THE Mail and The Westmorland Gazette are working in colloboration with St Mary's Hospice for its Sponsor a Nurse campaign.

There are easier ways to raise money than trekking 5,360 meters to Everest’s base camp — but not many which are more exhilarating. 

A team of ten hardy fundraisers from St Mary’s Hospice are in Nepal right now, spending three weeks completing the challenge of a lifetime. A challenge so tough that fewer than 65% of those who take part usually make it.

READ MORE: Sponsor a Nurse: St Mary's Hospice's Hannah Scarr

Included in the group are St Mary’s staff members Ali Alger and Rosie Clear, who signed up to take part alongside eight volunteers.

The team arrived in Nepal over the weekend, flying to Lukla airport to begin the trek proper on Monday (October 24). Lukla is known as the most frightening airport in the world owing to its short mountain-side runway.

Ali said: "Kathmandu was an assault on the senses, with so much hustle and bustle, colour and exotic tastes and smells. We arrived during the Hindu festival of Tahir, and the city was full of lights and colourful mandala (Buddhist art). It was such a fantastic experience.”

The trip was organised via Lakeland Mountain Guides — who facilitate the Hospice’s fundraising night-time walks in the Lakes each year. They held an open evening back in 2019 to gauge interest, before the expedition was twice postponed because of the Covid pandemic. 

Rosie, who joined St Mary’s earlier this year as head of clinical care, said: “When I joined the organisation someone had been forced to pull out of the trip, so I put myself forward. It was a bit of a whirlwind organising the kit and the time off work, but it has been such a wonderful experience so far.

“There isn’t really any training you can do for altitude, other that being here and having a go. It will take around two weeks to get to base camp, and so you’re not only walking at altitude, you’re sleeping in it too, which we are told will be really difficult.”

The group expect to raise around £15,000 from the trip, after expenses have been cleared. And if there is enough interest it might be repeated in 2024. 

St Mary’s events manager Mel Dixon said: “So far our team of ten are having such a wonderful time, but the hard work has only really started. The pictures and messages they’ve been sending back make us all feel so envious, it looks incredible.

“We’re always looking for new ways that we can raise funds for the Hospice. Eight out of every 10 patients we treat has their care paid for via donations, so every pound we raise really does make a huge difference.

“Since we started posting about the trip on social media we’ve had loads of people commenting to say they’d love to do it in the future, so we’ve already started to take names of people who might want to and, if there is enough interest, we’ll run another expedition in 2024.”

To register your interest e-mail Mel on melissa.dixon@stmaryshospice.org.ukAnd if you want to support St Mary’s without flying 4,810 miles from home, you can sign up to their Sponsor-A-Nurse campaign, which is being supported by Newsquest, at www.stmaryshospice.org.uk