Fundraisers conquer Nevis for charity & raise £10,000

A group of five intrepid adventurers have conquered Ben Nevis following months of training and a challenge which also saw them cover 5 trips and a total of ten Munros, culminating in an ascent of Ben Nevis on Saturday (September 15, 2018). The team conquered the highest mountain in Britain, which was the final ascent of their challenge.

Five local businessmen teamed up to take on the gruelling challenge in aid of local charity Charlie House. The ‘Journey to Nevis’ team consists of Brian Kerr, Andy Proctor, Davie Grieve, Gerry Robertson, Ron McGregor and mountain guide Colin Chapman.

Charlie House, whose headquarters are in Albyn Place, supports babies, children and young people with complex disabilities and life-limiting conditions in the North-east of Scotland.

The team’s trips throughout the year also included:

Trip 1 - Mayar & Driesh (2 Munros)

Trip 2 - Mount Keen (1 Munro)

Trip 3 - Glen Shee (4 Munros)

Trip 4 - Cairn Gorm & Ben Macdui (2 Munros) – The team will conquer Ben MacDui, the 2nd highest mountain in Britain

Trip 5 - Ben Nevis (1 Munro)

Susan Crighton, director of fundraising for Charlie House, says, “We cannot thank the ‘Journey to Nevis’ team enough. They have shown so much grit and determination to complete these challenges, culminating in Saturday’s ascent and descent of Ben Nevis. The group have very busy work and home lives so to commit to this challenge and also fundraise over £10,000 is just fantastic.”

Susan continues, “The money the team raise will assist us in continuing to offer support services for babies, children and young people with complex disabilities and life-limiting conditions in the North-east of Scotland.”

Brian Kerr, of the Journey to Nevis team and senior contracts advisor for R.Davidson, says, “We never underestimated how tough the challenge would be and some of the earlier climbs in the year saw really difficult weather conditions but we were relatively lucky with the weather on Saturday, although it was minus 1 at the summit and probably around minus 7 with the wind chill. My hands were really sore!

Brian concludes, “I think the hardest part was the descent, in total it took us seven and a quarter hours. We cannot thank our mountain guide Colin Chapman enough who gave up his time to train and accompany us on our climbs and to our supporters who have donated. As a team we are so delighted to have hit our target knowing that we have raised vital funds for such a fantastic local charity.”