Telford trio complete gruelling Everest Base Camp Trek for mental health charity
Three men from Telford have completed the gruelling Everest Base Camp Trek to raise money for the armed forces mental health charity Heads Up.
Barry Mason, a 52-year-old construction lecturer at Telford College of Arts and Technology, joined forces with James Davison, aged 51, and his brother, Jonathon Davison, who work at a military depot at Donnington, to take part in the gruelling 130-kilometre trek.
The men, all from Trench in Telford, flew out to Kathmandu on April 6 and began the walk on April 9 – successfully completing the trek on April 20.
Through a crowdfunding page the triumphant trio have raised almost £1,600 for the charity in memory of James' brother-in-law Robert Clare.
Barry said: "I attended the John Hunt School and the person it was named after organised the first ascent of Everest in 1953.
"Sir John Hunt came and gave a special talk to the school and that is what got me interested and I suppose that it became a life-long ambition to do this trek.
"His was the first to be confirmed at succeeding when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the summit of Everest on May 29, 1953, led by Colonel John Hunt."
News of the expedition's success at the time reached London to be released on the morning of Queen Elizabeth's coronation on June 2 that year.
Barry described his experience in the Himalayas as having been "the best and worst of my life".
He said: "It was physically demanding as we were walking day after day, we were experiencing altitude problems and also because of the cold.
"We reckoned it had got to minus 15 degrees one morning and even my bottle of water was frozen.
"We had been training for the trek for 12 months by going up and down and around the Wrekin and walking the Malvern Hills, around Church Stretton and visiting the Peak district.
"Both myself and Jonathan suffered with Covid at Christmas which held us back on our training programme.
"I got altitude sickness but, fortunately, I did not need evacuation by helicopter.
"We are still very much recovering from the challenge but sure that there will be others that we will take up in the future."
