it can take a while.
Being on your period during your Three Peaks Challenge would be really tough. You may have to go for up to five hours without access to a loo. It is worth investigating whether there is any way you can manipulate your menstrual cycle to avoid having your period while you are walking. At the foot of Snowdon, our final peak, we ended up in a car park so early in the morning that no loos were open.
Farting: yes you will fart. You will all fart and you’ll smell other people’s farts. But you won’t care. The snacks play havoc with your gut as does the sleep deprivation, the altitude and the lack of sanitary arrangements on demand (see above). We all talked a lot about farting. Just make sure it’s not the only topic of conversation. We all do it but that doesn’t mean we all want to talk about it the whole time…
Pooing – make sure you carry your own loo roll as the car park loos are often lacking paper or the dispensers don’t work (as I found out. Big shout-out to my Three Peaks teamies who responded to my pleas for help…).

team spirit

I was lucky to be walking in a super-supportive Three Peaks Challenge group of women I regularly exercise with through FitState. We took it seriously, but not TOO seriously and felt able to admit ‘I could have thrown in the towel walking down Ben Nevis’ – ie our first peak – and still be picked up again by companions. Support and logistics would have been pretty difficult without doing the Three Peaks Challenge as part of an organised group.

The rest times en route between mountains really do re-energise you. Even when you pile onto the bus after a tough peak and think you can’t take another step, you’ll be surprised by how the journey puts things into perspective.

Lastly, I 100% recommend you share private transport – we had a mini-bus – on the way home. You’ll stink, be knackered and the public probably won’t want to be near you. But you can stop for a McDonald’s or a Greggs and not feel bad about it. And you can laugh to your heart’s content at your AMAZING shared experiences, however gruelling they felt at the time.

Now I’m back home, our achievement is still slowly sinking in – what we went through and how far we travelled together, with joyous flashbacks to some hilarious situations and memories of awe-inspiring scenery.

That will stay with me for a long, long time.

Sally walked the Three Peaks Challenge in aid of teenage mental health, raising money for WhoSki.com’s charity partner stem4. Visit her Just Giving page here if you wish to donate. We give a proportion of our commission on every sale via the WhoSki.com marketplace to stem4.

Walking for teenage mental health

This week is Mental Health Awareness week and at WhoSki.com, we donate 25% of our commission on every sale to teenage mental health charity stem4 . On top of that, our Co-Founder Sally has signed up to walk the Three Peaks Challenge in June.

Sally writes: That means I will be ascending (and descending, obviously!) the three highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales within a 24-hour (ish) period. Yikes!

I’m walking in aid of teenage mental health, raising money for our charity partner stem4, as is the organiser of the expedition Viki Potter, who runs the FitState fitness coaching business in Wimbledon.

my training programme

A major part of my training schedule is walking. Walking, walking, walking. The challenge – I live in London and there aren’t many mountains. But I have discovered the vibrant diversity of urban nature in the heart of the city. Check out my Instagram reel to see more.

Want to support me?

Help me reach my goal by donating to stem4 either directly through their website or through my Three Peaks Challenge fundraising page.

WhoSki.com is proud to support teenage mental health as part of Mental Health Awareness week 2023

YMHD with our charity partner stem4

The annual YMHD campaign from WhoSki.com’s charity partner stem4 aims to get young people talking and taking part in activities to improve their mental health, and to support others to do likewise. Taking place on September 22nd, Youth Mental Health Day 2022 is focusing on sharing stories to enable young people to connect.

stem4 is an award-winning organisation which specialises in developing and distributing free apps (backed by the NHS) to help young people cope with mental health issues. Of the 2,007 young people the charity surveyed ahead of Youth Mental Health Day, nearly half (46%) said they were
currently experiencing mental health difficulties.

Here at WhoSki.com we donate 10% of our commission from every sale to stem4. So, by selling through our peer-to-peer marketplace, you are directly helping support teenage mental health.

CONNECT MEANINGFULLY

Over the past few years, young people have been forced to experience many of their most formative experiences virtually—from joining a new school, college, university or workplace, to celebrating milestones such as exams and big birthdays.

By focusing on the importance of meaningful connections and having a solid support system, this year’s YMHD is inviting young people across the UK to reflect on how their relationships (with family, friends, teachers etc.) have changed over the past few years.

stem4 is inviting them to share ideas and set goals on how they can #ConnectMeaningfully to foster relationships that will support and positively impact their mental health.

The Wimbledon-based charity is best known for its four, award-winning, NHS-approved, free mental health apps, including Calm Harm and Combined Minds, which have been downloaded by more than 3.2 million people globally.

WHOSKI AND STEM4

Partnering with stem4 is our way of supporting a charity which helps teenagers access positive mental health support easily, and through their phones. Every item you buy or sell through WhoSki.com directs a charitable donation to this important cause.

We chose stem4 as our charity partner in recognition of the mental health benefits of taking part in wintersports activities like skiing and snowboarding. Being active outdoors, in the mountains and the fresh air brings benefits for both mental and physical health.

BACK TO THE SLOPES

Season 2022/23 looks likely to be the first academic year since 2018/19 when school / college timetables go ahead as normal. We know that our school ski trips partner Halsbury Ski will be running a full schedule of ski trips. Likewise, UK universities are gearing up to get back to the slopes – in many cases, for the first time in three years.

How to be a sustainable student skier

Here’s hoping that all who are planning a ski trip to the slopes in the coming months find it beneficial for their mental and physical health – in particular the young people who have so suffered so much from isolation and limited opportunities in their formative years.

Find out more about stem4 and YMHD here.

Boost your family’s mental health with #PMHD

You may spend a lot of time worrying about the mental health of your offspring, but how often do you think about your own?

Our charity partner stem4 has nominated today Thursday (January 27) as Parent Mental Health Day (#PMHD) to highlight that by looking after our own mental health, we can in turn improve outcomes for our children. It makes perfect sense.

The theme of the event is ‘balance’: #TiptheBalance to Positive: Looking after Parent and Carer Mental Health, and comes with a free Zoom seminar at 7pm this evening (27/01/2022). Register here: https://bit.ly/stem4webinarsPMHD

We donate 10% of our commission on every sale through WhoSki.com to stem4, which is Wimbledon-based (as are we) and focuses on practical ways to improve teenage mental health through developing apps and support programmes.

This year’s #PMHD is a nudge for parents and carers to take a moment to reflect on the balance (or lack of it) we have in our lives, and take simple, positive steps that can bring changes.

You might find it hard to believe at times, but as a young person’s ‘responsible adult’ you are among their chief influencers – building on this position of influence can be a positive way to improve mental health for every member of your family.

Perhaps your next family ski trip might be a good time to put some stem4 positive mental health tips into practice? Combined Minds is among the highly rated apps the charity has developed to support its aim of fostering the development of good mental health in teenagers through enhancing early understanding and awareness.

Making a difference: helping young people during lockdown

Challenging times make the work of our charity partner stem4 more important than ever, so we were pleased to catch up with what difference our – your – donations on every sale are making during the pandemic.

We charge 20% commission on sales at WhoSki.com, and pass on 10% of that sum to teen mental health charity stem4. By doing good for the environment through extending the use of your preloved ski and snowboard clothing, you are also helping support the wellbeing of young people.

Lockdown and its limitations on travel mean that sales at WhoSki.com have been hit. Let’s face it, how many of us have gone anywhere near the piste since last March? However, we are keen to honour our commitment to our charity partner, so recently made an extra donation to the stem4 coffers. We believe that the work of stem4 is more important than ever during this difficult period.

Supporting mental health

We were therefore pleased to hear that our donation helps provide free access to vital resources for thousands of young people via Calm Harm, a potentially life-saving app for those experiencing urges to self-harm.

A spokesperson for stem4 explains: “Your support is so important to us, and never more than at a time when many young people are finding it hard to adapt to new and ongoing restrictions and a way of living which may have a negative impact on their mental health.

“Having support such as yours, enables us to reach as many teenagers and young people as possible through our award-winning apps, digital resources and informative website.

“stem4 pledges to reach 100,000 young people annually, has 543 schools signed up to our Head Ed secondary school mental health programme and seen over two million downloads of our free digital apps to date.

Responding to need

“Whilst our face-to-face conferences are on hold, we continue our aim to extend our reach to highlight the importance of early identification and intervention of mental health conditions and improve and enhance access to free clinically informed resources. I’m delighted to report that two parent conferences were digitally delivered to audiences of several hundred parents and support such as yours enables us to deliver when and where it’s most needed.

“stem4 has worked tirelessly over the past year to respond to urgent need, to secure funding to create and deliver new COVID-19 specific resources and video guides and to culturally and linguistically adapt our resources through translation to support BAME communities most affected by the pandemic. We aim to expand our reach further into 2021, and to support the inevitable negative impact on young people’s mental health from COVID-19.”

We proudly donate 10% of the commission we take on every sale at WhoSki.com to stem4. You can make additional private donations via their website here.

Launch offer: we are donating 100% of our commission to charity

As WhoSki.com opens for the sale and purchase of secondhand ski clothing, we are FOR A LIMITED PERIOD diverting our commission so that it goes 100% directly to our partner teen mental health charity stem4.

That means, 20% on everything sold through our site will help foster the development of good mental health in teenagers through enhancing early understanding and awareness in individuals, their families, schools and the community, promoting shared early detection and signposting towards prompt action and intervention.

Normally, we donate 10% of our commission to Wimbledon-based stem4. But we have chosen to waive our takings for a limited time in order to give a well-deserved boost to this charity, which has already worked with 11.5k young people nationally since it was set up in 2011.

We believe that teenage mental health is the perfect partner for WhoSki.com, because those of us who ski know that being in the mountains is a brilliant way to escape the stresses of everyday life, enjoy the glorious mountain scenery, connect with nature and get a healthy workout.

Supporting stem4 is our way of sharing that feelgood factor and ensuring your pre-loved ski clothing provides benefits for those who can’t make it to the slopes – as well as those who can but need some extra support.

This is our first season as a peer-to-peer marketplace for secondhand ski and snowboard clothing, so we are keen to find out how we can make it easier to buy and sell used wintersports gear online. Keep in touch via twitter, Instagram and facebook and let us know your thoughts.

We want to see less clothing end up in landfill. Technical items like ski jackets are among the hardest items to recycle due to the mixed fabrics and coatings. Yet they are also among the most hardwearing. That’s why much secondhand ski clothing is literally as good as new, even after a few seasons of wear.

You are more likely to get sick of wearing the same salopettes year after year than see them wear out. WhoSki.com is your chance to pass on that used but barely worn clothing without suffering eco-guilt, and pick up something new (to you) to wear without creating #fastfashion fatigue.

Supporting teen mental health

Fresh air, nature, the great outdoors: all are proven to have a positive effect on mental health and all are among the reasons we love skiing.

So when we were looking for a charity to support with funds raised via the WhoSki.com website, stem4 seemed the perfect choice.

It’s a fairly young (like us) charity, based in Wimbledon (like us), with ambitions to do good (like us!), making it the perfect match. We were delighted when they agreed to team up with us, becoming our official charity partner to enable youngsters to benefit from our – and your – ski habit.

So we will be donating 10% of the commission we charge on every sale to stem4. That means EVERY TIME you sell an item in WhoSki.com, we donate money to the stem4 teenage mental health charity: even during special offer periods when we waive our own commission on sales.

What do stem4 do?

As a teen mental health charity, stem4 has the aim of improving the lives of young people by detecting and stemming common mental health problems at an early stage. They provide information on identification, intervention and effective management of commonly occurring teenage mental health issues. This information is shared through videos, a number of apps, conferences for schools, students, parents and health professionals, as well as their own website.