Scafell Pike Challenge Weekend
Over a weekend in late May, Butterfly Data set out to climb the highest mountain in England, Scafell Pike. Following last year’s ascent of Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon (our retelling of this residing here https://www.butterflydata.co.uk/blog-overview/snowdonia-challenge-weekend), Butterfly wanted to tick off another one of the highest peaks in the UK - Wales and England having now both been completed. As a team, we love a challenge and this was a perfect chance to push ourselves mentally as well as physically, and to get some quality socialising time in.
We arrived at our accommodation on Friday evening, a few miles away from the base of Scafell, and prepped some hearty dinners together (carb-loading prior to the big day), before setting up several rounds of ‘around the world’ at the table tennis. The following morning, we packed some lunches, piled into the cars, and made our way to the base of Scafell. Spirits buoyed by a beautiful clear day and a clear plan of how we were to undertake the climb. Several of our colleagues are experienced hikers and climbers, and we knew that our route planning and risk management was in safe hands.
Whilst there were a breadth of abilities and energy levels to account for, we as a team made a concerted effort to make sure that everyone was included and looked after at every stage.
The team shared their load across bags, kept realistic paces to maintain the group’s integrity, and gave generously from their varying supplies of pork pies and chocolate. The breaks we took en route often coincided with open stretches of a stream or small ponds, which presented the perfect opportunity to cool off and enjoy vistas of the Cumbrian landscape.
After a few hours, the team all reached the summit and realised, in jubilation, that we could see for miles (unlike our Snowdon ascent, where visibility was in a matter of metres). Here, we celebrated, had a drink, and took some photographs to remember. It was an apt moment for us all to appreciate the distance we had covered and the climb we had achieved as a team together. We were then reminded of the descent which was still to come, as one of our colleagues often reminds us - reaching the top is only half the journey. So we put our packs back on and set off to come back down, a feat which seemed to cause more pain than the climb up but as the hike grew in difficulty so too did the support, with members making sure that nobody was left behind, and splitting water and food with those who needed it.
As we made it to the farmyard at the bottom, with the sun drifting cooly into an early evening, it would have been difficult to not see a face with a tired but emphatic smile on it, everyone joined in an appreciation of the challenge we had set and met and the difficulties we had overcome along the way. There was a real sense of excitement over the weekend, even in the weeks afterwards, and it has sparked strong discussions about where the next challenge weekend is going to be. It is clearly still up for debate, but one thing is certain, the Butterfly team could not be more ready for it!
