Farmers in Wales will embark on a gruelling 24 hour challenge to tackle 15 mountains in order to raise £50,000 for a mental health charity.
Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has set the challenge to raise vital funds for the DPJ Foundation, a mental health charity in Wales supporting farmers.
The team of eight, led by DPJ Foundation volunteer and mountain guide Iwan Meirion, will take part in the 24 hour challenge on 6 July to tackle the Welsh 3000’s.
The 15 mountains in Wales that have a height of 3,000 feet or more and the challenge is over 50km in length and involves nearly 3,700m of elevation gain.
It is a strenuous outing on Wales' highest mountains, split into three sections, that will push the team to their limits.
The challenge starts by tackling Yr Wyddfa, using the PYG Track to ease into things, but it won't be long before the team start their ascent of Crib Goch and tackling around 400 yards of knife-edge ridge, which will take them to the first summit of the day.
On to the higher Garnedd Ugain and Snowdon thereafter, shortly after they will be descending steep hillsides to reach the first Checkpoint at Nant Peris.
The second section will see them climb up to Elidir Fawr, which is relentless. Whilst not technically difficult, this section does include about 900m of almost continual climbing.
A few ups and downs follow - over Y Garn, Glyder Fawr, Glyder Fach and Tryfan before the steep descent to the Ogwen Valley, and Checkpoint 2.
The last big climb of the day up to Pen Yr Ole Wen, will be a test for the team. Described as fairly easy going to Carnedd Dafydd, and a deviation to the outlier - Yr Elen, the route then takes them back onto the main ridgeline and up to Carnedd Llewelyn.
Once here, almost all of the ascent is done, and it'll be a case of getting their heads down and putting one foot in front of the other to tick off the remaining bumps of Foel Grach, Carnedd Gwenllian and Foel Fras, and completion of the challenge.
After the obligatory photo on top of the last peak, there is still the matter of the 1.5hr descent to the finish and pick-up point.
Leading the FUW team is senior county executive officer Emyr Wyn Davies, who said it would be a mental and physical challenge.
He said: "We want to give our fundraising efforts for the DPJ Foundation one absolute giant push and break the £50,000 barrier.
"The work the DPJ Foundation does every day for our farming and rural communities is immense.
"They save lives every single day and we want to make sure that they can continue to do that.”
