UPDATE 14/11/11 - WE DID IT!!: Well here is the report from our EBC trip. It was a challenging trek, much more so than Kilimanjaro as it involved many climbs and descents over mountain ridges, when both ascending and descending. The real killer though was the sickness which made its way throughout the team (vomiting/diarrhoea bugs, head colds, food poisoning, you name it). Almost everyone was affected, not least myself and I experienced the worst of it during and just after the push towards EBC. So I feel all the more of a sense of achievement that I was one of 17 of the team of 20 who made it to EBC on 30th October (the 3 others had to descend due to altitude sickness).
As if that wasn't enough, after 3 days' hard trek back to the small airport at Lukla, we arrived to find ourselves 'clouded in' with no flights able to operate for 4 days - it even made international news:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15589982
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15617567
It was the 6th day before we finally got out, only to find ourselves with additional problems with immigration (our visas had expired by this point) and then an uncomfortable night in a transfer lounge in Delhi airport as everyone from the airline had gone home and no one was available to issue boarding passes for our flight to London :(.
So I ended up being 5 days late arriving home and lost a stone in weight!!
Despite all this the scenery was absolutely stunning and reaching base camp was a fantastic experience! I've also reached my sponsorship target and will leave the justgiving page open a little while longer.
So a final thank you ! to all who sponsored me :)) I think my trekking poles might be hung up indefinitely now, I'm 43 and getting too old for this lol!!
UPDATE 18/10/11: Well the time has come! We leave in just 3 days' time, travelling via London and Delhi to Kathmandu. Then comes the 30-minute 'scenic flight' to Lukla, the most extreme airport in the world according to the Discovery Channel programme!! We'll be on the mountain for nearly 2 weeks, facing conditions expected to include wind, rain, snow and extremely cold temperatures. We'll be staying in Nepalese teahouses as we ascend to EBC. After the climb we hope to have some time for rest and sighseeing in Kathmandu. Anyway we had our last training day up the Mournes on Saturday 8th October in atrocious conditions! There were a few falls (myself included) due to wet and slimy mountains coupled with storm force winds, but everyone made it home without injury!! Finally a word about sponsorship. I'm really close to meeting my personal target of £2500, go on help me meet it! :). The team as a whole have raised an impressive £45000 so far, which is sufficient to support our own childrens' hospice in Kenya and also to make substantial donations to several local charities which will include, as a minimum, the NI Childrens' Hospice and the Altzheimers Society NI. That's it for now, I will provide an update when I get home and, if possible, at times during the trip on my facebook page.
UPDATE!! 23/08/2011: Our training for the Everest trip continues! In addition to having had many tough training days up the Mournes, last week I flew two friends over to Scotland and we climbed Ben Nevis (4406ft/1344m), the highest mountain in the British Isles. Another tough day in very poor weather conditions, but totally worth it!! (see photos & video). So go on, please sponsor me!! :-)
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page!!
On 21st October 2011 a team of 21 people from the Metropolitan Tabernacle Belfast are planning to trek to Everest Base Camp. This is a sponsored climb with donations going to the Tabernacle's Childrens' Hospice in Nyeri, Kenya (more information here). As for the Kilimanjaro climb two years ago, the funds raised will also be used to make a donation to the Northern Ireland Childrens' Hospice, with whom we have worked closely for a number of years.
I would be really grateful for any donations no matter how small!
Please note that I will be paying all of my own expenses and 100% of the funds raised will go to these very worthwhile causes.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
