Brothers to scale Everest in their own home

● Scouts will carry out feat over 60 days to raise money for charity

A pair of brothers are seeking to scale the height of Ben Nevis and Mount Everest - by walking up and down their house stairs.

Ben and Sam Turpie, from Cardrona, Scottish Borders, are scaling the equivalent of 1,345 metre Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain, and 8,848 metre Everest, the world’s highest peak, for charity.

The siblings, both Scouts, will carry out their mammoth efforts by climbing up and down their house stairs over 60 gruelling days.

Ben, 11, and 14-year-old Sam, an Explorer Scout, worked out the height of the mountains and the height of their stairs and created their own charts to record their progress over two months.

Ben worked this out at roughly 10 flights of stairs a day, while Sam has to complete a daily set of 60.

Face-to-face scouting ceased in the middle of March, but the movement is continuing through virtual meetings, online challenges, and The Great Indoors initiative.

Despite the restrictions imposed by the UK Government, the Turpie brothers are determined to show their scouting spirit.

They are raising funds for local charity The Food Foundation,

which is run by volunteers and is delivering free meals to elderly and vulnerable people who’re self-isolating during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The boys took inspiration from scouting friend Caroline Mccann, who was due to start her own adventure to Everest base camp at the end of March, but is now completing a virtual version with friends online.

Ben and Sam have set themselves the target of raising £500 for The Food Foundation - having raised £335 so far - and hope that people will get behind their fundraising efforts and donate.

Ben said: “I thought it was a good idea to fundraise as we all have to stay at home.

“It’s something Sam and I can do in our own house.”

Donations can be made to the brothers’ fundraiser at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/nevis-everest.

The boys are just the latest pair inspired to take up fundraising challenges while in lockdown. Mother-of-three Gayle Hoy was determined to run the marathon she had been training for - so she completed a 26.2 mile course by running round the driveway of her Kirkliston home - 655 times.

In the process she raised around £2,000 for Muscular Dystrophy UK, a charity she has supported since a friend’s seven-year-old son was diagnosed with the condition a few years ago.

Gayle, 43, has completed several previous marathons.