© Everest in the Alps
© Everest in the Alps
© Everest in the Alps
© Everest in the Alps
Under a Week to go for Those Taking on the Everest Challenge!
Countdown to world-first Everest challenge in Verbier
Last November we reported on the plans that were under way for this intrepid team to take on their very own Everest right here in Verbier in the Swiss Alps in order to raise money for The Brain Tumour Charity.
Now the one-week countdown has begun until Everest in the Alps, a world-first ski-touring challenge taking place in the resort from 24 – 27 March 2015.
During the challenge an amateur team of 14 will climb the 8,848m height of Everest on skis in four days to raise money for The Brain Tumour Charity.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes said, “I applaud your efforts to raise money for such a worthy cause, and I wish you every success in setting up the research programme under the Everest Innovation Fund.”
Hampshire-based Rob Ritchie is behind this unusual event. His youngest son Toby is battling a brain tumour and, since diagnosis, has endured major surgery and chemotherapy. Ritchie said, “I hope our efforts highlight the underfunding of brain tumour research; it gets less than 2% of the UK’s annual spend on cancer research.
“As a parent, having a child diagnosed with cancer makes you feel powerless. What can you do? Walk to the ends of the earth, climb the highest mountain? It doesn’t work. On reflection, maybe you can do something. Maybe you should climb a mountain, or attempt your own personal Everest. This is how Everest in the Alps came about.”
Colleagues at Goldman Sachs, where Ritchie is a managing director in investment banking, have so far raised over £2 million for The Brain Tumour Charity through Everest in the Alps.
Sarah Lindsell, chief executive of The Brain Tumour Charity, said, “We are immensely grateful to this committed team and support them all the way. This is the largest single donation we have received for research into childhood brain tumours and it will have a profound impact on what we can achieve.”
Online, Everest in the Alps has raised an additional £85,000, 85% of its initial £100,000 fundraising target. All donations will help The Charity progress in efforts to find a cure.
Challenge organiser, Tom Bodkin of Secret Compass, said, “Ski-touring is a tough and often uphill activity – each team member’s daily calorie burn equates to running four marathons back to back. It’ll be tough but we aim to succeed, motivated by Toby’s situation and that of children like him.”
Ritchie said: “I want to leave a legacy out of this whole terrible situation. Toby will almost certainly need treatment again, probably more than once. Day to day now, he is going to school, which is brilliant. He wants to tear around with everybody but doesn’t have the coordination and balance.”
All money raised will go to The Brain Tumour Charity’s ring-fenced Everest Innovation Fund to launch specific research projects into the type of tumour Toby has – a low-grade glioma – as outlined in The Charity’s new research strategy this January.
We wish the whole team the best of luck with their endeavour! Should you wish to find out more about the challenge or the charity you can visit their website, or to donate then see the Fundraising page online.
