Three Peaks Challenge - Snowden (The final peak)

We reached the final peak and I knew exactly what I had to do.

I had 5 hours to complete the challenge in the 24 hour time limit. The guys who had done it before said it should be easy to do it in that time. I was still a bit worried that I'd got this far and could still fail to complete the challenge within 24 hours.

I thought that Snowden was the most picturesque peak that we did. There's a lake that you walk around for the first half hour or so which is paticulary beautiful. The lake section is basically flat. Unfortunately this is not the case further on. The lake section finishes abruptly and you are left looking up a steep path with the Snowden summit a high and distant destination. There is no let up in the steep path and it changes into more of a scramble as you get closer to the summit. This was very hard going especially as the first half an hour was so easy in the lake section.

Tourists who had gone up on the train were running down in flip-flops and sandles with shorts and t-shirts, this just made my back pack and boot seem heavier.

We finally reached the top in about 2 hours. At the summit you could see for miles and miles around it was amazing. As I looked around the summit I could understand why people put themselves through such difficulties to get to these summits.

We quickly ate something and set off back down. One of the guys who had done it before suggested that we take a different route which would be easier on our legs. Unfortunately we took his advice.

The route was flatter than the path we went up on but we had no clue about how long it was going to take to get down. This was agonising as I just wanted to get down as quickly as possible. Two of us were together and we were both cursing the guy who had told us to go down this way.

Now, time was ticking and we didn't know how long was left to go so we were both getting a bit worried that we wouldn't finish on time.

Finally with 1 hr and 1 min left until the 24 hours were up we could see everyone waiting for us. Suddenly I could feel my legs again and we had a race to the van. We had done it.

I finished in a time of 22 hrs and 59 mins (The slowest in the group :-).

Discussion Group Shabad

This is a shabad that we went through during a discussion group (Courtesy of SikhiToTheMax ) You will need to download a font from SikhiToTheMax to see the Gurmukhi script

mwJ mhlw 4 ]

maajh mehalaa 4 ||

Maajh, Fourth Mehla:

mDusUdn myry mn qn pRwnw ]

madhhusoodhan maerae man than praanaa ||

The Lord is my mind, body and breath of life.

hau hir ibnu dUjw Avru n jwnw ]

ho har bin dhoojaa avar n jaanaa ||

I do not know any other than the Lord.

koeI sjxu sMqu imlY vfBwgI mY hir pRBu ipAwrw dsY jIau ]1]

koee sajan sa(n)th milai vaddabhaagee mai har prabh piaaraa dhasai jeeo ||1||

If only I could have the good fortune to meet some friendly Saint; he might show me the Way to my Beloved Lord God. ||1||

hau mnu qnu KojI Bwil BwlweI ]

ho man than khojee bhaal bhaalaaee ||

I have searched my mind and body, through and through.

ikau ipAwrw pRIqmu imlY myrI mweI ]

kio piaaraa preetham milai maeree maaee ||

How can I meet my Darling Beloved, O my mother?

imil sqsMgiq Koju dsweI ivic sMgiq hir pRBu vsY jIau ]2]

mil sathasa(n)gath khoj dhasaaee vich sa(n)gath har prabh vasai jeeo ||2||

Joining the Sat Sangat, the True Congregation, I ask about the Path to God. In that Congregation, the Lord God abides. ||2||

myrw ipAwrw pRIqmu siqguru rKvwlw ]

maeraa piaaraa preetham sathigur rakhavaalaa ||

My Darling Beloved True Guru is my Protector.

hm bwirk dIn krhu pRiqpwlw ]

ham baarik dheen karahu prathipaalaa ||

I am a helpless child-please cherish me.

myrw mwq ipqw guru siqguru pUrw gur jl imil kmlu ivgsY jIau ]3]

maeraa maath pithaa gur sathigur pooraa gur jal mil kamal vigasai jeeo ||3||

The Guru, the Perfect True Guru, is my Mother and Father. Obtaining the Water of the Guru, the lotus of my heart blossoms forth. ||3||

mY ibnu gur dyKy nId n AwvY ]

mai bin gur dhaekhae needh n aavai ||

Without seeing my Guru, sleep does not come.

myry mn qin vydn gur ibrhu lgwvY ]

maerae man than vaedhan gur birahu lagaavai ||

My mind and body are afflicted with the pain of separation from the Guru.

hir hir dieAw krhu guru mylhu jn nwnk gur imil rhsY jIau ]4]2]

har har dhaeiaa karahu gur maelahu jan naanak gur mil rehasai jeeo ||4||2||

O Lord, Har, Har, show mercy to me, that I may meet my Guru. Meeting the Guru, servant Nanak blossoms forth. ||4||2||

This was the first time I had done anything like this and I got a lot out of it

The highlights of the discussion for me were the following:

Getting a chance to analyse Gurbani.

Finding out about patterns like the question and answer pattern which is so prevalent in Gurbani.

Seeing how the Gurus could could tell you the problems you face in your life and how you can solve them, all in a few lines of poetry.

Some of the dodgy translations we came out with for words.

'Praanaa' should be 'Breath' but we thought it was 'old'.

Finding out that Monty Panesar's real name was madhhusoodhan and it that it's another name for God.