There comes a time in life when, one day, amid the 2.4 children, the mortgage and the weekly shop, you look in the mirror and sigh: “I will never be in the SAS”. Not that you have ever particularly wanted to be in the SAS (Special Air Service), the British Army’s famous special forces unit – the sleeping conditions look awful, for starters. But that romantic notion of being one of the world’s elite excites you, taking on those grueling tests that aim to sort your garden-variety human from those with machine-like levels of muscular and aerobic strength.
One such test is the Fan Dance, a playful sobriquet that belies this challenge’s sheer brutality. It doesn’t involve any dancing (although you will be required to bust some serious moves), but it does involve a "fan". At 886m (2,900ft), Pen y Fan is the highest mountain in southern Britain. Located in Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons) in Wales, a few clicks up the road from Merthyr Tydfil, the Fan is the focal point of an SAS selection test.
