Ealing Councillor's Mountainous Success

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Gary Malcolm takes on Ben Nevis in treacherous conditions

An Ealing Councillor who's completed a night-time mountain challenge to raise vital funds for a cancer charity says it was one of the most exhilarating and exhausting climbs he's ever done.

Mountaineer and Liberal Democrat group leader who represents Southfield ward, Gary Malcolm, took on the hardest ice wall route of the UK's highest mountain, Ben Nevis, in the dark, the wind and rain, and has so far raised over £700 for Breast Cancer Haven.

Gary said, "Halfway up the climb it felt like someone had thrown numerous breeze blocks on my head. Luckily my helmet protected me from what was probably rocks and ice falling after some rainfall, melting the ice above us. Later I fell off the mountain but clung back on with my crampons and ice axes!

''When I crept on to the summit, only then could I look down. It was misty and I could not see the 1500 feet we had climbed and I felt totally exhausted, thirsty, and had so little left. It was so hard, but worth it. The day after summitting Ben Nevis, I was totally, totally exhausted.''

Gary says he managed to keep motivated because he was doing it for the charity Breast Cancer Haven which provides counselling and therapies supporting thousands of people through their treatment.

Please donate here.

10 December 2018