Blue teams summit Ben Stack

as Red teams rock climb and sea kayak

It is 6am on Tuesday morning. In an hours time the Blue teams will wake at the Adventure School for a run or swim before breakfast, and the Reds will emerge from tents at their mountain basecamp.

The plan today is for Blue teams to do a combination of rock climbing, sea kayaking and survival skills while the Reds set off for their summit attempt on Ben Stack.

Yesterday (Monday) it was the Blues tackling Ben Stack. It is not designed to be easy, but a challenge that requires some perseverance and teamwork to reach the summit. The teams set off along the estate track into Strath Stack just before 9am, breaking from the track after about an hour to pick a line over rough terrain and up the steeper slopes on the southern side of the mountain. Climbing into the cloud is pretty exciting, and a bit eerie too. By 1pm all three Blue teams had reached the summit, a superb effort for all. The teams were back at the Adventure School by 4pm, showers for all and a swim for a few keen beans before team reviews and supper.

Meanwhile the Reds were at the Adventure School during the day. The Red Carpets and Red Bricks rock climbed and abseiled in the morning and learnt to build shelters from old yacht sails and divvy tarps in the afternoon while the Red Corvettes looked at shelters in the morning and sea kayaked in the afternoon. After a mug of homemade soup the Reds departed for their mountain base camp to cook supper on camping stoves and sleep their first night here under canvas.

The forecast looks good for today (Tuesday) and spirits are high.