The 2013 6 Peaks Challenge aims to raise in the region of £200,000 to help WaterAid’s work with some of the world’s poorest communities. Just £15 can enable one person to access safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Your participation in the Challenge will be changing many lives forever. WaterAid asks that each team member raise a minimum of £500 in sponsorship, and will be with you every step of the way to make your fundraising and event planning as easy as possible. With our fundraising top tips and online sponsorship you will be surprised how easy and fun fundraising becomes.  

To ensure that every penny raised directly benefits WaterAid's vital work, all team members pay an entry fee to take part in the 6 Peaks Challenge. £360 per person pays for event costs including all ferry crossings, accommodation and the celebratory reception at the end of the Challenge. Your team will be required to pay the entry fee to confirm your entry in the Challenge. The closing date for entries is 30 April 2013, but we would need to know that you intend to take part by 1 April. 

In the event that someone in the team has to withdraw from the challenge, their entry fee will be refunded on an individual basis as follows: 

• Notified on or before 28 February: Full refund of entry fee 
• Notified on or before 31 April: Entry fee less £50 
• Notified on or before 30 May: 50% of Entry fee 
• Notified on or before 5 June: 25% of Entry fee 
• Notified on or after 6 June: Nil 

If someone in the team drops out - your team MUST still contain a minimum of three walkers and two drivers. Any sponsor monies raised by someone who drops out and already paid to WaterAid, can either be counted towards the sponsorship target for the remainder of their team or set aside against their sponsorship target for entry to a 6 Peaks event in the subsequent three years. 

Each team must have an experienced mountain walker as their leader. This person will be responsible for guiding the team to the summit of each of the mountains, in accordance with safe hill walking practice and within the agreed procedures of the challenge. Each team should also identify a competent assistant who is adept at navigation and is capable of assuming responsibility for the team should the need arise. For safety reasons each team needs to have a minimum of three walkers and two drivers. Teams should have a maximum of eight members in total. If teams are hiring or borrowing vehicles your drivers may have to be aged 25+ to comply with insurance requirements. 

Our experience has shown that a walker will be fit enough to take part in the challenge if they can manage a cross-country hike of 20-25 miles which takes in four or five decent-sized hills, all within 10 hours. The 6 Peaks mountains have been classified as difficult with the exception of Snaefell which is moderate. See classifications below: 

• Moderate - A walk that presents little or no difficulty in terms of route- finding. It is unlikely that there will be any scrambling involved except perhaps for the odd very easy and unexposed step. Walks may be relatively long but in no way remote. A person with a good level of fitness but not necessarily much previous hill walking experience should be able to cope comfortably if conditions underfoot and the weather are good.
• Difficult - A walk that could present difficulties in route finding and where route choices might be varied. There could be some scrambling involved, which will not be technically difficult and it is not expected that any form of roped security would be required. Walks may be quite long and could feel remote. In poor weather/visibility with difficult conditions underfoot some peaks in this category could take on a considerably more serious air where accurate navigational skills will be required. Peaks of this classification are most suitable for people with a good level of mountain experience, and who are above average fitness levels. Provided that the team is led by someone with considerably more experience, these walks are suitable for lesser experienced walkers who have above average levels of fitness. The team leader will need to ensure the level of fitness of each team member is adequate and check the equipment and clothing of the team are satisfactory, bearing in mind the swift weather changes that can occur at any time in the mountains. All walkers must be suitably equipped to deal with the vagaries of the climate expected. Two things are essential – a decent (well-worn) pair of boots and plenty of hill-walking experience. Remember to get your feet, knees and ankles acclimatised by walking in the hills and mountains. A treadmill or step machine is no match for the rocky twists and turns of a mountain path. Don't overdo it in training, save your best for the challenge and if in doubt seek medical advice.

To enter the challenge you will need to fill out an online registration form. The application form records various essential details about the team and these criteria may be used as part of a screening process. The final decision on whether or not a team participates in the challenge will rest with the organisers. If you have any queries prior to entering the Challenge, please email 6peaks@wateraid.org or call 0845 120 1293. 

It should be noted that the drivers are an integral and important part of the team. In past years teams have dropped out at the last minute because they haven’t been able to find drivers allowed to drive a minibus.

We have done some research relating to who can drive, when they can drive and what they drive – the results are presented here. Follow the internet links to get to the sites with the definitive info. In terms of ages, the age limit of 25 for drivers is not a 6 Peaks limitation – it is advice that we offer; hire companies generally won't let anyone under 25 drive a minibus (9 seats and over).

Your driving licence allows you to drive a minibus if it has any of the following categories: PCV, D or D1. So if you had entitlement (a driving licence) to drive cars before 1 January 1997 you can drive a minibus in the UK provided it has a maximum of 17 seats including the driver's seat and is not being used for hire or reward. However if your licence was issued between 1976 and 1986 group A will entitle you to drive a minibus with between nine and 17 seats (driving not for hire or reward). Your minibus entitlement is valid on temporary visits to EC/EEA countries. This entitlement will remain valid in the UK and on temporary visits abroad until you licence is next renewed.

If you first passed your car driving test after 1 January 1997, you will not have D1 category but are permitted to drive a minibus in this country with up to 16 passenger seats provided: 

• It is not for hire or reward. 
• You are over 21. 
• You have held a full licence for more than two years. 
• You drive on a voluntary basis. 
• Vehicle maximum weight is not more than 3.5 tonnes. 
• You don’t tow a trailer. 
• When driving a minibus under these conditions you may only drive minibuses in this country. 

When in Eire (where you will be driving your team to Corran Tuathail) category D1 is required on your licence (or group A if licence issued between 1976 and 1986) – so if you do not have this you must pass a minibus test before the 6 Peaks Challenge in July. It is the team's responsibility to equip themselves with a suitable vehicle and supply it with fuel. 

Past experience has shown that the best vehicle to use is an 11 or 12 seater minibus. People carrier-sized vehicles are too small and cramped and you will waste a lot of time packing and unpacking a smaller vehicle before and after each peak. The team should ensure that their vehicle is roadworthy and covered by adequate motor insurance. This insurance should cover accident and repair/recovery assistance and needs to include Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. If a sponsor has supplied a vehicle remember to check the details with them. You will need documents giving you permission to take the vehicle abroad and an insurance 'Green Form'. 

If you are hiring a vehicle you must tell the hire company that you will be taking it to Ireland as some hire companies won't let you, or will insist on additional insurance. Also check the age of your drivers - it is almost impossible to get anyone under the age of 25 insured to drive a hired minibus or van. 

The team leader must ensure that drivers are fully briefed on the route to be driven (printed routes and a driver's briefing will be provided), and made aware of the need to share the driving and resting in shifts so that neither driver becomes dangerously fatigued. If necessary share the task of en-route navigation around the team of walkers and allow the 'off-duty' driver to rest in the back of the vehicle. 

Teams will be issued with a full set of maps for each walker when they have registered their team and all entry fees have been paid. There are many books that can help you get to know more about the mountains in the Challenge. Here are some suggestions: 

• The High Mountains of Britain and Ireland a Guide for Mountain Walkers, by Irvine Butterfield
• Safety on Mountains - An Approach to Mountain Adventure for Beginners, booklet and video, published by the British Mountaineering Council, which contains advice on safety aspects of hill walking 

If you need to brush up your mountain leadership skills the links below will take you to websites offering various types of training or contact us for more information. 

• Glenmore Lodge - National Outdoor Training Centre - http://www.glenmorelodge.org.uk/ 
• Learn how to use map and compass - courses available leading to NNAS Bronze Level Awards - http://www.gpstraining.co.uk/Map-and-Compass.html 
• Plas Y Brenin (The Mountain Training Trust) - http://www.pyb.co.uk/ 
• Bluedome outdoor activity courses - http://www.bluedome.co.uk/courses/ 

If you can only visit and practise the navigation and ascent of just one of the six mountains we suggest you take on Scafell Pike on a good clear day. You are advised to prepare well in advance, studying directions and routes to and from the summit. It is important that all the team members understand the plans. Should you wish to obtain copies of 1:25,000 scale maps for these areas, the relevant published maps (all priced less than £10) are: 

• Snaefell: Isle of Man Public Rights of Way and Outdoor Leisure Map, North and South sheets 
• Snowdon : OS - Explorer series, sheet no. 17 
• Snowdonia - Snowdon and Conwy Valley Area
• Scafell Pike : OS - Explorer series, sheet nos. 4 and 6, The English Lakes - NW and SW Areas
• Ben Nevis : OS - Explorer series, sheet no. 38, Ben Nevis and Glen Coe
• Slieve Donard: OS Northern Ireland - Mourne Country, Outdoor Pursuits Map
• Corran Tuathail: OS Ireland - MacGillycuddy's Reeks (or 1:50,000 Discovery Series sheet no. 78 - Kerry)

The challenge takes the most obvious 'tourist path' to the top of each peak. The exception is Scafell Pike where our route from Seathwaite in Borrowdale reaches the summit via the base of Great End, then Esk Hause, Calf Cove, Ill Crag and Broad Crag. However, teams will also need to carry, and be experienced in using, a compass as a navigational tool in conjunction with map reading skills. 

Each team is trusted to report when (or if) each team member reaches each summit during the challenge. Usually there will also be someone (mountain marshals) along the route AND on each mountain summit to check on your team's progress (and watch over your safety). Official completion certificates and team photo certificates will be sent out a short time after the challenge. 

WaterAid takes our responsibilities on the potential environment impact of our challenge events very seriously, ensuring through a number of measures that our events more than comply with the Institute of Fundraising (IOF) Code of Fundraising Practice – Outdoor Fundraising Events and guidelines for outdoor, land-based fundraising events in the UK available at http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/ ). At the very least every participant must respect the mountain environment and follow the Country Code.

In line with IOF guidelines the 6 Peaks Challenge climbs Scaffell Pike via Seathwaite and not Wasdale. When 6 Peaks originally happened - on a very small scale - it was climbed from Wasdale but since the event has expanded we have taken appropriate advice and changed the route.

We also restrict the entries to 200 walkers on the hill, max, also as per IOF guidelines. We have yet to reach 200 entries, the maximum number we've had taking part in the challenge is 118.