Just think as you reach for your credit card, that it will hurt you a lot less than it will hurt me. In fact, it is hurting now: training is not my chosen pastime.
I will, no doubt, be risking blisters, sun burn, frost bite, the runs, headaches and as much more pain and misery as your imagination will allow you, in my quest for the Summit of Baruntse, in the very heart of the Nepalese Himalaya. If you need any more encouragement to dust off that card, bear in mind that the three friends I will be climbing with are a combined 78 years younger than I, which means, of course, that in order to maintain the honour of my generation I must not only keep up, but be out in front setting the pace!
Baruntse is a mountain of some 7220 metres (23465 feet), little known itself, but with some pretty illustrious neighbours, lying, as it does, nine miles due south of Everest’s lofty summit and a similar distance due east of Makalu, both on the Tibetan border. It will be challenging. Breathing is hard work at that altitude, with 40% less oxygen than at sea level, and there will be crevasses, ice climbing and avalanches to contend with. But then if it weren’t, I could hardly ask you to part with your beer money, could I?
The mountains and Asian culture are always huge ‘givers’ on these trips. Nepal deserves something back. Future For Nepal (www.futurefornepal.co.uk) is a UK charity which provides funding for children, who would otherwise be without education, to go to a school in Kathmandu, and for facilities for the school. I want, with your help, to ensure that a child - or perhaps two or even three - who might otherwise be illiterate, gets the most basic of human rights: an education.
So sit back early in November in your comfortable armchair, and revel in the warm, self satisfied glow you will have earned as you contemplate my swelling, festering blisters, and the pain in my lungs, knowing that you have bought that right. For, the more you have paid for, the more I am bound to suffer!
Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Future For Nepal will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.
So please sponsor me now!
I, and perhaps a few Nepalese children, will be eternally grateful for your support.
Thursday 3 October
I've had my last jab today (nurse Katie was very obliging). The training is going well - at least, I try to convince my self it is - and it is being spurred on by the really generous donations so far. Already, you have given enough to give a child more than ten years education at day school, or nearly four years as a boarder! Keep it coming.
Saturday 12 October
Gabby went last Sunday as an advance party - and is wishing he didn't. Delays at Heathrew; and aborted take off at Dhaka followed by 24 hours in Dhaka airport; then joining a 3 day queue to get to Lukla on account of the weather stopping flights altogether. Let's hope he's got all the bad khama out of this trip...
Tuesday 20 November
We did it! Four kilos lighter, surprisingly well and lacking in blisters, I am back from an amazingly successful expedition. I am tempted to claim that our success was due entirely to our courage, strength, skill and determination, but the truth is that we were lucky. Lucky with the conditions on the mountain, lucky with the weather, lucky with our health.
Base Camp was nothing less than crowded when we arrived. There were seven or eight other teams there intending to summit, but the news was not good. The monsoon was very late clearing this year, and new snow had fallen, making the route, so far, impossible. We had 12 days within which to acclimatise, make the summit, and get back down to Base Camp. It did not look promising
But the good weather we brought with us, quicker than expected acclimatisation, and a general ‘feel good factor’ got us to the top, despite an overnight storm at Camp One (6,100m), and severe cold – we had to work hard on all our extremities on Summit Day to avoid losing them to frost bite. And we didn’t want that - I still have uses for mine.
We were welcomed with classic Nepalese hospitality at the school to which the FFN sponsored children go. Despite being the poorest of the poor, the kids were impeccably turned out and behaved, and, most important, happy and eager to make the most of their schooling. It really is a brilliant project. A very grateful thank you to all my sponsors.
So impressed with the work of FFN were we that Sandy and I are going to sponsor a child through his or her education in Kathmandu.
