Please suggest shoes for Hill walking (plan to do the three peak challenge in near future)

[GammaDelta]

Hi all,
I plan to do the three peak challenge( Snowdon, Scafell pike, Ben Nevis in 24 hrs.) in the near future. please suggest what shoes should I go for. I am looking for Vibram sole n waterproof. Merell, Solomon, or karrimor. high ankle support or not?

also please suggest if you could give me any advise as to how to go for the three peak challenge.. i don't have a group i can do this with.. is doing a half marathon sufficient fitness vise.. thanks in advance.

The three peaks challenge really annoys me, probably irrationally! It doesn't require any genuine level of fitness as it is only walking up one mountain at a time then resting again so no real continuous effort. By ds had walked up all three on separate occasions by the age of 8, didn't find any of them particularly difficult. It puts a strain on mountain rescue services as many incompetent teams have got lost in scafell in the dark. It puts little back into the local community especially for Cumbria as people just drive in and out on noisy mini buses in the middle of the night not even buying a pint or a sandwich. The only person who I can really respect for doing this challenge is a guy in my running club who did it in 24 hrs using a bike and trains ( involves a lot of cycling cos there are not many convinently placed stations)

You will have to find some hills near you or a tower block with stairs. You use entirely different muscle groups when going up and down hills to when you run / walk on the flat. A lot of fell runners find the going down or flat sections the hardest - so practice your downs as well. As a general rule of thumb every 1000 feet of climb is equal to an extra mile - I find that because I am not as fit as the fast runners that it is more like 1 1/2 miles per 1000 feet.

As for shoes - try different ones. Personally I hate boots and use trail shoes or fell shoes. I find boots restrict the flex in my ankles too much, so I end up using my body in a toally different way. I also find different terrain suits different shoes as does the amount of rain and temperature. I use a soft sole in the Lakes and a hard sole in the Dark Peak and North Wales.

For a long run I take full waterproof, map, compass (learn how to use it before you set off), hat, emergency jelly beans, whistle, light gloves, extra long sleeve top and food (a jam sandwich on warburtons thick white with the crusts off for ease of eating - some people prefer a banana). Head torch for the night running ( use a bike light because they are brighter, although heavier). There is water on the way up Scarfell & Snowden. I can't remember if there is on Ben Nevis. I very rarely carry a phone as signal is non existant where I normally run. All my "stuff" fits into a bum bag or a small running / biking sack.

Nothing at all on Ben Nevis. Where was the water on Scafell?

Depends which way you go up snowdon, think there's about 5 routes up. We did Llanberis path which has a cafe halfway up

Hi All
madwoman, Aggressive I am doing Snowdonia end of this month. Hopefully all will be ok.. I hope DH can take care of DS while I am away...
Thanks. Will keep you posted.