When I was on my 30th ascent of Snowdon, for some reason, I decided that this year would be the year I reach my 50th summit. I set this goal to push my fitness levels and maintain my commitment. This meant I needed to summit 20 more times.
I didn’t just focus on Snowdon for my training; I tackled a variety of other mountains to maintain peak fitness and strengthen my legs, preparing to carry a 30kg weight on my 50th Snowdon summit. Additionally, I wanted to support my local charity, Deaf Active. I raised awareness and over £650 for them. The reason for setting the goal of 50 summits was to challenge myself, especially with the upcoming Welsh 3000s challenge, which is one of the toughest challenges in the UK. To tackle that, I needed to be in top-notch shape, so I thought starting with my 50th Snowdon ascent would be a good way to kick things off.
On the night before my 50th Snowdon ascent, I felt pretty confident, but I also had some concerns about carrying the 30kg weight, something I had never done before. However, on the day when I put on the weight and realized how heavy it was, I had a lot of people around me to support, and that felt great.
As I made my way up, the weather was a bit nasty – rainy, wet, and windy. The route was also quite busy, even though I managed to pass most of the others with my 30kg weight, which surprised them and added a bit of fun to the challenge. I wanted to show them that if I could do it with the weight on, they could certainly do it without!
As soon as I reached my 50th summit, I felt emotional. It was a special milestone for me, and I considered it a significant achievement, especially with that 30kg weight vest on me. I celebrated with my hiking buddy, who had come along to support me. I was pleasantly surprised when I was presented with a 50th Snowdon summit medal as a congratulation from Jonathan. It was a fantastic day, one I’ll never forget, and it made me feel ready for even bigger challenges. I’m considering taking on the Everest Base Camp next after completing the Welsh 3000s. Who knows, maybe I’ll summit Snowdon for the 100th time someday! Haha.
I had a lot of people supporting me all the way to the top, and I managed to complete the ascent in 2 hours and 45 minutes on the PYG track with that 30kg weight. I think that’s a pretty impressive result
