Blue Mountains Three Peaks Challenge

Trip done on the 26th of November 2025 by Dean Rainier-Pope

Dawn rose on her golden throne. I paced down Narrow Neck, the morning light lit up my eyes. The nerves that had festered the previous day had subsided, my mind drew focus on the challenge ahead. The goal was to finish the Blue Mountains Three Peaks Challenge: 90km of distance and more than 5000m of elevation gain to be completed in under 48 hours. The already difficult remote wilderness challenge was made even tougher in the wake of the dense regrowth that occurred after the 2019 / 2020 bushfires – a point in time marking the end of successful completions. In the back of my mind, I was dreading the possibility of this adventure blowing out into an Odyssean 60 plus hour ordeal.

Figure 1: Mount Guougang in the distance beneath a looming cumulonimbus incus cloud. Having only learned about clouds after the attempt, this could have served as a warning at the time.

After descending the iron rungs and spikes of the Tarros Ladder, I soon found myself on a single track through the Wild Dog Mountains. Amongst the scorching winds, I became painfully aware that my surroundings were looking like the inside of a tinderbox; dry trees, leaves and woody plants. Several hundred meters behind me I heard a tree come crashing down.

Figure 2: The Cox river, in other circumstances, this would have been a pleasant place to chill!

On arriving at the Cox river, I was surprised to find the water level was much lower than I had expected. I refilled my four litres of water capacity and downed an energy gel before leaving the river bank and heading up toward the first peak, Mount Guougang.

Figure 3: Thanks for the likes.

The storm took me by surprise. As the crisp rain evaporated as steam off of my body, I accepted my new soaking wet situation. Considering the storm cell a completed event, I donned my spare pair of socks. Then a second storm cell struck, soaking me again. Later when the rain had passed, it was back to dry winds. At one point I was blown off balance on Bullagowar ridge. Gusts had been forecast to reach 90km/h! Despite the conditions, I was ahead of my expected schedule and I started to believe that I would succeed. Typically not one to express strong emotions, I found myself shouting with euphoria as trees swayed in unison, ecstatic at my good progress. After a traverse on Mount Guougang, I reached the summit cairn and signed the logbook at 3pm. I was 10 hours into the challenge and feeling great!

After downhill bush-bashing along a twisting ridge, the idyllic sight of Whalania creek emerged below. I refilled my water and in the waning daylight pushed on toward the next objective. By 10pm, I had found the summit cairn of the second peak, Mount Paralyser. 17 hours had passed since I started.

Figure 4: Summit cairn of Mount Paralyser, I put my head-torch on bright mode to find this much smaller stack of rocks.

I had decided in the days prior to the trip that I would keep walking through the night, taking advantage of the cooler conditions. I was traveling light and sleep would be uncomfortable so I’d only stop when necessary. Back down into the darkness I went. I reached Kanangra Creek at 1am where I downed 200mg of caffeine tablets. The final summit, Mount Cloudmaker, was ahead of me.

Partway up the ridge to Mount Cloudmaker, a strange sense of doom overcame me. I held my hand out in front of me to see if it was shaking, it wasn’t, but I felt awful. Had I miscalculated fueling or depleted some important nutrient? Trying to come to terms with the unknown issue, I made a small bed of ferns and climbed into my bivvy bag, a tree against my shoulder and my legs preventing me from rolling down the steep slope. I came to the conclusion that it must’ve been the caffeine tablets causing anxiety, compounding with the psychological effects of still being up at the witching hour of 3am. I realised there wasn’t any good reason to stop, time was ticking and I wasn’t making any progress. I checked the map and emptied the weight of a water bottle. No more than an hour after stopping, I had packed up my bivvy bag and continued heading upward.

As the dark hours passed, my mind eventually settled. Soon, rose-fingered dawn once again crested the horizon to find me still hiking, now with weary eyes and tired legs. I reached the summit of Mount Cloudmaker at 7:15am, 26 hours had elapsed since I started. At this point, I no-longer wanted to complete the challenge, I just wanted it to be over.

Figure 5: Summit of Cloudmaker. I felt shattered.

On the other side of Cloudmaker, Dex creek wasn’t flowing, there were just brown stagnant pools. The walk back to the Cox river was uncomfortable, each subsequent hour seemed to drag on longer. It was hot and I lamented the water I had discarded earlier, now I was rationing the little amount I had left. In an act of desperation I veered off the ridge-line early and descended a creek towards the river with the hope of reaching water sooner.

I arrived back at the Cox River around midday. I sat alongside the flowing water. My legs were aching, and a heat-rash had developed on my back. From here I would be reversing my steps from the morning before, along the more friendly single track. And so, against the protests of pain from my body I willed myself forward. On the latter part of the 28km return route, I spotted my friends on the trail ahead of me. It provided a sense of hope and relief, until I got closer and was disappointed to realise that it was a hallucination from sleep deprivation. Daylight was fading once more. 

The nearer I drew to completion the more time seemed to dilate, but finally, 39 hours and 42 minutes after starting my journey, I arrived back at the car just before 9pm. Soon my friends arrived, greeting me with excitement.

It had been the perfect challenge of determination, endurance and wilderness adventure. Along the way, ambition and euphoria gave way to the simple desire to be out of the weather, out of the scrub, and to be absolved of the responsibility of negotiating between mind and body.

[1] My Strava Recording https://www.strava.com/activities/16579952324

[2] Three Peaks information page and list of records https://ashleyeylenburg.com/3Peaks/index.htm