Ama Dablam (from the justgiving site)

16 year old Calum Macintyre and the rest of the summit team reached the top of Ama Dablam on Sunday and are now safely back in base camp. It may be that Calum is the youngest person ever to have climbed this peak (22349 ft). Many congratulations Calum! A great achievement for a very good cause.

He is raising money for The Teenage Cancer Trust. His sister, Esme, was diagnosed with a brain tumour three years ago when she was 11. Fortunately she had an immediate operation in Edinburgh on the rapidly growing tumour and has been making a slow but steady recovery ever since.

Calum's target is £5000 and he has now reached £3320 (66% of the target). When Gift Aid is added in the total raised climbs to £4108.47. It would be great to see Calum reach his target. Any donations would be greatly welcomed.

Details of the project are in the initial post here and further details are here on the justgiving.com site and also on Sandy Allan's teamascent blog. Sandy is a qualified International Mountain Guide and is accompanying Calum and Dave, Calum's father. Calum is my partner's nephew.

Related article: Scots boy of 16 reaches top of 'unclimbable' Himalaya peak, Herald Scotland (6th November 2009)

Related broadcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYW48TYBjVc - BBC Reporting Scotland

8th November 2009
Calum's total has now reached: £4804.50 plus £1079.55 gift aid making a total of £5884.05.

Top of Ama Dablam peak (photo from JustGiving site)

Calum Morris-Macintyre and the others in the summit climbing team are hoping to reach the top tomorrow. Apparently the weather forecast is good. Unfortunately Dave Morris has had a chest infection, so he has been confined to base camp.

Through justgiving 16-year-old Calum (going like an ox, I gather) has now raised £2697 plus £674.81 (Gift Aid supplement) – a total of £3371.81. His target before Gift Aid is £5000 and he is 54% of the way there.

Details of the project are in the initial post here and further details are here on the justgiving.com site and also on Sandy Allan's teamascent blog. Sandy is a qualified International Mountain Guide and is accompanying Calum and Dave.

Top of Ama Dablam peak (photo from JustGiving site)

In November 2006 11-year-old Esme Morris-Macintyre, my partner Carole's niece, was diagnosed with a brain tumour. That very week she had an operation to remove the tumour at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. Since then it has been a long, slow but steady recovery for Esme, who was extremely fit and active before here operation. Calum, her sixteen year old brother, has just left for the Himalayas with his father, Dave Morris. They will be climbing the Ama Dablam peak with Calum raising money for The Teenage Cancer Trust. It will also be a challenge for Dave, because although he is an experienced mountaineer, he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2008 and had his voice box removed.

Further details are here on the justgiving.com site and also on Sandy Allan's teamascent blog. Sandy is a qualified International Mountain Guide and is accompanying Calum and Dave.