Its always been a childhood dream since reading reading Heinrich Harrer’s amazing book, “The White spider” I’m not sure if you’ve read the book, but the first ascent took many days and involved much tragedy along the way, but it was an amazing achievement for the time.

Historically I've climbed for myself, but this time I'd like to do it for other people, so I am going to climb it for charity.

I used to just be stupid, but now I'm stupid with enough skills to potentially get myself to the top of this beast and even if I dont succeeed, I'll have a bloody good go.

The Charity of choice is the NEST (Neonatal Emergency Stabilisation Team) at St Michaels hospital in Bristol...

Who are the NEST team ?  

The NEST team are a group of staff (doctors / nurses / paramedics) who are specially trained to look after babies during transport.

Where do they work ?

The team are based at St Michaels hospital in Bristol, but they undertake all of the transports for the Western neonatal network   (St Michaels, Southmead, Cheltenham , Gloucester, Swindon, Bath, Taunton, Yeovil and Weston S Mare) They are also responsible for Back transfers to the Peninsula network (Plymouth , Exeter, Truro, Torbay, Barnstaple)

Why does my baby need to move to another hospital ?

There are many reasons (so the exact reason your baby needs to be moved will be explained to you in person) For your information, the most common reason is that not all treatments for babies are available in all hospitals

· Babies requiring General, Heart or Airway surgery or input from certain specialists ( eg Heart and Hormone) will go to St Michael's in Bristol

· Babies requiring Brain surgery will go to Southmead hospital in Bristol

· Some other treatments are only available at the two specialist hospitals in Bristol (eg Cooling / Nitric oxide and certain types of ventilation)

Occasionally babies are moved to another hospital because the unit they

were born in is very full and there are not enough beds / staff /

equipment to look after them beyond the immediate stabilisation period.

The NEST team also takes many babies back closer to home to make it

easier for their mums and dads to see their baby

How is this service funded ?

Money to staff the service comes from the PCT’s in the Western Network

as well as from UBHT (United Bristol Healthcare Trust)

Most of our transport kit is purchased / replaced by charitable donations such as the Eiger Challenge.

The Just Giving account is now set up so you can all donate your hard earned cash to poorly babies!