Taking On the Peaks for the British Red Cross

Highlights:

• Team raised £4,911 for the British Red Cross to support humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
• Together, the team completed the Challenge in 23 hours, 56 minutes, with four minutes to spare!

It was just a little over a month ago that a few of us at RingCentral and Vodafone Business came together to complete the National Three Peaks Challenge in the UK. I would say we knew what we were in for, but you can never quite prepare for the unexpected. 

Before I share my take on our experience, let’s talk about what the challenge is and why we wanted to do it. 

What is the National Three Peaks Challenge?

It involves climbing the three highest peaks in the UK within a 24 hour period. That’s Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales. Groups that take part usually have a trusty driver (or two!) waiting to take them from one location to another . While climbers are strongly encouraged to sleep between each commute, when you’re in the back of a cramped, sweaty van going down windy roads, getting some shut-eye can be harder than you think.  

Having said this, plenty of people sign up to do it (the latest figure I heard is 30,000 climbers each year!) Why? It’s fun, grueling, but most of all, rewarding. That’s because it’s a great way to raise funds and awareness for charities and valuable causes, and this is the main reason why we signed up for it.The intention was to raise money for the British Red Cross for all the work they’re doing to help abate the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. 

Want to see how we got on? Here are a few of the highlights from our experience. 

Images of everyone that took part, including: Richard Massey, Martin Man, Sean Blackmore, Mark Bean, Matteo Kotch, Carl Watson, Matt Gregory, Niall Carter.

3,400 metres (up and down again)

Overall, in addition to all the sleep deprivation it was a strenuous experience and there was plenty of rain on each of the summits. Yes, even by UK standards it was wet for this time of year and the terrain was often unstable (especially Scafell Pike). Plus, we didn’t get off to a great start. On our way to Ben Nevis we got into a traffic jam which caused a 30-minute delay – this seems like hours when you’re on a timer!

We climbed each peak in the following order:

1. Ben Nevis (1,345m)
2. Scafell Pike (978m)
3. Snowdon (1,085m)

That’s over 3,400m of climbing and a driving distance of 462 miles in total, in under 24 hours. Just let that sink in…

Together, we completed the challenge in 23h56m and raised £4,911 across our JustGiving page and RCause, our internal giving platform. While we know millions of other people volunteer and raise funds for the British Red Cross each day, we were chuffed to get a thank-you from the charity. 

What’s the next challenge?

RingCentral and Vodafone Business recently launched our joint cloud communications offering “Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral,” but this was the first time we had come together to complete a challenge like this. We’re now thinking of what we could do next (Kilimanjaro, huh?). Whatever we decide to do, the most important thing is that we continue to work together to give back to communities and raise funds for causes that mean a lot to us. 

Learn more about social impact at RingCentral here.