The Adventurist
A DANCE WITH THE DEVIL
THE FAN DANCE IS AN INFAMOUS 24-KILOMETRE MARCH TO THE SUMMIT OF A WELSH MOUNTAIN, DESIGNED TO WEED OUT CRACK SOLDIERS LACKING PHYSICAL AND MENTAL GRIT. THINK YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE IT? SO DID OUR RECRUIT – AT FIRST...
A MAGAZINE JOURNALIST, three former Special Boat Service (SBS) operatives, one of Great Britain’s most successful Olympians, England’s highest-capped hooker and a Swedish trance DJ met at a red phone box in South Wales. The spot marks the beginning of the Fan Dance – a 24-km route up the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons, Pen y Fan, down the vertiginous Jacob’s Ladder on the other side and then along a Roman road to a car park. Once you’ve done all that? Well, you turn around and go back again, of course.
For the UK Special Forces, the route looms at the end of
