Setting off from the hospice at half ten at night in order to arrive at Snowdon to begin their ascent in time to be at the summit for sunrise, the team was made up of hospice staff, corporate volunteers and those taking part in memory of a loved one.

Steph Dugdale and her husband Tom took on the challenge in memory of Steph’s mum, Julie Karellen. Here she explains what inspired her to push herself and go for a personal challenge.

St. Rocco’s Hospice means a lot to our family, and it was a place that my Mum described as ‘heaven’. Since Mum’s diagnosis, the hospice was there for her; giving her a bed to allow overnight monitoring and management of her pain, offering counselling and complementary therapies, and providing somewhere comfortable for her to receive her blood transfusions. At the end, it meant everything to us to know that she was being cared for with the utmost dignity by the staff at St Rocco’s, and that we did not have to leave her side.

We wanted to give back to this invaluable service in any way that we could, and so started to look at different fundraising options. Snowdon by Night appealed to both of us, as we knew that it really would be a personal challenge, not only to climb up Mount Snowdon, but to do it in the middle of the night!

It’s fair to say that Tom has a lot more mountain climbing experience than me, and had already climbed Mount Snowdon when he was younger. It’s also fair to say that, Tom being significantly taller than me, finds mountain climbing a lot easier than I do. Therefore, I ensured that I did plenty of practise beforehand. I think my particular tales of long hours at the gym and frustration with having short legs, documented nicely on our JustGiving page, really helped to spur on donations. Tom also organised a bake sale in his workplace to fundraise for the hospice in the lead up to the challenge.

The training paid off, and we both enjoyed the walk up the mountain, taking in the scenery as we ascended. The lack of sleep meant that talking was ultimately minimal, as I found I had to concentrate a lot on where I was walking, especially after we entered a cloud. Despite this, we worked together to keep pushing each other onwards - sometimes literally!

We would highly recommend doing the Snowdon by Night challenge. It’s an excellent way to fundraise for St Rocco’s and a great personal achievement. However if you are thinking of doing the challenge, we would advise that you have a long soak afterwards!

Well done and thank you to all our climbers!