It is my biggest Insulin Challenge yet: to climb K2, the second-highest mountain in the world at 28,251 feet.

If I successfully summit K2, I will be the first British person with Type 1 Diabetes to ever reach the top of the mountain.

Like all those who live with a physical or mental illness, I am only disabled by the way society views me. My health issues are mine to conquer and deal with, but not to be judged by. 

K2 represents my mountaineering dream, and I will not let Type 1 Diabetes hold me back from my ambitions. 

Diabetes is NOT an excuse!

My aim is to raise £1 for every foot of K2 (£28,251) for Action4Diabetes (A4D). 

A4D is a UK-registered charity that I founded with an old pal, Charles Toomey, in 2015. It provides disadvantaged young people from across South-East Asia with ongoing Type 1 Diabetes healthcare and education. 

Untreated, Type 1 Diabetes is fatal. In societies with universal healthcare, access to insulin and blood testing equipment is readily available. 

But in parts of South-East Asia, hundred of disadvantaged young people still die every year from lack of access to life-saving care. 

£30 is enough to support one young person for a month with ongoing Type 1 Diabetes care through A4D.

It is a cause very close to my heart and any support you can offer would be hugely appreciated! 

More info...

CLIMBING K2

The top of K2 is in the 8000m “Death Zone”. Here, the human body cannot function properly due to low oxygen levels. It takes 8-9 days to walk the 90km to base camp, as you climb along a tortuous glacier full of dusty rock rubble and ice. It is very easy to twist your ankle on the rough, constantly changing trail. There is zero habitation en route so you have to pitch camp every night and sleep in tents on rough ground.

Follow my LIVE progress: https://share.garmin.com/JerryGore

K2 is a giant pyramid. The climbing is always very varied, involving ice, rock and mixed alpine terrain and the use of ice axes and crampons. There are notorious sections such as House's Chimney and the Black Pyramid, that are basically rock climbs with crampons on. 

The weather on K2 is very unpredictable because its isolated position means it attracts its own weather systems. Wind speeds can exceed 150Km/h and temperatures on the mountain can drop to as low as -50C. In 2019, 100 climbing permits were issued for K2 and 30 summits were recorded. On Mt Everest in 2019, 1136 permits were given out, with 876 summit successes. K2 is only 237 meters lower than Mt Everest, yet far more technical, dangerous and arduous.

Our expedition is 7-weeks long and yet we plan to spend just 5 days on the mountain, once acclimatised, due to its dangerous slopes.

I will be climbing with Rick Allen, one of the most successful high-altitude climbers the UK has ever produced. In 2013 Rick climbed the Mazeno Ridge with Sandy Allan over 18 days on Nanga Parbat (8,126m.) earning the pair a Piolet D’Or (Golden Ice axe) – the mountaineering equivalent of the Oscars.

Type 1 Diabetes: 

I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2001 aged 40. It is an autoimmune condition that stops your body from producing insulin - the hormone that allows cells to absorb glucose. I have to inject insulin 5-times a day and run the risk of my insulin freezing in sub-zero temperatures on the mountain. 

If my blood sugar levels drop too low, I can fall into a coma. If my levels go too high I run the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). When this happens, life-threatening substances called ketones build up in the body, so I have to be very careful with my sugar intake and keep my blood glucose levels stable. I will have to regularly test my sugar levels and inject insulin on the climb just as I do in normal life.

In short, my K2 Insulin Challenge for me is huge and will take me to my very limits and beyond. The summit day on K2 can often be more than 24 hours in duration and involves technical ice climbing above 8,000m. in sub-zero temperatures. 

£28,251 is the height of K2 in feet and this amount of money (US$40,000) will look after 80 of our children with type 1 diabetes for a whole year. 

So please support my K2 Insulin Challenge and by so doing directly help save the lives of children who without support would die slowly and painfully over a matter of months.

Thank you.
Jerry Gore

https://www.jerrygore.com/pagek2