Blog from the founder of the charity Little Troopers. Military wife and mum sharing thoughts and feelings of being a British Armed Forces family.

Little Troopers is a registered charity supporting all children with parents serving in the British Armed Forces, regular or reserve. We provide fundamental resources, initiatives and events to ease and aid repeated separation periods aiming to keep parent and child connected and bonded even when miles apart
Showing posts with label Mount Snowdon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mount Snowdon. Show all posts

5 Apr 2016

We once again conquered Mount Snowdon!!!!!

The charity started 5 years ago with a climb of Mount Snowdon, its become our flagship fundraising event and loved by many and the 2016 Snowdon challenge was being looked forward to by so many.

50+ registered attendees, 13 of them children and a pretty decent weather forecast....



Never trust the weather though! 2nd April 2016 came and the weather was horrific, it had rained since our arrival in Snowdonia and the forecast looked bleak but we were all there to achieve the same goal and raise funds for Little Troopers.

The trek was such a challenge for all involved with 19 of the group reaching the summit, the conditions were treacherous, it was windy, cold and we battled rain, hail and snow. It was a physical and mental test for everyone involved with lots of tears....even from me at one point, I hit a wall and was certain I couldn't carry on but I did and that summit smile is real!

 


Over £2,660 has been raised with the total increasing daily, the love that surrounds our cause is phenomenal and it makes me so emotional to come together as a group with many strangers and share such a special achievement, a bond forms that lasts an eternal memory and makes every cold, hard step up that mountain worth it.


A huge thank you to all who were involved in making it happen, to all who donated, all who climbed that mountain and all who encouraged us on the day....Little Troopers is a special community and I am so proud to be a part of it.

You can still donate to the challenge HERE


1 Apr 2013

Snowdon Challenge Weekend - You can't predict the weather!

I am writing this blog now we have a Plan B....it may not have been such a cheery post had we not secured a Plan B!

April 6th is our Snowdon Challenge weekend, it has been in the planning for months and months, so many hours has gone into the preparation, so many people are in training, so many Little Troopers have been raising funds and looking forward to this special weekend and suddenly the snow comes and comes and comes in Llanberis. I have never been so obsessed with the Met Office website!

It became quite clear that the weather may not ease up on the mountain and I was sent this YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6RLu-LwRZM OH MY GOODNESS, what are we going to do?! 100 people registered to climb to the summit of Mount Snowdon in less than two weeks and it really doesn't look like it is going to be possible, it would be dangerous in the current conditions to attempt it...but we can't cancel, we wont cancel....there must be an alternative but can we really turn this around in 10days?!

I am not one to give up and I knew that out there would be someone who would help us in our hour of need, I sent an email to a local company called Boulder Adventures http://www.boulderadventures.co.uk/ they saw our email and called me on Easter Sunday....they could help AND it was a fantastic opportunity for us and a real challenge for everyone involved.

So April 6th we will be heading to Snowdonia and a nearby quarry in Llanberis where we will be abseiling, we will continue to abseil the 90ft drop until it equates the height of Mount Snowdon, so we will be climbing the mountain but in a different way to what we had planned!

On a personal level it will be a real challenge, I have abseiled when serving and it really wasn't my favourite thing but both Linda and I are determined to face our fears! Lots of people are ready to take on this new challenge and it makes all the sponsorship worthwhile, it really will test peoples resolve but we are all there for one reason... to support The Little Troopers at Home....

So onwards with this week and we can not wait for the weekend to come, meet lots of new faces from the My Daddy is a Soldier Adventures community and spend some great time with lots of Little Troopers. See you in the next post which will be full of photos from the challenge weekend!

Lots of love until then xxx