Al Hinkes is once again in the media spotlight. This time he is attempting to climb the highest mountains in six regions of the UK to raise money for WaterAid. Hinkes´ challenge involves 1000 miles of driving, 50 Miles of walking, 20,000 feet of ascent, 2 sea crossing all to be completed within 72 hours. The six peaks are Snaefell (Isle of Man), Snowdon (Wales), Scafell Pike (England), Ben Nevis (Scotland), Slieve Donard (Northern Ireland) and Corran Tunathall (Ireland). Three of the summits: Snowdon, Scafell and Ben Nevis form the focus of the more popular 3 Peak Challenge that has caused a great deal of controversy in recent years. In a nutshell large numbers of people – we are talking multiple coach loads – travel around the country causing an increase in erosion, littering, noise levels in rural areas at night, and general mayhem on three of the most popular mountains we have. All this is done whilst raising money for charity. We appreciate that raising money for any established charity, particularly through the form of exercise, is something to congratulated for. However isn´t it time that people realise and respect the down-sides to such honey-pot challenges and perhaps come up with some alternatives. No one is suggesting that people shouldn´t be climbing Snowdon or any other mountain, but that the high profile charities, manufacturers (Berghaus in this case) and celebrities have the opportunity to lead by example and begin weaning people away from the most popular challenges. ———————————————————————– If you have any news worth reporting please contact Matt – matt@planetfear.com / 0114 2969114 ———————————————————————–
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