Matterhorn Challenge fundraising exceeds £100,000!

We are really delighted and not a little overwhelmed to report that the fundraising total on our JustGiving site has now topped £107,000 !

We'd like to say again a very big thank you to everyone who has donated whatever amount. This is fantastic for the Haven and will help them enormously in their efforts to establish a Breast Cancer centre in the Wessex region. 

We would still like to go for a higher total so if anyone else would like support us then you can donate really easily via:

http://www.justgiving.com/Matterhornchallenge

With three weeks before we depart for Zermatt the mountain is looking very un-welcoming today. You can just about make it out in the snap below taken at 11:30 this morning from the Zermatt webcam. The climbers weather report for the summit is for thunder storms, heavy snow and winds up to 45km/h. There won't be any summit attempts today or probably for a few days to come - a salutary reminder that we can't take blue skies and sunshine for granted on the Matterhorn and why we will have to be flexible when we get to Zermatt.

The webcam can be found at  www.zermatt.ch/en/page.cfm/webcam_matterhorn

Lead Guide, Per As talks about the Matterhorn and preparation for the climb in August

Per As, is a Swedish Mountain guide based in La Grave in the French Alps. He is the lead guide for our Matterhorn Challenge climb, and is overseeing our Mountaineering training and the arrangements for the climb itself. Here, after some team training in Chamonix he talks about the Matterhorn, the nature of the climb and the preparation we will have to go through in the days before. Per knows what he is talking about - he last climbed the Matterhorn on Sunday!

Per's own website can be found at www.peras.se

If anyone would like to support us any amount would be very much appreciated and will go to our very good cause of The Haven breast cancer support charity. You can donate easily at www.justgiving.com/Matterhornchallenge

Thanks to RSA Plc for their generous support

We are hugely indebted to RSA plc, the leading global insurance group, who have been very generous in both sponsoring the team and in providing some of the equipment we will be wearing on the climb.

Simon Lee the group CEO commented "we are delighted to support such an important cause and wish the team every success - come back safely"

www.rsagroup.com

Fund raising hits £80,000!

The Matterhorn Challenge team are delighted to report that the fundraising total on our JustGiving site has topped £81,000 today!

We'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has donated whatever amount. This is a fantastic effort and it will go a long way to help the Haven to establish a Breast Cancer centre in the Wessex region.

If anyone else would like support us then you can donate really easily via:

http://www.justgiving.com/Matterhornchallenge

The team continue to train hard to get into the peak of fitness for the climb and the generosity of everyone who has donated is the best motivation to get through the pain of the various exercise regimes we are all on. That of course and the thought of the climb itself! Today the Matterhorn looks foreboding and there is still plenty of snow on the Mountain. Here is an image from this morning taken from the Zermatt resort's webcam:
















The webcam can be found at  http://www.zermatt.ch/en/page.cfm/webcam_matterhorn

The Hornli Ridge Route

This photo shows the route we will be taking up the Hornli Ridge on the Matterhorn's  north east corner. The climb starts by taking the cable car up from Zermatt and then walking for a couple of hours to reach a hut at the base of the rock ridge. The Hornli hut is at 3260m and is just off the bottom of the photo above.

We will stay in the Hornli hut over night getting up at about 3am to be on the first rock pitch by 4am. So climbing starts in the dark with head torches - at least we won't be able to see the drops on each side at that point! It is then a relentless climb up the ridge. There is an emergency hut - The Solvay Hut - at 4003m. The altitude will probably be getting to us by this point and unfortunately the last section below the summit is some of the steepest and most difficult. 

We will hopefully reach the summit by early morning. It's vital that we are up there before late morning as the weather usually turns stormy in the afternoon.

Going down can be harder than going up. It's easier to lose your footing and you therefore need to take your time and be very careful. We'd hope to be back down at the Hornli Hut by mid to late afternoon.

Please hep us by giving generously at www.justgiving.com/Matterhornchallenge  

One Month to go.

Just over a month to go to the climb.  Some of the team have already done snow & ice training in Chamonix and Will and Tim are due to go out in the next week to meet Per As the lead guide.

The challenge now is to ramp up our work on fitness.