COVID-19 My Coronavirus Mount Everest Climbing and Fundraising Challenge

artcasper said:
I will make a donation/sponsor you.. I have no stairs & a dodgy leg so cant walk far or run so i will be with you in spirit!
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Thank you ever so much and please, please, please - TEAS can do with anything you can spare to pay the mounting vet bills with all their venues of income folded (pet sitting, events etc.) in a matter of days in March with lockdown being announced just 6 days before their Spring fundraiser! That means that several hundred much needed pounds have not come in just from that one event...
 
Wiebke said:
Thank you ever so much and please, please, please - TEAS can do with anything you can spare to pay the mounting vet bills with all their venues of income folded (pet sitting, events etc.) in a matter of days in March with lockdown being announced just 6 days before their Spring fundraiser! That means that several hundred much needed pounds have not come in just from that one event...
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Just sent a donation, will make another when its payday x
 
artcasper said:
Just sent a donation, will make another when its payday x
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I will be doing this for quite a few months to keep the donations going (and give myself something to do as we have to limit our contact with the outside world until it is safe for the vulnerable to pick up their normal life again)...
Any support along the way is most welcome! If everybody keeps giving a bit every month (whatever they can afford), it is going to make a difference for TEAS!
 
I too will be doing this for months to come. I'm enjoying it and sharing my pictures with you all.

I walk with a stick, have sciatica and an arthritic hip and am an occasional wheelchair user, so it's a challenge, but it's nice to climb hills virtually that I haven't been able to do for decades.

Anything for TEAS would be specially welcome at this time.
 
Posyrose said:
I too will be doing this for months to come. I'm enjoying it and sharing my pictures with you all.

I walk with a stick, have sciatica and an arthritic hip and am an occasional wheelchair user, so it's a challenge, but it's nice to climb hills virtually that I haven't been able to do for decades.

Anything for TEAS would be specially welcome at this time.
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You are doing a wonderful job and are such an inspiration! :tu:
 
Unfortunately I am having one of my occasional bad headaches today.
I've managed to sneak in my climbing sessions, but frankly all I want to do is crawl back into one of these once the piggeria is set up for the night! (Height above sea level is optional...)

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Wiebke said:
Unfortunately I am having one of my occasional bad headaches today.
I've managed to sneak in my climbing sessions, but frankly all I want to do is crawl back into one of these once the piggeria is set up for the night! (Height above sea level is optional...)

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Hope you feel better tomorrow
 
Yay! I have done it and have reached the village of Seelisberg after a 300 m (1000 ft) uphill jog over the last week!
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I hope that you agree with me that is has been worth waiting to enjoy some rather outstanding views!
360 Degree Panoramic View of Aerial view from Seelisberg

Don't be deceived by all these glorious pictures and videos - half the times I have been visiting a friend in Lucerne I didn't get to see the Alps, either because of low cloud (this part of Switzerland is where many of the big UK storm fronts get eventually stuck for several days because of the mountain chain blocking their way) or simply because of haze building up over the course of several dry days. The best views are always those in the first couple of days after a rainfront has passed through an cleared the air. But if you get a good day - OH MY!

Of course I could have taken the easy option by going up withe the cable car from the lake landing that Fiona has mentioned, but it wouldn't have been sporting.
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You can of course go one step further behind Seelisberg in a very civilised way with a nice view of the 'Seeli' (lakelet) and the upper end of Lake Lucerne, which is very much William Tell country. :)
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PS: You won't be able to see Seelisberg from the motorway crossing the Alps because it is running in a long tunnel right under the village.
 
Posyrose said:
I've had a day off as my knees and back are playing up. I have little work to do tomorrow, so will see if I can do extra, but won't push it if it's too much.
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Very sorry, but your health comes first! We all have work within our personal limits.
 
Wiebke said:
Yay! I have done it and have reached the village of Seelisberg after a 300 m (1000 ft) uphill jog over the last week!
View attachment 140946

I hope that you agree with my that is has been worth waiting to enjoy some rather outstanding views!
360 Degree Panoramic View of Aerial view from Seelisberg

Don't be deceived by all these glorious pictures and videos - half the times I have been visiting a friend in Lucerne I didn't get to see the Alps, either because of low cloud (this part of Switzerland is where many of the big UK storm fronts get eventually stuck for several days because of the mountain chain blocking their way) or simply because of haze building up over the course of several dry days. The best views are always those in the first couple of days after a rainfront has passed through an cleared the air. But if you get a good day - OH MY!

Of course I could have taken the easy option by going up withe the cable car from the lake landing that Fiona has mentioned, but it wouldn't have been sporting.
View attachment 140940

View attachment 140941

You can of course go one step further behind Seelisberg in a very civilised way with a nice view of the 'Seeli' (lakelet) and the upper end of Lake Lucerne, which is very much William Tell country. :)
View attachment 140945
PS: You won't be able to see Seelisberg from the motorway crossing the Alps because it is running in a long tunnel right under the village.
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Hi

What an amazing view. Well done for reaching the top. I've planned my route for the next week or so, mostly Northern England with one peak in th e Far East thrown in.
 
Posyrose said:
Hi

What an amazing view. Well done for reaching the top. I've planned my route for the next week or so, mostly Northern England with one peak in th e Far East thrown in.
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Sounds interesting!

Now that I have reached Seelisberg, I will be mostly poking around the Black Forest (up to 1450 m) and the higher reaches of the Jura Mountains (up to 1600 m) and some other places of interest before getting serious about climbing Alpine passes and peaks! The highest point in Switzerland is 4500m; that is about halfway up Mount Everest.
 
Wiebke said:
Unfortunately I am having one of my occasional bad headaches today.
I've managed to sneak in my climbing sessions, but frankly all I want to do is crawl back into one of these once the piggeria is set up for the night! (Height above sea level is optional...)

View attachment 140854
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Hope you feel better Wiebke.
Take care of yourself
 
I was back on the stairs today and have reached the top of Haystacks in Buttermere, in the Lake District, recently voted the second best view in the UK, after Snowdon, that I will hopefully visit fairly soon. p0353n1t.webp


It has a stunning setting and the view from the top is amazing, all the way to Scotland. This place is very special to me...so much so, that I have asked for my ashes to be scattered on the top of the low hill on the right jutting into the furthest lake and in the bluebell valley behind it.

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Posyrose said:
I was back on the stairs today and have reached the top of Haystacks in Buttermere, in the Lake District, recently voted the second best view in the UK, after Snowdon, that I will hopefully visit fairly soon. View attachment 141067


It has a stunning setting and the view from the top is amazing, all the way to Scotland. This place is very special to me...so much so, that I have asked for my ashes to be scattered on the top of the low hill on the right jutting into the furthest lake and in the bluebell valley behind it.

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I have a photo (not quite as nice) but from the same view as your first picture - it was my screensaver for a while - after we were having a holiday in the Lake District. It is a very beautiful area indeed!
 
I have worked my way up to very pretty lake Titisee and the village of the same name in the Black Forest at 850m this evening. It is the largest natural lake of that area with views to the Feldberg in the distance. It is also tourist central with literally thousands of cuckoo clocks in a fair number of cuckoo shops, ranging from the very cheap tourist tat to hand carved elaborate clocks that set you back several hundred pounds (or dollars)!

There is a regular but rather pretty railway service going up from Freiburg i. Breisgau in the German Rhine valley (founded by the same aristocratic family as the Swiss Fribourg) and of course a huge car park for coaches and cars.
I've travelled to Titisee by train and also drove hub on his second visit to Switzerland there. He had a nightmare of being stuck under an avalanche of cuckoo clocks the night after, poor man! :D

Lake Titisee with views to the highest point of the Black Forest, the Feldberg.
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PS: Lake Titicaca is high up in the Andes in South America with the border of Peru and Bolivia running through it, so don't get the two lakes mixed up!
 
For today's lunch I have crossed the Alps and am having my lunch on the Swiss Riviera - oh yes, we have one! Complete with hardy palm trees growing by the side of the lakes that reach from the Po valley often quite deep into the Alpine valleys; you may have heard of Lake Garda (or been there), it is not all that far to the east!

Lake Lugano is the wiggliest of these lakes, but one of the most beautiful ones.

A panorama view
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The old fishing village of Morcote, now a popular destination
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In fact, I am on the summit of San Salvatore, a distinct elevation with stunning views all round right next to the town of Lugano at the southernmost tip of Switzerland on the shore of the windy Lake Lugano, of the of the two Northern Italian Lakes where the border between Switzerland and Italy runs through the lake.
And this being civilised Switzerland, there is of course a funicular to take you to the top if you are one of the less energetic crowd!
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The view towards the Alps over the top of San Salvadore
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Tonight, I am putting up in the last village in the nearby Verzasca valley, which is the most rugged of the Swiss valleys on the southern side of the Alps. The village is called Sonogno at just over 900m. It has been listed for a long time after having been nearly abandoned as the dirt poor inhabitants moved to find work in the industrial area around Milan. Today it is living from tourism; but it means that the people living there have work and bring up the next generation there. The village is car free.

Depopulation of the mountain villages and higher valleys is a real problem as work is not easy to find and often only seasonal. However, it is vital to protect the environment that the mountains are farmed and cared for to prevent huge deadly mudslides or in winter mahoosive avalanche reaching the floor of the valley or even fetch up against the far end.
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The Verzasca valley is worth a visit; this is its most picturesque spot. Sadly despite many warnings, especially young people are still thinking they can have a bath there and lives are lost regularly. The intense turquoise comes from the icy temperature of the water.
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Beautiful scenery.
We spent a day in Lugano a few years ago. We were staying at Lake Orta in the Italian lakes and drove into Switzerland for a day at Lugano and the lake.
It’s so beautiful
 
Tonight I'm standing at the bottom of one of the most dramatic of Switzerland's waterfalls (300m/ca. 100 ft freefall), the Staubbach Falls (Spray Brook') in Lauterbrunnen in the centre of the Swiss Alps - it's just in the righthand fork of the same valley whose left fork leads to Grindelwald and the Eiger mountain, and very much a tourist attraction in its own right.

After the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen (which I have already climbed, and the Reichenbach Falls of Sherlock Holmes fame, this is the third of the triad of internationally well known Swiss waterfalls - and a pretty impressive one at that!
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Way to climb up until I can eventually look down on the falls, which are basically at the back of the Jungfrau mountain (which is the big one on the left of this picture. Behind the mountains lining the horizon on the left of this Alpine valley lies the Aletsch glacier, Switzerlands biggest but fast shrinking glacier, onto which I am going to eventually look down on quite some months down the line!
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Hello again! I have been struggling to go for a walk and do my stair climbing because of the amount of pain I'm in. As the walk is more effective in lifting my mood and quietening my anxiety, I have been proritising that.

I am a day behind in posting my conquests.

Today is a highly significant hill/mountain. It is the highest point in the Peak District and the starting point of the Pennine Way - Kinder Scout
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It's a flat plateau,it doesn't look like much but steep to ascend (as I can attest)- like these dearedevils
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Most importantly, all of us who walk the fells, go for country walks and enjoy the national parks have to thank a plucky group that engaged in a 'mass trespass' in 1932 (of privately owned land (for hunting and shooting etc of wealthy landowners). This led to The Peak District becoming the first of the UK's national arks and the 'right to roam' on footpaths across private land in the UK.
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Wiebke said:
Tonight I'm standing at the bottom of one of the most dramatic of Switzerland's waterfalls (300m/ca. 100 ft freefall), the Staubbach Falls (Spray Brook') in Lauterbrunnen in the centre of the Swiss Alps - it's just in the righthand fork of the same valley whose left fork leads to Grindelwald and the Eiger mountain, and very much a tourist attraction in its own right.

After the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen (which I have already climbed, and the Reichenbach Falls of Sherlock Holmes fame, this is the third of the triad of internationally well known Swiss waterfalls - and a pretty impressive one at that!
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Way to climb up until I can eventually look down on the falls, which are basically at the back of the Jungfrau mountain (which is the big one on the left of this picture. Behind the mountains lining the horizon on the left of this Alpine valley lies the Aletsch glacier, Switzerlands biggest but fast shrinking glacier, onto which I am going to eventually look down on quite some months down the line!
View attachment 141367
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That is one impressive waterfall. Sad about the fast shrinking glacier 🙁

Let's hope that this period of slowed down global warming is built upon rather than an opportunity squandered.
 
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