It’s June again, and that means the Everest Challenge is back! Climb the height of Everest by fingertips, feet or bike; on rock, trail, road or plastic, to save children’s lives in Nepal. In life we’re all climbers!

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Training cancer doctors in Nepal

Every penny raised will go to Nepal where it will be used to help kids get a better outcome from their cancer treatment. In 2024 CAC made a grant of £10,000 to train cancer specialists in the tailored use of radiotherapy equipment for the treatment of young people.

In the UK, for example, a child with cancer has an 80 to 90% likelihood of a successful treatment outcome. IIn low-income countries like Nepal, that drops to 10 to 20%. This project aims to provide state-of-the-art training to eight cancer doctors, who typically treat around 200 children each year. If we can even halve the gap between Nepal and UK success rates we could help save dozens of children’s lives each year.

Our grant was due to be accompanied by funding from other international agencies. Regrettably this has fallen through due to a global squeeze on aid funding. This leaves a major hole in the project. We hope our challenge this year will fill that hole – with your help!

Everest Climb Against Cancer Challenge

Climbers of all persuasions are invited to take on the ultimate challenge to become Everest Climbers Against Cancer, raising funds for CAC to donate, helping save children’s lives in Nepal. John Ellison, CAC’s Founder, said ‘In Life, we are ALL climbers’. So we’re reaching out to everyone in the outdoor and climbing communities to join in this challenge. Whether by fingertips, feet or bike; on rock, trail, road or plastic; solo or as part of a group; and over the course of the whole month or in a single push; there are many ways for you to accumulate the 8,848m / 29,029ft equivalent to an ascent of the World’s highest summit.

Flashback – the 2024 Challenge

This year’s event is building on 2024’s success, when a bunch of ‘Everesters’ raised vital funds for CAC:

Paul Robins climbed the equivalent of Everest by ‘traversing’ around the ‘island’ at CAC centre Boulder UK in Preston , approx. 350 times (!) over the month of June.

The Rucksack Club climbed routes totalling well over the 8,000m mark during a weekend at Gogarth, Anglesey LINK

Alexandros, Emma, Charles and Charlie beat their original target of Everest base camp (4,424m) and pushed to the summit at Lancaster Wall.

…not technically Everest height, but June also saw CAC Stars Harry Martin and Richard Holdsworth climb 100 Stars at Stanage. Ben Menashe captured the experience in this great documentary:

All of the above was inspired by our friends at the Harrogate Tri Club. They chose to cycle their way up their Everesting Challenge on Norwood Edge, Harrogate, in October 2023. 

To inspire us all further, CAC Ambassador Kenton Cool registered his incredible EIGHTEENTH ASCENT OF EVEREST (the real thing!). Here he is showing off his CAC T-Shirt…

Since then he’s notched up an incredible NINETEENTH ASCENT…

And fast forward to 2025

If that all seems a bit much (and let’s face it, Kenton is in a class of his own!) there are plenty of other ways you could clock up the height gain! 

CLIMBERS! How about teaming up with your climbing club, or a group of mates, and setting out to climb routes (inside or out) to the magic 8,848m total (something like 500 routes at the wall or maybe half a dozen laps of El Cap)?

HIKERS! You could cover the ground on a week’s trekking in the Alps, or get together a minibus-full of your mates to walk up one of the UK’s wonderful fells in the Lake District, Snowdonia or The Dales (maybe choose an objective other than Scafell Pike or Snowdon and enjoy some solitude whilst you are at it?)

RUNNERS! The original Everesting.cc. has a category for runners too, or perhaps you are already planning an ultra marathon or fell-running ‘big round’ that could also be an opportunity to raise much-needed funds for cancer research.

CYCLISTS! Pick your hill, saddle up and set out for the full Everesting Challenge, or set your sights on Base Camp (still a mammoth undertaking!)

We’d love for you to join in. Just click on ‘Start Fundraising’ on our dedicated JustGiving page. There’s no ‘right way’ to complete your Everest Climb Against Cancer Challenge – it’s up to you. How far you ‘climb’; by what means; how long it takes. Maybe your challenge is to bake and sell an Everest-sized mountain of cookies – we don’t mind! Every penny raised goes to training these expert cancer doctors in Nepal and helping to save children’s lives.

…and of course, if that all seems far too energetic, perhaps you could share and/or donate to encourage one of these challenges?

We look forward to you sharing your Everesting attempts on social media – don’t forget to tag us!