Climbing Everest from here
A good cause has inspired a dad and two teenagers to work their way to the summit of Mt Everest - in Taranaki that is.
Philip Cram, his son James Cram, 15, and friend Tom le Fleming, 16, are three of the 14 people attempting to climb 8848 vertical metres over the month of November to raise money for Nepal.
The three South Taranaki males are part of the New Plymouth Mountain Bikers club where Hasley Lobb, the organiser of the event 8848m For Nepal, is president.
‘‘After the 2015 earthquake over there [Nepal] the water supply got cleaned out.Hasley said ‘we’re going to try raise funds for this and this is what we’re doing and do you want to do it?’’’ Philip said.
The event requires participants to climb around 250 vertical metres a day to reach the Everest summit 8848m - by the end of the month. They are trying to raise $20,000 for the cause.
The height was the same as climbing Paritutu three times every day of the month, or going from North Egmont to the top of Mt Taranaki six times.
le Fleming said it gave them a bit of a challenge. James agreed.
‘‘It gives us something to do, keeps us fit and helps out another community.’’
Philip said so far he and the teenagers had climbed around 2000 vertical metres each.
‘‘You could go walking, you could climb to the mountain, you could run up and down stairs, you could bike from here to wherever, it’s just self-propelled vertical metres that you’ve got to climb.’’
So far they have only used their bikes.
‘‘We’ve stuck to wheels so far because at least you can free-wheel back down,’’ Philip laughed. ‘‘But there are other people that have been doing other bits and pieces.’’
They all go up to New Plymouth on a Wednesday night for a mountain biking club night, which helps .
‘‘We did 511 metres on Wednesday,’’ James said.
‘‘We biked up to Dawson Falls the other day and from here to Dawson Falls is 600 [vertical] metres so if you just do that every other day you’ll get there,’’ Philip said.
The participants keep track of their distance through a smart phone app called Strava.
If you wish to donate to support the efforts, go online to give.everydayhero.com/ nz/8848-for-nepal