I am climbing in the Atlas Mountains for two charities starting on 29 January 2023 and attempting to summit Jbel Toubkal in the early hours of 3 February 2023. The trip will run over 10 days giving the chance to summit again should the first attempt be unsuccessful due to bad weather. The summit and approach will be on snow and ice and will push me to the limit of my capabilities. I have been able to persuade my friend Phil Hobbs to join me and our mutual encouragement will hopefully see us summit together.
Toubkal is a mountain peak in southwestern Morocco, located in the Toubkal National Park. At 4,167 metres (13,671 ft), it is the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains, Morocco and North Africa and it will be the highest peak we have climbed to date.
Helen and Douglas House is a wonderful Oxfordshire charity and my friend Jack has spent many happy days there. I have been lucky enough to know Jack since he was born and he is my inspiration for climbing Toubkal, as he was born when my daughter Evie and I climbed from sea to peak to summit Mount Olympus in Cyprus in 2017. It will be my first mountain over 4000 metres and I will be carrying a picture of Jack to look at every time I think I might not make it. They need to raise £3.6 million each year to care for local terminally ill children at the hospice and at home. That works out at a little under £500.00 an hour; I would love to raise enough to keep Helen & Douglas House going for at least an hour or two. If you click on this link you can read all about why this is one of Oxfordshire's favourite charities. www.helenanddouglas.org.uk/
My second charity is Re:Act Disaster Response, a group I joined a couple of years ago in after a call to action during the pandemic. I have been deployed a number of times as a domestic responder and trained as a both a domestic and international responder. I was deployed to Lublin in Poland to help with the humanitarian aid going into the Ukraine earlier this summer 2022. I have recently qualified in Emergency First Aid and I am hoping to attend a Wilderness First Responders Course later this year. Many volunteers are military veterans, many come from blue light services; others are simply people with a burning desire to make a real difference. All are humanitarians. www.re-act.org.uk/
You can follow my progress on Chris Hurdman or Thame Market Traders FB pages and it would really help if you can share the posts.
If you can give any amount to help these two amazing charities, please click on the following link: Crowdfunding to help fund and lift the profiles of Helen and Douglas House and Re:Act Disaster Response. on JustGiving
