12 Weeks, 2 1/2 Months Post Open Prostatectomy Summitted Snowdon in North Wales

Today 30th December with some Scout Leader friends I took on the challenge of a 9 mile hike ( 14.6 km ) from Llanberis to summit Snowdon the highest mountain in Wales - with an ascent of over 1000 metres/3300 feet.

What made this more of a challenge is that I havent climbed a mountain of note since before my operation and also apart from some local walking for an hour or so I have only done the recommended abdominal exercises and pelvic floor.

In addition, this was no stroll in the park. I was kitted out in full winter mountain gear and had to carry my winter ruck sack with extra equipment.

Further more, it was the weather conditions were horrendous, with 60 mph winds and gusts higher. Ice and snow on the higher slopes, torrential rain and hail and snow. At one point our faces were being blasted by ice and hail. Wind was knocking us almost off our feet. But I and my friends made it. The summit was all ice and dangerously slippy in the high winds. You can see the steps up to the trig point in the photo below.

We started from the beginning of the path at 11am and got down at 4.30 pm in the dark.  Most guide books say you can do it in 5-6 hours , we did it in roughly the same.

I was slow going up , it was really hard work,  but i got to the summit station in 3 hours, shattered.
I could feel the operation - what I mean is that I could feel inside me whatever the surgeon had done. Suprisingly going down hill I had pain in my pelvis and spine - I had this pre-operation and thought it had gone. I do need to have this checked out.

When I got back to the car I sat down to change my boots and seemed to sit down too quickly and being low down in the car I felt some internal pain. This was around my abdomin and in particular in the same place lower right abdo where I have been having niggling pain since hospital.

All told it was a great day and to me proves that after this kind of surgery you can get back to normal, but it takes a bit of time.


A selection of photos from the day, including those from the summit station where I took a rest before heading down are shown below. All the snow and ice was above about 650 metres.