Teams of around five or six climbers start at Ben Nevis and are ferried from mountain to mountain by dedicated drivers. Sports massage support was laid on at the final checkpoint in the car park next to the Snowdon Railway where battered teams of climbers would descend upon willing therapists to be stretched out, have injuries assessed and have their tired aching muscles eased off and relaxed before the long journey home.

First thing in the morning the therapists were able gather around and participate in a brief study group to practice, learn, and refine new techniques while discussing the plan of action for the day ahead.

In the first few hours of the working day while the climbers were still on the mountain our team of therapists which included osteopaths, sports physiotherapists and sport & remedial massage therapists would be inundated by drivers. Understandably the drivers would be suffering from bad backs and stiff necks from sleeping in cramped seats with their faces unattractively pressed against windows and their necks crooked into all manner of positions not to mention hours of driving up and down the UK!

It wasn’t long however, until the first of the climbing teams arrived with great relief at the final checkpoint. From there it was only a short stumble a couple of paces to the next available treatment bench and an eagerly awaiting therapist.

At first each climber was allocated 15-20min each but as the number of people waiting for treatment steadily increased until the area around the treatment tent became a crowded, sweaty mass of expectant climbers we soon had to drop treatment times down to 10min only with the focus on lots of passive stretching and muscle release techniques to achieve good results as quickly as possible.

The therapists started treating at 1100am and became completely engrossed with the task at hand until 7pm when the crowds started to filter out. Breaks were few to say the least but with such focus the day seemed to just fly by.

The second day of the event on the following Friday was slightly more arduous at first due to the rough weather. Unfortunately just as the working day started to kick off so did the wind and our treatment tent was dumped in a slightly less functional state than it had been in the moments previous to it being picked up by a particularly hostile gust! We were, therefore, relocated into the

nearby Victoria Hotel. It was a while until the participants in the days event realised that we were still operational so work started off quiet at first but eventually picked up to a steady hum of total chaos and mania and four dedicated and professional therapists diligently putting people back together despite all odds.