I'm raising money for the Tom Furey Memorial Trust through climbing mountains in Ecuador and selling some of my surplus outdoor gear.

Tom Furey

Tom was a young man who I enormously respected and admired. Hugely. I first met Tom when he was an assessor on my Mountain Leader assessment. Initially I thought he was like the other young men in the room looking to get this qualification, but I was so wrong!

Tom gave me, in his own words, 'some gnarly navigation points' to get to as part of my assessment because he thought I could do it. It was way beyond ML, but it gives an insight into Tom's ability in teaching people: to be able to assess where an individual is and stretch them. We bonded over the principle of 'stretching' people and enabling them to learn that they could do more than they think they can.

Tom was a brilliant teacher and amazing at working with a huge range of different people. He was bubbly, effervescent, full of energy, massively skilled across hillwalking, climbing and mountaineering as well as incredibly thoughtful, kind and generous. I went with Tom to Nepal, Spain and Skye. I was always discussing adventures with him and offered, more than once, to be his support/logistics person for him to achieve something incredible, because he was absolutely capable of something 'World Class' (like running across the Cullin Ridge on Skye in less than 8 hours whilst stopping to chat with mates that he came across during the run!).

Tom had a bright future ahead of him and was destined to be a leading light in the outdoor adventure community. Here are the thoughts of others more qualified than me: BMC tribute to Tom Tribute from Rob Johnson

The Tom Furey Memorial Trust

The aim of the Trust is "To support and facilitate the furthering and enhancement of education for individuals, groups and the general public on the subject of hillwalking, rock climbing and mountaineering." The Trust is in it's infancy and going through Charity Commission processes so doesn't have it's own bank account yet (hence using the Crowdfunding route.

What I'm doing

I'm going to Ecuador in January 2023 to climb some mountains. Two chest infections and Covid in the last few months of 2022 is not the best of prep, but I'll be doing my best to summit Illiniza North (5126m), Cayambe (5780m), Chimborazo (6300m) and Illiniza South - requiring two ice axes - (5263m). Part of what will drive me up the mountain is knowing I'm raising money for the Trust and continuing Tom's work in educating and developing people in the mountains.

I'm also selling some surplus outdoor gear where I've upgraded my gear over the years. For example, a set of B3 winter boots and a winter specific rucsac. Hopefully, these will help others on their own mountaineering journey.

Phil