Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
A few months ago I was asked if I would like to do the Haute Route. thinking it was just a jolly ski trip I said 'Yes, or course!'. Any excuse for a holiday. Then I received the kit list. It included crampons, climbing gear, rucksack and skins. I now realise the route is not just a route but actually a 6 day trek - 180km form Chamonix to Zermatt, skinning up hill, climbing rocks, powder skiing down, and overnight stay in moutain huts with (apparently) 50 snoring strangers .... no lifts, so showers, no sherpers, no hairdryers, not even real beds. I should have read the small print.
On our training weekend I was thinking up excuses of how to bow out when my mind went back to a time in the late 1980s when, in similar circumstances I was trying to think of excuses not to do a ski/run/toboggan race called the Duchess of York in Bergun. A friend of mine, Louis Bernon, saw my horrified face and laughing, gave me hints on how to survive and maybe even finish the race. I heard those same instructions in my head last week. As I reached the top of the mountain and nervously prepared to ski down, I looked around at the wonderful view and my thoughts turned to my lovely friend Annabel Ropner. She was such an elegant and accomplished skier. How she would have loved that powder! How sad I was that I wouldn't ski with her again. Then my thoughts gathered of lost loved ones - my brother-in-law, Ant Webb-Bowen with whom I had many a riotous ski trip, the beautiful and brave Molly Lane-Fox, the incorrigible Rex Harrison, my wonderful mother ....
So I decided that the only way I could be motivated to do this trip was to dedicate it to the memory of 'Lost Friends - Louis, Annabel, Ant, Molly, Rex, my mother ....'
I have chosen the Child Bereavement Trust as it's a charity that helps those left behind come to terms with their grief when someone dies - whether a parent who needs guidance and counselling when they have lost a child or a child who needs help coming to terms with the death of a parent or sibling ... how great that there are people there for you when you need someone to turn to.
So please don't feel that you have to donate, but it might just give the little bit of motivation needed to finish the blasted thing.
With lots of love to you all
Alex/ Spratty
xxx
