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Two charity hikers who completed the ascent of Yr Wyddfa have shared their frustration after being booed by other climbers for bypassing the queues at the summit. Jamie Richardson, 32, and Richard Thiedeman, 34, both from Lincolnshire, had avoided the lengthy lines—described as resembling those at a theme park—by taking different routes up the mountain on Sunday. However, when they reached the trig point at the peak to complete their charity challenge, they were met with jeers from those waiting their turn.
Richardson and Thiedeman had already climbed the other two mountains in the Three Peaks Challenge—Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike—and were raising funds for their friend Thomas Hynes, who suffers from motor neurone disease. Despite the physical exhaustion of climbing all three peaks within 24 hours, the pair chose to skip the wait at the summit, focusing on touching the trig point and then descending quickly. Richardson noted, “There’s no policing of it at all, it is purely free will, if you want to queue you can.”
The atmosphere during their climbs was described by the duo as friendly and supportive. Several fellow hikers even offered them rides to the trailhead and made donations after spotting their charity labels. Thiedeman recounted how two young women kindly gave them a lift partway to the start of the trail. However, the mood shifted at the summit, where Richardson said he was booed and even physically stopped by another climber when trying to reach the trig point. He added that someone shouted, “you should be ashamed of yourself” as he made contact with the summit marker.
Thiedeman expressed his disappointment at the hostile reaction, saying, “If you’ve got nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” He felt that regardless of how someone approaches the summit, they deserve applause rather than criticism, especially when raising money for a worthy cause. Richardson echoed these sentiments, suggesting that queueing is a cultural norm rather than a rule, and encouraged more kindness instead of negativity. “A bit more encouragement in the world would go a little bit further, rather than trying to put people down,” he said
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