Extreme sleeps on three of UK’s highest mountains raises over £1,300 for JTYAF

Russell and Charlie from Go Ape Moors Valley raised over £1,300 by challenging themselves to climb the mountains and sleep on them. They are great supporters of JTYAF, which is the nominated charity at Go Ape.

They set out on the 557-mile journey from Dorset to Fort William in November and had selected Helvellyn, the 3rd highest peak in England, Aonach Beag which is second only to Ben Nevis, and Glyder Fawr, the 5th highest mountain in Wales. The routes they had planned to the peaks included ridges and scrambling, a great deal of which was at night. In addition to the climbs, three extreme sleeps provided the ultimate challenge.

They began with their ascent of Aonach Beag, at 4,049 feet and explained that the weather conditions were horrendous with such strong winds that they nearly lost their tent. The next morning, they travelled to the Lake District to tackle Helvellyn (3,117ft), in rain and relentless gusting winds and finally to North Wales where Glyder Fawr presented them with more rain and 80mph winds.

Pete Thornton, JTYAF chairman, commented, “The weather conditions confronted Russell and Charlie with an even more demanding challenge than expected but they showed real courage and total commitment and determination to get the job done.

“We are so proud of Charlie and Russell and all that they achieved in the most awful conditions.  Their challenge symbolises all the charity values; courage, determination, unselfishness and cheerfulness in adversity.  The money that they have raised will make a big difference to the opportunities that we can provide for local young people in 2019 and we can’t thank them enough.”

If you would like to support Charlie and Russell, it’s not too late, please visit their JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/alternative3sleeps