Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I have now returned from the trip having lost 18lbs and gained a new personal altitude record. Due to the effects of the extreme cold on my hands I was unable to progress beyond camp 2 but despite not reaching the summit I am delighted to have reached over 7,200 metres.

My sincere thanks to everyone who has supported me in raising money for Bobath Scotland - friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, clients and anonymous strangers.

On August 22nd I will be departing for 6 weeks to take a gentle stroll up Cho Oyu.  At 8,201 metres (or 26,906 feet in old money) this is the 6^th highest mountain in the world and sits on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Although I am experienced in high altitude mountaineering this will be the fulfilment of a long held personal ambition to break the 8000 metre barrier.

The initial journey to Cho Oyu will take me through Kathmandu in Nepal and Lhasa in Tibet and I am due to arrive at base camp on 6th September, 15 days after leaving Glasgow.  I will then take a further 3 weeks to fully acclimatise to the altitude and sub zero temperatures before making my summit attempt.  This will involve climbing in the death zone at above 8,000 metres where the body starts to breakdown due to the lack of oxygen which is equivalent to only 1/3rd that at sea level, endure subzero temperatures of –25C and wind speeds of up to 80kmh.  They call this a holiday ? All going well, I should summit early on the morning of 29th September.

To give me additional encouragement and keep me going through long days, I have decided to use the trip to raise money for charity - namely Bobath Scotland.  This is a therapy centre for children with cerebral palsy. Every 6 hours a child is born with this incurable condition. With the help of the centre, children can increase their independence and quality of life through occupational therapy, physiotherapy and language development. The cost of treatment for a single child is £4,000 so with your support I hope to be able to provide sufficient funds to provide this vital treatment for two children.

Children are referred to the centre, which is based in Glasgow, by the NHS across Scotland.  Over 75% of the costs are borne by the centre so donations are vitally important to ensure that they can continue to offer their treatment and ongoing support to over 120 children each year. 

My target is to raise £8,201 (no prizes for guessing where that figure came from: i.e. £1 per metre). I know that everyone is making economies at the moment and smaller charities like Bobath Scotland feel the effect of this more than most, so any donation that you are able to give will be hugely appreciated by me and all the people at Bobath Scotland. 

You can follow the progress of my trip by going to :-

http://www.jagged-globe.co.uk/news/index.html    and looking for the Cho Oyu Team updates - note sometimes the latest update appears in the Older News Archive link on the left of the page > 2009 > September.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Regards,

Raymond