Hi!

Well, I know I said with Cho Oyu that I wouldn't be asking for sponsorship anytime soon...but some people have asked specifically that I set something up, so thought I would just set up a page and if you can spare something that would be fantastic! I know there's a recession on, but however bad you have it, the kids in Nepal have it a whole lot worse...

Classroom in the Clouds is a charity aiming to build schools in the poor rural areas of Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world. This is starting with a school in Lukla (the departure point of the trek to Everest Base Camp). Its a very small charity, so any cash you can spare really will make a big difference!
www.classroomintheclouds.com

I'm leaving on an expedition to try to climb Mount Everest, which will take a little over two months. Mount Everest is 8850m, which is a little over 600m higher than Mt Cho Oyu (8201m), the sixth highest mountain in the world, which I summited in October 2008. Advanced Base Camp will be roughly the same height as the summit of Kilimanjairo (5890m), and it starts to get progressively tougher as you go on from there. We will use oxygen from around 7200m.

Only one person in three actually makes the summit, so the chances are that I will not actually make the summit, but I'm determined to do my best and enjoy the experience no matter what. And the summit rate on Cho Oyu is only marginally higher and I made that first time, so you never know!!

There will be six of us on the expedition including the leader, and we'll share camps for much of the way up with four others who are attempting to climb Lhotse (the fourth highest mountain in the world, and very close to Everest). If everything goes well, I would hope to summit around mid May and be back in the UK in early June.

If you like you can follow the trip on
 http://www.summitclimb.com/new/default.asp?linktype=r&nid=107
- this section should be updated most days (if the link doesn't work then go to www.summitclimb.com, look for the 'News' section and select Everest/Lhotse)

And I can receive standard SMS texts on our satellite phone: +882 166 813 0402 (but remember to say who its from!)

thanks!
David


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