Rotherham Rugby Club chairman Nick Cragg successfully completes Everest Base Camp challenge

ROTHERHAM Rugby Club chairman Nick Cragg described his progress to Everest base camp as rough and  interesting — but he made it.

The 73-year-old, who is also Nicholas Associates Group chairman, reached his target on day nine of the challenge.

Nick, who is taking on the Bristol to Base Camp expedition to raise money for PHASE Worldwide, which was formed in his Wickersley kitchen in 2005, said: “Day six was a particularly tough one climbing 700 metres to Dingboche, where we stop for two nights as part of the acclimatisation process. It was a pretty rough billet last night and for tonight.

“Highlights were we met the owner of this guest house called Pemba who grew up at high altitude in a farming family which owned 45 yaks. This was excellent training for him to become a Sherpa and a mountaineer, and he has summitted Everest four times not to mention Annapurna, and many of the high peaks — 8,000m.

“He has enthralled regaling us with his stories as we all sat around a yak shit stove.

“On day eight we made our way to Loboche at 5,000 metres to overnight before heading to base camp, which was so exciting and at 3.30pm we made it!”

Previously the group was completing 1,000 metres of elevation and eight hours trekking in a day and Nick said he had suffered no ill effects.

On day three he posted pictures by the Tenzing monument and on day four returned from the 10k acclimatisation.

Nick, who trained daily in the gym to raise his fitness levels, told the Advertiser wife Marie was more concerned than him, and added: “The danger is altitude sickness, which can be a serious problem, so a careful and steady trek enabling the body to acclimatise is very important. Fortunately for me, that means we won’t be going fast as it has to be done in a controlled manner.

“It is very cold, however, with temperatures as low as minus 20.”

At night the group is taking shelter in ‘tea houses’, which are basic stone built shelters, and Nick said he would be living mainly on a diet of dal bhat, a lentil stew with rice, chapatis and Tibetan tea taken with yak milk.

PHASE Nepal has helped change the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in some of the most remote and rural communities through its integrated and sustainable programmes.

PHASE stands for Practical Help Achieving Self Empowerment. Through delivery of programs in primary health, education and alternate income generation through better horticulture, husbandry and agriculture, people in remote Nepalese Himalayan villages are able to take control of their own destiny, giving them more independence.

Nick’s month-long trip began on March 17, with the climb and descent — carried out in conjunction with Sheffield-based expedition organisers Jagged Globe —  itself taking approximately 15 days.

“Each year PHASE Worldwide improves the lives of over 20,000 people in areas with poor health, low levels of education and few livelihood opportunities, which traps them within a cycle of poverty, preventing them from taking control of their lives.

“There are still countless people in need of support in Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, and the work of PHASE Worldwide is as important as ever, although more difficult to deliver as the world economies face increasing pressures,” he added.

The six-strong team aims to raise over £30,000 towards PHASE Worldwide’s work in Nepal and donations can be made at www.justgiving.com/page/nick-cragg-bristol-to-base-camp.