Case Study - DWP

DWP 3,000ft Challenge for Broadway

A team of keen fundraisers from the DWP recently took part in the '3,000 ft challenge' - climbing the 4 biggest mountains in one weekend to raise money for Broadway! In total, the team raised a fantastic £970 towards Broadway's projects! Here, the team tell us all about their challenge:

"On a warm May afternoon last year, lulled into a false sense of security by the comfort of a warm office, a group of Private Office staff decided to attempt the 3000footer challenge for charity - climbing the 4 biggest mountains in England over the course of one weekend. We set a date for late July, started our training regimes, and foolishly hoped for long, warm days to complete the climbs.

As ever, the English weather proved unpredictable. July came, and we awoke on the Saturday morning, not to a panoramic view of the Lake District, but to heavy fog and the threat of imminent rain. Undeterred we set off for Skafell Pike - the highest peak, and apparently the most difficult. At 1000ft the fog descended and the rain started - we donned our waterproofs and carried on, fuelled by bananas and obscene amounts of kendall mint cake.

We arrived at the summit some hours later, soaked through and cold, with some bruises and scratches to show for our troubles. Unfortunately the view we enjoyed from the highest point in England only extended as far as the huddled up group of people next to us enjoying hot tea from a flask - why hadn't we thought of that! We all squeezed our Broadway tshirts over our various layers and smiled sweetly for the camera.

The descent was no less perilous, we scrambled over rocks, slid down rock faces and found ourselves lost and disorientated by the fog on several occasions. Finally we made it back to where we had started from hours earlier, crawled into the car, followed by the shower and then a warm, and much appreciated, Cumbrian pub, where we congratulated ourselves on not having had to call out Mountain Rescue.

We awoke the following day feeling slightly stiff and achy but raring to carry on (for the most part!). Luckily the rain decided to hold off for us this time round, so we set off for some slightly smaller mountains and were relieved to see some more consistent, if very steep, terrain in front of us. Half way up Helvellyn, we turned around and were finally rewarded with the view we had been hoping for all weekend, spanning far across the Lake District. This idyllic moment was, of course, short lived for within minutes the fog had descended again, the wind had picked up, and we were once again greeted with a view of nothing other than fellow hikers huddled together at the summit.

On Sunday evening we all headed back to London, feeling very proud, if exhausted and a little achy. All in all it was a fantastic trip, which left us all with numerous amusing memories and very peculiar walks when we got back to the office on Monday morning."

The DWP 3,000ft team reach the top!