Everest Base Camp charity trek for NEWSAR

Shaun Stewart is hoping to raise thousands of pounds for NEWSAR by undertaking a charity trek to Everest Base Camp.

Trekking in the Himalayas is physically exhausting, particularly when you start to get high up.  Base camp is 5,364 metres (17,598 ft) above sea level, at this height just walking on the flat can be hard work, let alone walking up hill.  Shaun and his three friends who are going with him can expect to experience very cold nights, with frost or even snow on their tents each morning.

People acclimatise differently to altitude and you don’t know how you are going to react until you get there.  Even the fittest people can have problems with sickness and headaches.  However, Shaun has trained hard for this so he will be in the best possible physical shape to tackle the challenges.

Shaun said “The trick to going at such heights is to go slowly. Every other weekend we have been going to Snowdon and three months ago we went to all the peaks in Majorca.”

But it will not be all hard work, with lots of opportunity to see some amazing sights and scenery which will be a great reward for all the effort.

Before the walking starts the most scary part of the journey is the flight into Lukla.  The airport is built on the side of a mountain, high above a deep valley.  When arriving you have to fly straight at the mountainside and land on an uphill, 500m long runway.  There is a cliff facing you at the end, so there is no opportunity to “go around”.

This video shows a busy day at Lukla with several flights in and out in just a few minutes.  The video doesn’t really show how steep the runway is, or the huge drop off at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/DqgZvb37NX0

Shaun is a keen supporter of NEWSAR and has helped to raise lots of much needed cash in the past.

A target of £4,200 has been set, which would be enough to pay for a vehicle shelter to cover the Teams two Land Rovers and incident control vehicle, as presently the vehicles are exposed to the elements.

All of us in NEWSAR want to express our thanks to Shaun for undertaking this arduous trip while raising funds for NEWSAR.

To donate to Shaun online, visit http://charitygiving.co.uk/shaunstewart