I have been looking forward to this trip for 2 or 3 years and now we’re here it is everything I expected. Climbing is not new to me and knowing what to expect is a real bonus. 5 weeks before setting off from Swindon I had a bicycle accident during a training session which left me with 7 stitches going diagonally just under my left knee; not the best preparation. Up until that point training had been going well with 10 to 12 mile coastal walks each weekend and two or three 2 to 4 mile runs. All that stopped on February 18. The daft thing is I only decided to use the bike for training because I felt running may hurt my ankles. When I was walking today I noticed an old Nepal woman cringe when she saw my knee.
Anyway on to the trip. It began for me with a call from our esteemed leader Hemp which went as follows “aah Huntie what terminal are we going from?”
“Four”, I said “and by the way it’s - Heathrow”.
I am part of a good team here and the trip could not have been organised better with much credit going to Graham Hoyland and of course Iceland. There has been a high level of humour, driven in the main by Justin and Hemp and of course there has been much testosterone, which I am sure will ease off as we move onward and upwards.
One of the hardest parts of any trip is leaving the family behind. I miss my wife Laura and the kids like crazy. I am sure some will not understand how I could leave a family I love and put myself in to a potentially dangerous situation. Well, here’s the thing. I have and they understand because they know me and I will not hide the fact that in the first instance this is about something I want but on this trip there is a massive added advantage and that is that we are attempting to raise £1million for Alzheimer’s, a devastating disease and one which my own Mum finds herself suffering from.
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You can visit www.iceland/everest.org.uk to find out more and I am doing my own blog at www.rikkihunt.com/everest.
Click here to donate to Walking With The Wounded and Alzheimer's Research UK, the charities supported by the climb.