Everest2: Future Hope School, Kolkata, India

About 2 years ago I attended a presentation at the Royal Geographical Society in London by former banker, Tim Grandage. Through a moving and inspirational presentation, Tim introduced the Fellows of the RGS to Future Hope, a school set up in 1988 to provide a home, education, medical aid and opportunity to some of the children of Kolkata who found themselves living on the streets of the city. These children suffer extreme poverty and have little or no ability to change their lives and more than anything they need the love and security of a home. Future Hope now runs eight homes where more than 200 former street children live and enjoy life.

Everest2: Ridgetown District High School, Canada - Attempt 2.0

Ridgetown District High School

My mother always says, “If you’re going to do something, do it well”. A rather broad statement but one that drove me to book my 2nd flight from London, England to Canada in the span of 13 days. I was about to embark on my 2nd attempt at presenting the Everest2 programme at Ridgetown District High School. The first valiant attempt was thwarted by a snow storm that cancelled school and therefore impacted my presentation..! Instead of presenting, I ended up sitting in Pinnells Pastries in Ridgetown comfort-eating Ben’s world famous honey-dipped donuts while the snow piled up outside. Not content with accepting defeat, I decided to make another attempt (this seems to be a recurring theme of stubbornness?). Before booking my 2nd attempt, I did have a look at the forecast and whilst it wasn’t tropical, there was no snow in the forecast and the temperature was a balmy -5 degrees. Spring has arrived in Canada…

Everest NE Ridge 2011 Itinerary

GPS 'Spot' Tracker

In Challenge 5 of the Everest2 Programme that I am conducting as part of my fieldwork on behalf of the students of Ridgetown District High School (Canada), Sevenoaks School (UK) and Future Hope School (India), the students will use GPS technology mapped onto Google Earth to virtually follow me over the course of the 2011 Everest Expedition on an adventurous climb up the world's highest mountain via the North East Ridge to the 8848m summit. 

Everest2: Sevenoaks School - Kent, United Kingdom

Sevenoaks School, UK

“To London Bridge please…” I requested as I threw my 120 litre kit-bag into the back of the black taxi. The cab driver looked at me inquisitively and asked whether I had the “chopped up remains of my ex-boyfriend in the bag and was going to throw them off the bridge”. I suppose that it was rather odd to see a rather flustered Burberry-clad, high-heeled, thirty-something-year old carrying around a small, trendy Paul Smith laptop bag and an absolutely gargantuan monstrous red kit-bag at 7:30 in the morning…  I decided it was likely not the best strategy to let my cabbie think he was ‘aiding and abetting’ an escaping criminal so I shared with him the contents of the bag --- 1 down suit, 1 jumar, 1 abseil device, 1 harness, 1 pair big boots, 1 pair inner boots, 1 pair big mitts, 1 buff, 2 carabineers, and an RGS coffee table book about the history of Everest… all in, about 20 kilos of kit in preparation of my presentation for Sevenoaks School.

Everest2 Programme: Schools & Challenges

To help students to better understand Everest’s rich history, the traditions of its people, and the dynamic forces that have shaped it – I have developed a set of ‘Challenges’ which I will undertake as fieldwork on behalf of the students of Ridgetown District High School (Canada), Sevenoaks School (UK) and Future Hope School (India) over the course of my journey to the summit of Mount Everest.