SCARPA Athlete, runner and accordion enthusiast Carmine de Grandis loves a challenge - especially one which involves playing music in the mountains.
His latest challenge is likely to be his toughest yet - climbing the National 3 Peaks with his Accordion, playing along the way and travelling between the mountains by bike and public transport - all to raise money for charity.
This last point is very important to Carmine - aware of the potential environmental impact a challenge like this has. Typically someone climbing the 3 Peaks will drive 462 miles between the peaks, add in travel to the start and home from the end point and you have a lot of emissions produced solely from driving.
Carmine lives in Norfolk - so a long way from both his start point in Scotland and end point in Wales - so he decided to plot a more Eco friendly route.
The Plan
Aiming to finish the challenge in 36 hours Carmine has set himself a schedule which allows for this slower form of travel - along with some time to enjoy the mountains with friends old and new.
Starting in Scotland - Carmine plans to set off for the summit of Ben Nevis at 6am on Thursday 28th March.
Once he has summited Ben Nevis - on to the Lake District and Scafell Pike - he will get the train to Windemere - then cycle to the Old Dungeon Gill - from there he will Climb Scafell by night.
Then on to the last peak - from the train station in Bangor Carmine will cycle to Pen-y-Pass - then the Climb of Snowdon starts. Depending on the weather he will either use Pyg's Track or go over Grib Goch.
Once the challenge is complete - he will then cycle to Plas-y-Brennin, have a pint at the National Outdoors Centre and play a few tunes and tell his story.
The Cause
The challenge is a personal one and achieving it will be satisfaction enough for Carmine - but he is also hoping to do some good and raise money for Climbers against Cancer along the way.
If you would like to help you can donate to his fundraiser here: Just Giving - Accordion Eco Challenge.
We will be following Carmine's progress closely and will keep you updated on how he gets on. You can follow Carmine on Instagram to get the latest on his challenge and track his progress via the online tracker.
