<![CDATA[Rhys Morton News]]> <![CDATA[How Bad Am I..?]]> I hope you are well and have been getting involved in some of your own adventures over the summer period.

Before I continue I just want to let you know that we have 2 new websites currently being made...

http://www.rhysmorton.co.uk about my Everest attempt in 2011 and...

http://www.steps2everest.co.uk about the Everest Base Camp Expedition in 2010... which I am about to inform you about.

The sites will not be up until late October so will just link to the old website for now.

So what has been happening..?

And yes as the subject line states I have been bad... here is why.

It has been a while since my last message went out about my Everest attempt and how things were progressing, which has been a bit lazy of me I know... the reason for my lack of updates are due to a few monumental additions to what I am doing and how we are going about fundraising, which have taken a huge amount of time and planning with no end in sight... which is a good thing and I am not complaining... much!

So I thought it was about time I got an email out to you giving you an update of what has been going on... but as i have not updated you in a while I will send you a series of emails rather than overload you with information. So this email is to give you an update on our Everest Base Camp Expedition which is happening in March next year.

Steps2Everest Base Camp Expedition 2010 and how that has been panning out with planning.

At the beginning of the year it was finally decided to organise a trip to take a group of young adults to Everest Base Camp aged 16 to 22 to give young people the opportunity to do something amazing and at the same time raise money for both Woking Hospice and The British Heart Foundation. There was a presentation held in February at Woking Hospice about the planned trip and what would be involved and expected on the three week expedition. Attendance was good with a lot of interest and questions from the audience. As a result of the evening we successfully recruited five youths to be part of the team which leaves for Nepal on the 26th March 2010. We also recruited a few more via news paper features and also through a presentation we held at Woking College just before the summer holidays.

By this time the team was up to 9 members... but then over the summer hols two team members had to drop out due to other commitments and another we had to refuse onto the team due to medical reasons, which then reduced team numbers down to six. These things are sent to try us, and this after all is a challenge, in more ways than one. Recruiting ten young adults for a "chance in a lifetime" opportunity to trek to Everest Base Camp for charity is easier said than done I can tell you. You would think that this type of amazing adventure would appeal to them in huge numbers. Well the reality is that there are more people who love the THOUGHT of doing it, than those who actually WANT to do it, but I guess that’s just human nature in action.

So we are still recruiting for a further four members to take part in this amazing adventure. We do have another presentation scheduled next week at Brooklands College in Weybridge so hopefully we will get some more team members onboard... so fingers crossed!

WE HAVE 4 SPACES REMAINING on the team so if YOU or anyone else you know would be interested in being considered for one of the remaining places then give me a call on 07538578976 or email me info@rhysmorton.co.uk and we can have a no obligation chat about the trip and what will be involved.

The whole idea behind this is that each team member will raise funds for both Woking Hospice and also The British Heart Foundation with the aim of raising £5,000 which will also cover trip costs. The other unique aspect is that all members will work as a team and lead the trekking days on the expedition and also navigate their way by following a map of our route to Everest Base Camp.

That’s it for now about the Steps2Everest Base Camp Expedition. If you are keen to find out more on getting on the team or even if you want to volunteer your help in any way such as fundraising, feel free to contact me on 07538578976 or email info@rhysmorton.co.uk

Future emails to keep a look for...

  • The New World Record Attempt which has been approved by Guinness World Records®
  • Also our attempt to get a well known and whacky celebrity to be patron of our expeditions and World Record Attempt!
  • Abseil event in Woking in July 2010

I hope you enjoyed the update and I promise not to leave it so long next time.

]]> <![CDATA[Are You Up For The Challenge]]> Everest is our highest mountain. It is difficult enough to have killed many climbers in horrible falls and deep crevasses. Its altitude and the technical’s of the climb are not to be underestimated. The death zone above the 4th camp has taken many strong and skilled climbers lives. That implies that Everest requires intensive training.

You might be lucky and the climb might go well even if you didn’t do your homework. But you will certainly notice that Everest lives up to its fearful reputation should the conditions turn against you. By then though, it might simply be too late if you are not well prepared.

Everest is also an extremely beautiful mountain. And just as we continue to launch ourselves into space even though missions sometimes turn into tragedy, mountaineers will always try to climb Everest to experience the majesty, beauty, and adventure of our closest frontier to Universe. Mount Everest is the highest peak in the world. From its towering altitude of 8,850 meters, it has been beckoning men and women for over a hundred years. But it wasn’t until 1953, after many recon trips and attempts that the first ascent was made by New Zealand native Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay with a British expedition.

Since then, Everest has continued to attract mountaineers from all around the world. Today, Everest still holds a powerful attraction for millions of people and is arguably the most popular mountain in the world. Everest is a highly coveted mountain and attempts to summit it are very costly. The internationally acclaimed Himalayan region attracts millions of trekkers and thousands of mountaineers every year. In 2003, Everest was the backdrop for a huge ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first ascent in 1953.

Every year, Everest Base Camp plays host to over 20 expedition teams from all across the world. In the 50s, 60s, and 70s, it was not unusual to see countries send expeditions representing their homelands to the world’s highest mountain, with countless others later in the year visiting Everest’s base camp to get a glimpse and feel of the most visited mountain in the world.

Even though you may not be keen to climb to the summit, you may be extremely interested to take on the challenge of reaching Base Camp? Base Camp sits at an altitude of around 17,200 feet. It is a great challenge and an inspiring place to be during expedition season, surrounded by tents and climbers preparing for their climb up the mountain.

If you are interested in trekking to EBC on a 3 week expedition which will take in the sights of the Gokyo lakes and cossing glaciers and high passes... then this trip will be for you.

If you are able to raise £5,000 for charity then the trip will cost you nothing as this will also cover expedition costs. For further information on the trip, please visit the website and dowload a detailed brochure or get in touch with me on 0845 2938356 (L0-call rate) for a chat about this trip.

]]> <![CDATA[In search of a Mannequin]]> Well the weekend has been and gone, after spending my time designing some t-shirts that I plan on selling to help raise money for the charity cause and my sponsorship. The range will be called "Tough at the Top" which will have some very interesting and suggestive designs on them.. so look out for those.. I do expect you to buy one or two!!

I am in preperations for this coming Saturday for the fundraising stand in Bisley to create awareness and raise money for the charity cause. I have also managed to get Snow & Rock in Chertsey to provide me some high altitude mountaineering kit to have displayed on the stand. This will show people the kind of equipment that is used to climb any high altitude mountain. So in case you were wondering, what the hell the title was all about.. now you know.. I need it to display the equipment.. and not because I have some weird fascination with wanting to take it everywhere with me on the back of my motorbike (not that I have one) as portrayed in the 1987 film of the same name "Mannequin".

So earlier today I went around Woking town centre visiting all the clother shops on the hunt for my model dummy!! Finally after about 20 minutes of getting some very strange looks from shop assistants, wondering what the hell I wanted to do with a large piece of plastic in the shape of a man..!! Lisa in Debenhams kindly agreed to loan me one for the Saturday.

I expect to get some even stranger looks on Friday when I collect it, then stroll through Woking town centre with it under my arm like some surfer dude with his board and sex wax. Mind you I have no idea where I will get the sex wax from??!!

But hopefully this weekend will be a success, with Woking News & Mail coming along for some photos for a write up in the following weeks paper. So hopefully we shoul raise quite a bit of money.

Speak again soon.. and happy adventures. 

]]> <![CDATA[New STEPS2EVEREST website soon to launch]]> We will soon be launching the new Mount Everest Charity Challenge website, STEPS2EVEREST which will be more focused around fundraising efforts to reach our charity fundraising minimum target of £100,000.

You will also be able to sign up for news releases and event invites that will keep you informed with progress and training, also any fundraising activities we will be holding. We will also inform you offers and adventure related items that maybe of interest to you.

There will also be a section for video footage and a photo gallery for you to view and see what has been going on.

The web address will be www.rhysmorton.co.uk which is currently linked to the just giving fundraising page.

Keep an eye out for it.

]]> <![CDATA[Get Your Company Involved with Our Tube Collections]]> We have come up with a novel idea to help generate our charity target funds by using small collection tubes capable of collexcting £1 coins up to the value of £29.

The idea is that a company will take the tubes or an individual, and pass the tube around to members of staff and encourage them to fill the tube with £1 coins.

Once filled we hope that the company will match what staff have put into the tube and then send back to us the tube filled with a cheque of they can go online and make the donation through the just giving page

To get more information from us about participating in this tube collection challenge please click the image and send us an email with, company name and address, contact person and telephone number.

All companies who participate will also get a link from our tube challenge page on our new website which is launching soon.

Lets get tubing!!

]]> <![CDATA[What they're really fighting for in Tibet]]> On a winter night not long ago, I walked through the glowing doorway of Lhasa's newest nightclub, Babila, for an interview with its owner, a Chinese entrepreneur. Disco balls spun from the ceiling. Fiber-optic strands of plastic beads drizzled down like rain to a long, sleek stainless steel bar. On the stage, dancers in stiletto heels and lingerie gyrated to thumping music.

"Tibetan culture is so deeply rooted here," the owner told me. "I don't think it will be diluted -- it's important for business."

Yet I saw no Tibetan employees, and Tibetans represented only a smattering of customers. The bar served mostly Chinese businessmen and army officers, whose tabs could run as high as US$2,000, several times the per capita income in Tibet.

The nightclub owner's comments underscored the problem Tibetans have with Chinese rule: Their culture has been packaged for tourism. Business is booming. But they aren't getting any of the bounty.

This, more than violations of human rights and religious freedom, is what fueled the riots in Lhasa and across Tibetan areas that started on March 14 -- the largest and most violent protests since an uprising in 1959, when Tibetans rebelled against Chinese rule. Today, Tibetans stand at an economic threshold, about to be overwhelmed by the tsunami of China's great expansion in ways that may ultimately be more devastating than the previous decades of repressive rule.

Certainly, human rights abuses continue in Tibet, including imprisonment and torture, the banishment of Tibetans from their farmland, and draconian restrictions on activities and thought within the monasteries. And these restrictions may have sparked this latest resistance. But the mayhem in Lhasa was most notable for its focus on the symptoms of the economic shift. What began as a protest by a few hundred monks from Lhasa's monasteries turned into a riot that brought out shopkeepers, traders and farmers. 

]]> <![CDATA[London to Mount Everest Base Camp]]> To mark the begining of my challenge to scale the highest mountain in the world, I will be making a visit to Everest Base Camp at 17,500 ft later this May.

My trip will take me to the largest, thriving and pretty much the only city of Nepal, Kathmandu. Sitting at an altitude of 4,384 ft and the starting point for all expeditions and trekkers for the Khumbu valleys, Kathmandu has been the travellers mecca since the 1960's. These days you're less likely to see a tie-dyed hippy in search of enlightenment than a gore-tex clad tourist in search of a an espresso. But for me I quite like the allure and mystery of hippy enlightenment.

From Kathmandu I will take a short 35 minute flight to Lukla airstip which is the gateway to the Everest region foothills. Lukla is at an altitude of and is an 8 day trek to base camp at 17,500 ft. I will spend a day here speaking with other mountaineers who have been on the mountain to hear thier thoughts and feelings on climbing Chomolungma (Everest) before I return to Lukla for the return flight back to Kathmandu.

Despite all the problems in Nepal and the continuing controvery of the Chinese taking the Olympic flame to the summit of Chomolungma (Everest), and the closure of Tibet to all tourists, fortunately Nepal remains open and so does Everest for ascents on the south Nepalese side.

Regardless of this, the recent riots in Tibet and crackdown by the Chinese Army have thrust an issue that many thought was dead and buried back out onto the World Stage.

This week has seen exposed the "Cultural Genocide" being perpetrated in Tibet by the Chinese Government, who are systematically obliterating the Tibetan culture and religion.

They are swamping the country with hundreds of thousands of Chinese immigrants every year, and detaining and torturing any Tibetan who dares to peacefully protest.

Possessing a photo of the Dalai Lama or a Tibetan flag is an offence that results in many years in gaol.

To be a Tibetan political prisoner means rape, torture and mandatory brainwashing.

But what does the future hold for the gentle and spiritual Tibetans who have fled their Himalayan home?

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing” - Albert Einstein

Watch the report

The Tibetan Project

]]> <![CDATA[Fundraising day on the 9th February]]> Well I thought i would let you know about the fundraising day which took place on the 9th February in Bisley... and yes... a slap on the wrists for not making my minumum weekly postings... i know...!! it has been noted.

Well.. despite being a very quiet day at the opening of one of my local sponsors in Woking, new design and interior store, I managed to get a booking for another speaking engagement at the Round Table of Woking which has yet to be arranged.

Unfortunately, we only managed to raise £23.62 in total... so not a life altering amount at all really... and is still some way short of the £100,000... Oh nooooo!!!

That said, it was featured in the Local Woking News and Mail, so at least I am still getting the exposure about my challenge and the charities. It also gave me the opportunity to iron out some issues with the display stand and banner signs, so that future events will be executed far more effectively. It was also descided that I will need my own banner display made, as some people did not make the immediate connection with my challenge being used as a vehicle to raise £100,000 for charity...

But all in all, it was not that bad a result given that it was not a busy day at all... due to sunshine and Chinese New Year Celebrations in Woking Town Centre... I do pick em...

BUT.. onwards and upwards I go....

Talking of onwards and upwards.... Take a Look at The Most Visited Personal Development Product Site On The Internet 

]]> <![CDATA[Woking Roary Club Everest Presentation]]> On Thursday the 28th February I gave my inaugural presentation to a room of 40 members about my challenge to raise £100,000 for Woking & Sam Beare Hospices and The British Heart Foundation.

The evening was a great success with a barrage of questions at the end from interested members. I was informed that you can always tell how successful a presentation was based on the questions that they ask at the end... so using that a guide it was a roaring success.

On the evening there was a member from another Rotary Club, who would like me to give a further presentation to their members in Farnborough.

I have yet to hear from the Woking Rotary Club to see if, and how much of a donation they will be giving to my Challenge cause.

The more I do of these speaking events the better as it will get me known and open up more doors for other speaking engagements which will help in raising the minimum charity target. 

]]> <![CDATA[The Adventure Travel Show]]> On Saturday myself and good friend Peter, went to The Adventure Travel Show held at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London.

Is was surprisingly quiet compared to last years show which was held at Olympia. For us being quiet was a good thing as we didn't have to battle our way through the crowds or wrestle our way onto a stand, but unfortunately this was was not so good for those companies who were exhibiting, given that they pay hundreds of pounds to have a stand.

Anyway it was a good show and I got to listen to one of my heroes and biggest mountaineering inspirations give a presentation on his past mountaineering expeditions and his charity work going on in Nepal, Doug Scott.

Doug's remarkable mountaineering career includes over 30 expeditions to inner Asia and is regarded as one of the world's leading high altitude and big wall climbers. He is best known for his historic first ascent of the South-West face of Everest with Dougal Haston, an expedition led by Sir Chris Bonington. However all of his other climbs were in the lightweight alpine style. Scott is also remarkable in that half of his climbs are first ascents.

Highlights of Doug Scott's climbing career include

  • 1975: South-west side of Everest with Dougal Haston, bivouac on the south summit at 8760 m
  • 1977: Ascent of the Ogre (in Pakistan) and descent with both legs broken at the ankle
  • 1978: Ascent attempt of the west side of K2
  • 1979: North ridge of Kangchenjunga (8586 m)
  • 1979: Ascent of the north side of Nuptse with Georges Bettembourg, Bryan Hall and Allan Rouse

Doug also founded after years of expeditions in Nepal, Community Action Nepal in 1999 to help mountain people to help themselves raise their standard of living and strengthen indigenous, community-based culture. You can visit the CAN website here for information about the work and support that is going on out there.

All in all the weekend was good fun and certainly an event I would recommend to anyone looking for their own adventure travel holiday. 

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