The Everest Base Camp trekkers from Perth Andrew Donaldson and Michael Atherton are on a new high - they’ve summited their fundraising target.
In October, the pals went on a gruelling two week expedition to walk to Everest Base Camp, an adventure done in the honour of Andrew’s friend Sean Wallace, also from Perth who died ten years ago.
Their journey to the Himalayas made for great stories - not all of them good.
They hit trouble when their flight from Heathrow to Delhi was delayed which messed up a whole string of onward connections in Nepal. Michael and Andrew were late by a day getting to meet up with their tour group and that also meant they lost a day factored in to adjust to the altitude.
Michael faced mid-flight food poisoning, Andrew picked up a nasty respiratory virus. Added to that there was fatigue, altitude sickness, dodgy jeep travel and an unscheduled march along Nepalese trails in torrential rain when a road got too rough for even a 4x4.
Andrew got the shakes and shivers from a cold caught in transit and needed help to make it to their tea house stopover in the wilds of Nepal. The symptoms got so bad it looked like he might have to pull out of the trip.
But just as Andrew picked up, room mate and walking companion Michael got the bug which combined with progressive altitude sickness, nearly knocked him out of the yomp.
But they made close friends from the international group of walkers and by day 10, walked the last leg-wearing steps up the rocky mountain trail, to stand on the world famous rock which marks Mount Everest Base Camp, about the best a non-pro climber on a shoestring can achieve.
Following the joy of reaching their goal, the pair unfurled their SAMH banner inscribed with all their generous sponsors and took pictures of their achievement.
A great moment followed when they got to speed away from Mount Everest to lower climbs in a chopper - Michael’s first time in a helicopter.
They also hit Delhi in the middle of riotous Diwali celebrations and were given a statue for good luck with their journey back to Scotland.
The lads set a target of raising £10,000 for mental health charity SAMH and this week, following huge support from friends, family and strangers inspired by their courage, they delivered the gift in full - with a little extra for good measure.
Andrew, who runs his own website and marketing company AJD Digital in Inveralmond, Perth has done something every year to remember his childhood friend Sean, but the Everest walk he undertook with Michael was his biggest challenge to date.
