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Mountaineering legends renew climbing partnership to raise funds for Nepal Update

© Berghaus

UPDATE:

Fundraising at Keswick Mountain Festival contributes £15,000 to the relief effort in Nepal

Relief efforts in Nepal will be boosted by donations of almost £15,000 after last weekend’s Keswick Mountain Festival (KMF).  Following the recent earthquakes, organisers and exhibitors at the festival promoted a range of fundraising initiatives during the event to support the work of Community Action Nepal (CAN) and thousands of visitors put their hands in their pockets to contribute.

During Keswick Mountain Festival, the following fundraising totals were achieved: £8,173 was raised from a gear sale organised by Trail magazine; outdoor clothing and accessories brand Trekmates raised £4,100 by selling sample products; River Publishing and The Wainwright Society collected £1,008 during a talk by Steve Birkinshaw and Joss Naylor; Keswick Mountain Festival donated £467 from event ticket sales during the weekend; Wanderlust magazine raised £450 through a sale of travel kit on the KE Adventure stall; publisher Cicerone contributed £315 by selling old books; and Wenlock Spring raised £200 through the sale of bottled water.  Over one weekend, the combined fundraising secured enough money to build a village school in one of the affected areas of Nepal.

This year’s Keswick Mountain Festival was the first major outdoor event to take place in the UK following the Nepal earthquakes.  KMF started with the official launch of ‘Climb for CAN’, a dedicated fundraising campaign led by Community Action Nepal’s founder Doug Scott and Sir Chris Bonington, and the festival team then helped to publicise all of the initiatives that took place during the weekend.

Lucy Scrase, Keswick Mountain Festival director, comments:

“Once again, Keswick Mountain Festival has been a huge success and this amazing fundraising total really adds to that.  We were delighted to be able support the various fundraising initiatives for Community Action Nepal over the weekend, with the blessing of the National Trust, the festival’s official charity partner.  It’s fantastic to see the totals that have been achieved and we know that all of the money will be put to very good use in Nepal.  Thanks to everyone who came up with fundraising ideas and in particular to our wonderfully generous visitors who have donated so much money to this really important cause.”

With the addition of £5,000 pledged by Berghaus, and sponsorship from Right Lines Communications, Mountain Fuel - Peak Performance Nutrition, King Kong Climbing Centre and others, Climb For CAN has already raised over £20,000 since its launch at the start of Keswick Mountain Festival. 

Doug Scott comments:

“This is a wonderful boost to our campaign.  Every penny that has been raised will be spent directly on Community Action Nepal projects.  Communities have been devastated and they need urgent and sustained help, so I am very grateful to all involved in the timely fundraising during Keswick Mountain Festival – your contributions are hugely appreciated and very important.  Please continue to support Climb For CAN, as our relief work in Nepal has only just begun.”

For more information about the campaign and to get involved, visit www.climbforcan.org or donate directly at www.justgiving.com/climbforCAN.  To find out more about Keswick Mountain Festival, visit www.keswickmountainfestival.co.uk, email info@keswickmountainfestival.co.uk or call 01539 232104.

 


40 years after the first British ascent of Everest, two of the world’s greatest mountaineers have renewed their climbing partnership to raise desperately needed relief funds in the wake of the Nepal earthquakes.  Sir Chris Bonington and Doug Scott have teamed up at the start of Keswick Mountain Festival to launch #ClimbForCAN, a fundraising campaign to support the work of Community Action Nepal (CAN) in remote regions of Nepal. 

Next month, they will lead an ‘expedition’ to scale the height of Everest (8,848m) on the ice wall at King Kong Climbing Centre in Keswick and are inviting up to 240 members of the public to join the climb.  To complete the expedition, the team will need to climb the wall 1,000 times within 24 hours, starting on Friday 12 June.  This special event will also commemorate the 40th anniversary of the first British ascent of Mount Everest in 1975, which was led by Bonington and put Scott on the summit.  All funds raised by the project will go directly to the Community Action Nepal (CAN) Earthquake Appeal.

Founded by Doug Scott, for 20 years CAN has provided nurses, health posts, teachers, schools and rescue shelters that serve 250,000 people in remote Nepalese villages.  In the regions that were hit worst by the earthquakes, such as Langtang, Gorkha and Helambu, these vital community buildings have been badly damaged or completely destroyed, and homes have been reduced to rubble.  CAN’s people on the ground are already working directly with local people to offer essential support.  100% of donations made to CAN’s Earthquake Appeal go directly towards relief efforts and the rebuilding of communities.

Doug Scott appeals to the public:

“Lives have been devastated, homes destroyed, families bereaved and children orphaned.  It is so incredibly sad.  Despite all that has happened I am optimistic.  The Nepalese are resilient and resourceful, but they need our help.  Please support #ClimbForCAN, either by getting behind the Sir Chris Bonington 24 Hour Everest Ice Wall Challenge, by creating your own challenge or simply donating on our JustGiving page.  Any money that you give to CAN goes straight to the coal face.  Please help.  Whatever you can give goes a long way.  Thank you”.

The project has already secured corporate sponsorship from outdoor brand Berghaus and is being supported by Mountain Fuel - Peak Performance Nutrition, King Kong Climbing Centre and Right Lines Communications.  #ClimbForCan has been launched on the first day of Keswick Mountain Festival, which has announced that £1 from every entry ticket or activity wristband sold during the weekend will be donated to the campaign.  In addition, the festival will also support a range of other fundraising activities for CAN, including a massive sale of outdoor kit by Trail magazine in the Festival Village on Crow Park, from 2:30pm on Sunday 17 May

For more information about #ClimbForCAN and to get involved, visit www.climbforcan.org, www.facebook.com/climbforCAN or donate at www.justgiving.com/climbforCAN.  Follow @climbforCAN on Twitter for campaign updates.

 


For more information Berghaus



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