Firstly, I apologise that I am asking you to dig into your pockets again for charity. Admit it, when someone asks for sponsorship you always think “another chuff asking for a charity donation”.

Anyway.... on 24th July this year I am leaving the UK for a month for an attempt of Muztagh Ata, a 24,757 foot (7,546m) peak located in western China. Flying into Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, I will travel overland and across the border into China, approaching the mountain over a period of 3 days.

Muztagh Ata is a technically straight forward but physically demanding Himalayan peak which was first climbed in 1956 by a party of Russian and Chinese climbers. Prior to the first successful attempt, it was attempted in 1947 by the great British explorer, Eric Shipton, who was forced to abandon his summit attempt due to adverse weather conditions. Since 1956, it has been climbed many times and is a popular 7,500m peak attracting over 200 climbers per year.

Muztagh Ata is the final stepping stone in my ambition to climb an 8,000m peak (of which there are only 14 mountains on earth above this height). I will be attempting the ‘normal’ route – a route largely free of technical obstacles with only the move between camp 1 and 2 requiring any roped climbing ability (of which I have very little!). The summit bid is launched from camp 3 which is located at roughly 22,000ft. I look forward to a comfortable, warm and cosy night spent at this camp.

I will be part of Jagged Globe’s 2010 Muztagh Ata expedition which will last 30 days. Although expeditions of this nature require climbers to be largely self sufficient, I do not trust myself to make important decisions at 24,000ft in the sky if things start to go a little wrong. Therefore the expedition will be professionally guided, much to the relief of my mum.

As with previous mountain attempts, I would never entertain asking for any contribution to the costs of the expedition. EVERY penny you donate goes towards the charity. I don’t entertain the idea that my holiday (perhaps the wrong word) should be subsidised by charity donations. This is not a ‘charity trek’ or a ‘charity climb’ – this is an expedition paid for by myself with a simple request to give a little cash to charity in acknowledgement of my efforts. I will spend roughly 24 days on the mountain, meaning sleepless nights at high altitude, temperatures into the minus thirties and little contact with home. Not forgetting of course, a massive amount of physical work.

My Charity

I have chosen Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice as the recipient of the proceeds of my expedition. I first became aware of the hospice in 2005 when I was assigned as an auditor for the charity. Each year I returned to undertake the audit, the charity had grown. By 2008, the charity had opened its state of the art hospice in Dinnington after raising the required amount of finance. But the challenge didn’t stop there – the hospice needs £2.5m per year to continue providing essential care to children who have illnesses which prevent them from reaching adulthood.

Bluebell Wood Hospice provides care to children with severe illness which prevents them from leading a full and normal life and also supports the families of such children. The yearly audit visit to Bluebell Wood was a sobering experience – a slap around the face reminder that most of us are extremely fortunate. The hospice provides a number of services, including:

• Residential stays in the hospice, where a child can be looked after and mum and dad can have a break too
• Day care services
• Help in families’ own homes
• Accompanying families to hospital visits
• Looking after brothers and sisters
• End of life care and support
• Friendship, and a helping hand whenever it is needed

Your donation will help continue the operation of this brilliant charity. More can be found about Bluebell Wood at http://www.bluebellwood.org/.

Individuals should ensure that they gift aid their donation to ensure an extra 20% is added to the amount donated by the bane of my life, HMRC.