MILLIMETERS 2 MOUNTAINS
The Millimetres 2 Mountains Foundation was set up by Ed in 2019 to use the outdoors, challenge and adventure to help others overcome physical and/or psychological trauma and as a grant funding charity has also gifted over £150k to other charitable causes.
At the start of 2022 I heard about an expedition to Nepal by a local group of Men supporting the charity Millimetres 2 Mountains - M2M.
The founder, Ed Jackson’s journey is inspiring and brave.
Having undergone an operation to repair a fracture dislocation of his c6/c7 vertebrae, he lay, quadriplegic, on his back in ICU with only limited movement in his right arm. Despite the bleak prognosis, through hard work, a great deal of support and sheer bloody mindedness, bit by bit his body returned to him. A year later he had reached the summit of Snowdon, the first of many planned ascents to raise money for the great causes that helped him and many others when they most needed it.
The team’s challenge earlier this year was to break Eds previous height climb record and reach 6800m - In March 2022 they headed to Himlung Himal (7126m) in Nepal. One of the team was Arron Collins-Thomas, a local gym owner, PT, expert in Chinese Medicine and Eastern wellness practices. I asked if he would like a super chunky and warm Lost Isle hat to take on his epic adventure. He did! The adventure turned into a life changing experience…
Photos Arron Collins-Thomas.
We were the first team on Himlung Himal in over two years which was both an exciting and daunting prospect. Although remote, usually the mountain is reasonable well mapped, camps 1/2 & 3 are established and lines are fixed to the summit. We were aware that job now lay to us, however the unusually heavy snow conditions made it impossible for our climbing guides to set up camp 3 or fox lines all the way to the top. Our sumit attempt therefore had to start from the lower camp 2 (6018m) leaving a giant effort if we were to summit.
Undeterred on the 31sy of March at 10pm we set off from camp 2. We were 16 hours into and had reached a height of 6800m when we made the tough decision to turn back, continuing without fixed lines and with the level of exhaustion we were experiencing was too dangerous.
We spent the next few hours descending and by the time we reached the crevasse field it was late afternoon. The snow was a lot softer and now with no marked out route we were entering a minefield. Within in 10 m our lead guide disappeared through a crevasse, trapped 2 stories below for over an hour he was eventually rescued but to continue would have been madness so the decision was made to call for a helicopter evacuation.
Darkness was setting in and were were informed that the helicopter wouldn’t be able to fly at night so we’d have to wait till morning. We ended up spending the night at over 6000m with no shelter, food or water and the temperatures below -20 degrees, huddled together for warmth in a battle to see sun rise.
An unprecedented but epic end to a life changing adventure that left me with more respect for the mountains than ever before. It’s fair to say that without the state of the art kit and energy of a heroic few this story could have had a very different ending.
Proud to say that our Chunky knit, 100% British Wool Blue One was part of that adventure that helped keep Arron warm on what must have been a very long, scary and cold night on Himlung Himal.
You can find out more about how to support the M2M foundations or going on an expedition yourself HERE
@edjackson8
@qigongwitharron
@millimeters2moutains