1st attempt 2012
2nd attempt Successful In April 2019
Adaptive Grand Slam team members Martin and Jaco made their first attempt to summit Everest in 2012 with Walking With The Wounded. Disappointingly for the team, the expedition was called off due to a combination of bad weather and extreme danger on the slopes above. Several sherpers had been lost to the season and expedition guide, Harry Taylor, saw it as his responsibility to send his team home. The men hope to complete the summit in April 2015.
As part of their training, the team first summited Mount Manaslu (8,156m), the world’s 8th highest peak, and only 692m lower than Everest. They were the first disabled climbers in history to achieve this. Manaslu, provided
excellent training conditions for the Everest climb with her high altitudes, sub-zero temperatures, crevasses, and a demand for the team’s adapted climbing techniques and equipment to be put to the test.
On the Everest attempt, the team were challenged with the physical limitations of their injuries, altitude sickness, and fatigue. Meanwhile, the mountain confronted them with with hurricane force winds, ice cold temperatures, and treacherous paths through ice fields. The team’s first Everest attempt with Walking With The Wounded was televised on ITV’s ‘Harry’s Mountain Heroes’.
If at first we don’t succeed….
Spring 2019
Resilience - the ability to bounce back quickly from a set back. The Adaptive Grand slam team members hope to provide practical examples of resilience through our collective achievements with disabilities. Everest required another example of resilience, organisational resilience. Having been unsuccessful on our first attempt, the process of gaining funding, training and time away from family to prepare started again from scratch.
AGS team members Martin and Terry set off on a summit attempt of both Pumori and Everest on the 27th March from London, they were joined by AGS team member Sam who had been training to trek to base camp following a horrific ski accident leaving her right arm paralysed.
Our video story of our journey will be available soon. For the blog, check out our news page.
