"What am I doing and why am I doing it?"

Simply put - an extremely tough hike to over 21000ft (6476m) via the northern route with high altitude glacier walking. From the summit, I will see five 8000m peaks: Everest, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Makalu and Kanchenjunga. I can't wait to spend 21 days on this expedition with all the emotion and wonder of pushing myself to the limit.

Why? My friend Dave is currently battling lung cancer (https://davestaleyblog.wordpress.com) and I'm doing this climb in admiration and support of his courage and to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. 

Dave is one of the nicest chaps you could have the good fortune of meeting. He's just turned 40 and is facing the biggest battle of his life. My dedication of this climb to him is a small token of my recognition of his bravery. My xtreme adventure is dwarfed by his extreme courage. 

Cancer strikes seemingly at random and even those leading a "healthy" lifestyle are impacted. Families are devastated and lives altered forever. Macmillan works to help Cancer patients and their families so that the path is not walked alone.

I feel blessed and very lucky to be able to live a fulfilled life and I want to give something back.

This challenge will help to raise awareness of the devastating effects of Cancer and I'm appealing to you all to donate to Macmillan through this site. The funds go directly to the charity as I am paying forall my expenses myself. Nothing will be claimed back by me for this trip so Macmillan receives the maximum benefit from your donations.

I have commenced training and it is pretty rigorous, but no amount of training can fully prepare me for the assaulton my emotions, mind, senses, spirituality and the physical torment that I willendure. I've been there before and the primary reason to continue is thatafterwards the wonder of the climb makes my year!

Yes it's that good! Check out thephotos below and here's a link to other climbs I've done https://www.justgiving.com/user/38618075

Please help to make a difference by supporting this effort and donate to Macmillan.