A tough charity fund raising event staged in Verbier is set to raise £1 million for charity.
The second 'Everest in the Alps' Challenge attracted around 30 participants, including Channel 4 presenter Phil Spencer of 'Location, Location, Location' and other TV shows.
The four-day challenge – which sees participants climb the equivalent of the vertical height of Everest - tested all skiers to their limits. They ascended up to 2,500 metres a day to reach their target, burning off the equivalent calories of running several back-to-back marathons on each of the four days.
"It was a personal Everest for everyone. It was simply incredible and something I would never have thought I would have been able to achieve. It was the epic challenge of my life!" said Phil.
The group were raised funds for The Everest Centre for research in Germany – a leading research centre into paediatric low grade tumours which opened in June 2017 following fund raising including the original Everest in the Alps in 2015.
The event was conceived by Rob Ritchie, whose son Toby, aged 10, is battling the disease.
"Something that really resonates with me is talking about Toby's Everest and the challenges he faces. For us, this is our big challenge. I know I will never take part in such a physical challenge as big as this, so it's my personal Everest," said Phil, adding, "It was unique. When you tell people they're immediately curious, not that they can really picture what 5.5 miles vertical actually looks like, or indeed might feel like, to try and climb."
Along the route, the teams spent the nights in mountain huts, giving them a basic but well-earned rest and a chance to gather their strength and a short respite from temperatures as low as -30°C. Long days meant that they had to be back on the slopes as early as 5:30am each morning.
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IFMGA Mountain Guide, Harry Taylor, was the lead guide for the challenge. He has climbed on Everest nine times, and is the second British man to have reached the summit without oxygen.
Globally over 26,000 children have a low grade paediatric brain tumour and every year in the UK another 500 children are diagnosed. The location of low grade tumours in the brain often make them only partially operable.
Sarah Lindsell, Chief Executive of The Brain Tumour Charity, said: "We are immensely proud and humbled to support everything that Rob, his family and the teams have done with Everest in the Alps.
https://www.everestinthealps.com