At 7am we were awoken from our luxurious beds abruptly. Breakfast was served and we had a talk of what we would be achieving for the day ahead. As soon as all that was over we were off. Across the bridge and straight up, up and up. An incline that would ‘kill a man jaro’. Five minutes into the hike and we were already struggling to find the inner strength inside of ourselves to carry on. Our legs were aching, we had blistered feet and were sweating like pigs. A great start!

We were soon onto Ben Nevis from Glen Nevis and were on track for the summit. The terrain changed from solid rocks to loose boulders which made it harder to keep balance and speed. As it neared 12:30 we were not sure that we would make it up, but we continued in hope, with lots of breaks to rehydrate ourselves. The higher we climbed we were greeted with false summits, reducing the teams moral. Finally, we were told by a fellow walker that it was only 40 minutes to the top, with renewed hope and energy we soldiered onwards to the tallest place in the United Kingdom.

Within half an hour we passed David Yesilmark’s patrol who told us we were 1km away with around 45 minutes to go. This was a lie. We arrived at the top panting and gasping for breath a couple of minutes later. Starving we ravaged our lunch every morsel of food was heaven.