Heather Rolfe treks to Everest Base Camp
In March 2010, Heather Rolfe embarked on the challenge of a lifetime to trek to Everest Base Camp. Below Heather describes the challenge in her own words.
"Little did I know that when I left for Kathmandu on the 5th March that I would be about to undertake the hardest 17 days of my life. I know that people say that "all worth wild endeavors are meant to hurt", but did it have to be so cold as well?
"My trek to Everest Base Camp started with a flight into Lukla Airport , which is an adventure all in itself, as it is listed in the top ten of the most dangerous airports in the world. We then started the slow trek towards Base Camp, gaining altitude all the time, through several Nepalese villages such as Namche Bazaar , Monju and finally Gorak Shep. From Gorak Shep we made the 7 hour trek to Everest Base Camp and back. We experienced a couple of days of sunshine at the start of the trek then the weather went unusually cold and the coldest day was approx -30 outside and -16.9 inside, not a good day to get out of your sleeping bag. This was topped off by the blizzard that turned in to a total white out for 4 hours, despite the bad weather I made it to Base Camp and back to the UK in piece."
"I can honestly say that it was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life but also one of the most rewarding both on a personal level and on a fund raising level, at the time of writing this article I had raised £4002.74."
Money raised from adventures like these are vital for the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home which costs more than £3.8 million a year to run, and with only 12% of funding coming from the Government sponsorship money from events really help to keep their nurses on the road.
If you are interested in going on an adventure to a far-flung destination whilst raising money for the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home please contact IRHH Fundraising for more information on 01442 890222 or email fundraising@irhh.org
27th March 2010
