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In August 2008 whilst drinking some fine wine in the company of a few climbing pals the conversation took a strange turn - After many conversations over many drinks we had often discussed 'The Big Climb' a dream that all climbers and mountaineers have at various times in their career.
This evenings pipe dream had been burning away at me for several weeks whilst trekking through the Borneo jungle with a group of school kids, I had decided that it was either now or never that I pulled my thumb out and made my dream become a reality.
On my return from Borneo I had arranged a weekend of Mountain Biking with my partner Kathryn and two good friends; Chris Hare and Dr Beth, and during our evenings fine dining and copious imbibing I saw fit to table my dream and plan....To climb Mt Everest's North Ridge and raise a bundle of cash in the process for the veterans charity 'Help for Heroes'.
to my amazement the suggestion was greeted with warm enthusiasm and much interest which resulted in even more fine wine being drunk with the promise of a full feasibility study and some proper research.
During the next few weeks and months I set about recruiting a team of experienced and capable serving and retired military mountaineers to form our climbing and management team; Beth Hall-Thompson, a Doctor, ex regular officer and now TA Captain with a good breadth of mountaineering experience and a good understanding of high altitude medicine and other related topics, Chris Hare, a military helicopter technician and experienced mountaineer, Darby Allen, a Royal Marine helicopter pilot and experienced mountaineer, Guy Davies, an Army Captain and experienced mountaineer, Dan Loxton, an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot, GB triathlete and mountaineer, Andy Mcintyre, a recently retired Army helicopter pilot and keen mountaineer, Chris Rhodes, our only non-military member and a very experienced and well travelled mountaineer and finally Howard Floyd, an ex Army officer and helicopter pilot/instructor, who has an abundance of mountaineering experience and knowledge and will be our base camp logistics manager.
With the team complete and the support of Help for Heroes gained we now enlisted the kind and generous help of our first choice web designers - Blue Level, who kindly agreed to design, build and maintain our website and other media requirements. Following the success of gaining our preferred web designers we were also fortunate enough top gain the Patronage of Sir Chris Bonington CBE, Britains most highly respected mountaineer, a real feather in the expeditions cap.
The teams first meeting took place in Betws-y-Coed over the weekend 18-20 Dec 2009, here the team held a detailed planning meeting and discussed the way ahead, supported by Barry Lynn, Press Officer of the British Association of International Mountain Leaders (BAIML) of which I am a member, invaluable help in our requirement to gain as much media coverage as possible. The team also took delivery of the official expedition polo shirts and braved the harsh snow and Welsh weather to pose for the teams official promotional pictures.
The team has now gained the help and support of many individuals and associations, including the design and literacy skills of Miss Lynda Horton, a civil servant and media designer at the Army's school of Army Aviation at Middle Wallop, Hampshire. With the imminent launch of the expeditions official website things are looking good for the following two years fund raising and marketing campaign.
The expedition blogs will be updated frequently and will detail the challenges progress, complete with pictures and other articles as appropriate. If you or others you know are able to support or sponsor this ambitious charity challenge in any way then please feel free to contact myself, the expedition leader at your earliest convenience to discuss matters further.
Damon 'Boris' Blackband - Expedition Leader
www.everest4heroes.com
damon@everest4heroes.com
m: 07768 608914
