"The Everest Challenge has got everything a great fundraising event needs – where else can you combine snowsports, a genuine endurance challenge, loads of prizes and a huge party all for an amazing cause!" Chemmy Alcott
Snow-Camp, one of Britain's most innovative youth charities, has held its third annual charity Ski and board-a-thon in the Portes du Soleil region, between January 26th and 29th 2012.
This year the Everest Challenge was bigger than ever, with 52 snow-sports enthusiasts joining together to fundraise for the charity by doing something they love to do: skiing or snowboarding like never before! The 48 hour team event involved two non-stop dawn to dusk days of skiing, and two night sessions including a night ski and night hike - with a target of 150km to be achieved in time allowed by each team.
Dan Charlish, Snow-Camp's Director said, 'This year was by far the most challenging of the three Everest Challenges we have now run! We had really difficult conditions over both days, but particularly on Day 1 where visability was zero and heavy snow and wind made things pretty tricky – but all the teams remained committed to the task, morale was always high and everyone pushed through to complete the Challenge! It was a fantastic effort by everyone involved and we are so grateful for the enthusiasm and support shown by all the participants!
Teams were tracked by G Trek GPS systems, capturing their route and total distance covered during the event. At the Awards Night which closes the Challenge the Orange Team celebrated victory with a fantastic total of 208 km covered over the 48 hours!
Ellis Brigham once again sponsored the event, and Mark Brigham commented: 'We continue to support The Everest Challenge as it's a uniquely rewarding event for with a very simple concept - ski and snowboard over a massive distance to enable more young people to enjoy skiing and snowboarding!'
Alongside the ski industry, participants from companies such as Ernst and Young, Rolls Royce, Ericsson, RBS, British Airways, Mace Group and Stratum Five joined students, engineers and teachers to make up a fantastic group of people on this years challenge!
Over £25,000 has already been raised and more is predicted as fundraising continues through February and March. All funds raised will go toward Snow-Camp's work supporting inner-city young people through skiing, snowboarding and life-skills development. (Please see www.snow-camp.org.uk for more details of the charities work.)
If you would like to sign up as an individual or team for next years event please contact Dan from Snow-Camp on dan@snow-camp.org.uk. However, due to constant questions about whether the event is held in Nepal, next years event is going to be called The Snow-Camp Alp-a-thon! See you there!