Not content with scaling Europe’s iconic mountain, submariner Lars Atkins will attempt to conquer one of the Himalayas’ toughest peaks next month. [MAY]
Last summer, the 25-year-old submarine engineer from HMS Sultan scaled the Matterhorn – arguably the most recognisable mountain on the planet (it features on Toblerone packaging for example.
Few outside the mountaineering community have probably heard of Ama Dablam.
Anyone climbing Everest will have passed it on the way to base camp on the world’s highest peak.
Ama Dablam – Nepalese for ‘mother’s necklace’ – is 2,000 metres shorter than Everest, rising 6,812 metres (22,349ft).
It’s regarded as a very difficult climb – sometimes dubbed ‘the Matterhorn of the Himalayas’, it wasn’t conquered until nearly a decade after Hillary and Tensing stood atop Everest.
Lars says it is “easily the most beautiful mountain in all of the Himalayan mountain ranges” but concedes that it poses “a considerable mountaineering challenge – it’s one of the most technically tricky mountains in the Himalayas and presents a real physical and psychological test. This is by far the biggest challenge I have taken on.”
A tougher climb demands a bigger target. The Matterhorn climb raised £6k shared between the RNRMC and MacMillan Cancer Support.
Success in the Himalayas would be reaching the summit… and raising £15k, split equally, this time between MacMillan and the Wings for Life Foundation for spinal cord research; friends and family of the submariner have benefitted from support from both good causes.
The money is being raised through traditional donations/sponsorship via https://gofund.me/f08c5b9e and also via a charity raffle, selling tickets to win prizes including holiday, shopping and restaurant vouchers: https://projectamadablam.charityhive.co.uk/raffle/1/project-ama-dablam-charity-raffle
