climbofhope.com

The CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation is a country wide voluntary organisation. It brings together the parents of children who suffer from all varieties of cancer or life threatening blood disorders.

The first group started in Johannesburg in 1979, and in 2000 joined with other parent groups from all parts of the country to form a national organisation.

The goal of this dedicated group is to improve the welfare and quality of care for children with cancer, and their families.

The organisation, which is not Government funded, provides direct practical help to children with cancer, from diagnosis on, recognising the inevitable disruption to family life when a child faces vigorous and often lengthy treatment.

Funds raised are applied to directly benefit the children and their families, and also those involved in the treatment of these most serious illnesses.

There are currently divisions of the Foundation, based in:-

• Johannesburg,
• Pretoria,
• Western Cape,
• Free State,
• Eastern Cape - East London & Port Elizabeth,
• KwaZulu Natal - Durban and Pietermaritzburg

Contact Robby for more information regarding CHOC on robby@climbofhope.com

We arrived in Namche yesterday at lunch time after four hours of winding through the Nepalese jungle of Khumbu National Park. The town is amazing, stacked with curio shops, post cards stands and the odd yak stampede through the streets. Everywhere is uphill and steep but beautiful to see.

Yesterday was filled highlights and firsts for me. First sighting of Everest. Even from 30km away you can see the plume of spindrift from the summit - evidence that we will have to wait for wind to calm before venturing up.

We then met Ed Viesteurs in the bakery, a legend on Everest. He is the first USA climber to summit all the mountains in the world higher than 8000m…and without oxygen. So I had my photo taken with - ala Avid Merion…Thank you please.

We also tasted yak meat for the first time last night as well. Not bad, not bad at all. Surprisingly good.

We are now spending the morning in Namche before heading on to Khumjung where we will spend 2 nights. On our rest day, we plan to fire up the sat phone and try blogging to the expedition site.

Missing home a teensy bit, but try to put those thoughts to rest as I still have another 2 months to go. My initial anxiety of the new group/environment/toughest challenge ever are subsiding and it is comforting to share stories, thoughts and worries with the fellow climbers, guides and doctor.

Anyway there is an apple strudel with my name on it so I’ll be on my merry way.

I look forward to hearing from you, so please do mail me at robby@climbofhope.com

Robby - 3340m above sea level

2 photos on facebook!!

I may be halfway around the planet, or is it up the planet?!?!…but I am still in touch. Thanks to our friends at Microsoft, we have a satelite transmitter and a laptop. But data doesn’t come cheap. At U$7 per MB of data, we have to streamline our communications drastically.

I would still love to hear from you though, so please mail any news and messages to robby@climbofhope.com and my brother Mark will be copying it all into one small file to sends to us. So it goes without saying, please do not send junk, chain letters, email petitions or naked Yeti impersonations.

But please do stay in touch - news from home is very comforting and encouraging.

We will be blogging live in a few days time, but I will publish those details shortly. Chat later from the biggest mountain on Earth

Big Hill Bob

Well its been a busy day! We woke up around 9h40 this morning and separated the gear to go to Base Camp in the chopper and the gear to accompany us on the trek to Base Camp.

After that we spent the day being tourists and seeing the sites. It was a day of new experiences, sights, smells on a completely new continent for me. Watching the public cremation of people on one bank of the river, with people washing on the other bank was a sight to behold indeed.

The streets are lined with shops selling North Fake gear and postcards frame Lady Everest in all her glory. I have to admit, I was nervous to meet the people I had only ever read about. Russel Brice first came to Everest when I was 3 years old, and last night we shook hands.

The guides from the Everest: Beyond the Limit Series - Woody, Dean Staples…they are here too and offer genuine assistance and friendliness where I expected to find arrogance and machismo.

Kathmandu is beautiful in her own right, with history etched deep in the intricate stonework and detailed finishes o nevery cornice, pillar and doorway. But I am pleased to be heading for the foothills of the Himilaya tomorrow as we escape the bustle of scooters and taxis and head on up to Phakding at 2300m.

To say I am not nervous to see Everest for the first time would be lie. Tomorrow I meet the monster, the mountain without mercy…Mount Everest. Hope I make a good impression.

After a bit of a last minute rush, we have finally put it all together and Roy Mann and the great people at Yes Mann will be printing it on lightweight fabric for me to take to Everest.

Thank you to everyone for your amazing contributions. Today is the realisation of two and a half years of planning, chasing and a lot of hard work for us. I cannot wait to see the banner as a real “thing” after selling the idea to everyone for so long.

In 10 days time we are boarding a flight to Katmandu, real proof that miracles happen when people stand together.

Will be in touch

Excited Robby