Late last year we were relaxing after an evening meal when Sanjeev said very casually, "Do you fancy climbing Mont Blanc?". We replied, equally casually, "Yes sure". I can only think that we must have been in a carb induced comatosed state to have agreed to such a thing. Well here we are and with only 11 weeks to go, the challenge is on and it is very real. We are a group of 6 family members; Sanjeev(the one responsible), Harry(the responsible one as opposed to the one responsible), Aneka(who believes she will be carried up), Stuti(who will move the mountain is she has to), Dhruv(who is so cool he will float up) and me(who is in denial that its happening). We all have our demons we will need to work through to undertake and complete this challenge, but I cant think of a more inspirational group of people to share this experience with. We are all determined, stubborn, competitive, love to push ourselves to our limits and above all, we are a close nit family who support and love each other. So I guess we have the right mindset which is a great start.

So what is the challenge?

We will be climbing two mountains over 6 days. The first three days will be aimed at climbing a 'training' mountain, Grand Paradisio which stands at 4061 mts. This will be our opportunity to experience working and sleeping at altitude, as well as using ropes, harnesses, pick axes, crampons and learning how to identify and avoid crevasses. We will be climbing for between 5-7 hours a day. The next three days as all about the ascent to Mont Blanc, which stands at an incredible 4808mts. Weather permitting we will spend 6 hours climbing a 1:3 ascent to the summit and 6 hours back to our base camp, with a further 6 hour descent home to Chamonix. None of us have climbed before so this is a serious challenge and perhaps not the best one to do as an introduction to climbing!

So why are we doing this crazy thing?

Well as I've said we all love a challenge but there is also our belief as a family in giving to those less fortunate than us. We all have different charities we support as individuals and we respect each others views and wishes. In line with this we will all support each other in raising money for all the charities we feel a strong connection with.

SWAT is one of these charities. We have seen, first hand, how the money donated makes a real and tangible difference to the lives of homeless people. The SWAT team bring a degree of dignity  those who perhaps don't normally get shown this and treat these individuals with respect and love for those short visits. It's incredibly humbling and moving to see and be a part of. 

Your donations will keep us motivated when we feel we can't go on or when the going gets tough, so we thank you for donating generously to such an amazing charity.