September 12th 2019
James B scales Scafell Pike
James B in Year 8 has successfully scaled Scafell Pike and raised £500 of charitable donations for the South African tour. James was joined on the climb by family and friends, including his two older brothers, Old Moles Harry (now at Eton) and Edward (now at Stowe).
James has written in his own words:
I, and the team of family and friends, decided to take the longest and toughest route up. This meant that overall it was a 20K walk, including climbing up the side of a waterfall, where the team leader wobbled and nearly became the former team leader!
After an epic trek along a fresh water stream we reached the foot of the mountain. We scrambled up a winding path for 300m before taking a wrong turn and having to climb up a steep grass cliff for another 100m (thanks Daddy....).
By now we had joined up with another path for the last 200m and this was the hardest. People were in silence as they tried to fight the pain. ‘’One more step’’ was constantly in everyone’s mind. But after the pain was glory. We had lunch on the top of the mountain……but danger was still near.
On the descent we were caught in a white out (we got stuck in a cloud). I was overjoyed by this feat, whereas the rest of the group were not, because an extra hour was added on. After we broke out of the cloud it was just another trek alongside a different river, but we eventually made it home!
