2022 was the year that Neverbland’s Ryan Gledhill and Alex Chiu embarked on their Base Camp journey.

Bristol to Base Camp (BTBC) is an annual campaign led by PHASE Worldwide. This Bristol-based charity works to support women and families in remote regions of Nepal. PHASE empowers women with the tools to provide for their families in challenging weather conditions, installs healthcare systems in isolated rural areas and teaches families the importance of nutrition and health. These lessons are vital, and greatly improve the quality of life for every woman and child that works with PHASE.

The countdown to Base Camp has officially begun and things are about to get real. Ryan and Alex have had their last opportunity to chill out over the festive season, and are now faced with less than four months before they begin their Everest expedition.

As part of BTBC, Ryan and Alex have to fundraise £5,364 each before they embark on their journey. That’s one pound for every meter they will climb on this trek. This money covers the cost of their flights, food, permits and accommodation. Any of the money left over will be donated to empowering Nepalese women and improving their family’s quality of life.

Alex has committed himself to weekly runs in partnership with parkrun UK. Alex ran five kilometres every weekend between September and Christmas. Just the thought of that makes me feel sleepy, but he committed and stuck to it like a champ, even sacrificing precious sunbathing time to go for a run on his holiday in Tenerife. That’s fifteen weeks of consistent running in aid of his Everest challenge. Pretty impressive if you ask me. Check out Alex’s running journey here.

Our avid mountaineer Ryan is taking the tactical approach with his fundraising. Using his vast LinkedIn and social media network, Ryan is consistently pushing his justgiving.com page in order to fundraise. We’re looking forward to seeing his progress!

The new year will undoubtedly bring new and exciting challenges for Ryan and Alex as they continue on their journey towards Base Camp. We can’t wait to see what the next few months have in store for them. Stay tuned to our socials and blog for regular updates on their progress, and check out their donation pages for more information.

Ryan’s donation page       Alex’s donation page