Our Story
Hi all! My name is Ben. I am no super athlete. I love a good Chinese takeaway and try to ignore the number on the bathroom scales. I am a dad. I work in the emergency services. I am just an ordinary guy and this is my extraordinary journey.
I am pretty sure you, or someone you know, has been effected by suicide. It is the number 1 killer among young men and something that still holds a huge stigma around it. Roughly 1 man every 2 hours will lose his life through suicide! Men are scared to talk. Scared to share their feelings, to admit they might be struggling. Not knowing where to turn. Through both my work and personal life I have had a massive connection with male mental health, men on the edge, feeling completely alone. That's where Andys Man Club comes in!
They are a men's mental health and suicide charity, providing support groups nationwide as an outlet for men everywhere. Somewhere to chat, to listen, to be heard and understood. They are teaching the country #itsokaytotalk! They are a vital lifeline to men struggling out there! When you find yourself alone in the darkness, they provide you the candle you need to see yourself through.
Now back to me!
Some of you visiting may have been to my pages before. In July 2021 I completed the National 3 Peaks Challenge, raising just over £1,000 for NeST. This was a great achievement following fantastic support from all of you! But it left a taste in my mouth. How could I do more. How could I go bigger?!
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And so I went into research and found one hell of a beefy challenge! The idea of completing the Seven Summits Challenge was born. The seven summits challenge is a serious mountaineering challenge of climbing to the highest peak on each of the 7 Continents. These being Mount Elbrus (Europe), Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa), Denali (North America), Mount Vinson (Antarctica), Puncak Jaya (Oceania) and of course the mother of all, Mount Everest (Asia).
To put this challenge into some perspective, as of last count in 2016 only 416 people have been recorded as achieving this feat, out of 7.9 billion people on the planet. Of course, now in 2025 that number will be greater but it gives an idea of what actually lay ahead! These are terrains that test human resolve to their very limit and I invite you all along on this journey with me!
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It is also important for me to point out the charity themselves will be providing no funds towards this challenge. I know many of these fundraising events will exercise what is called a minimum pledge option. Whereby the charity pays the fee for the participant (me) to complete the challenge, providing they can raise enough funds in excess of a target the charity set. Meaning the charity, in effect, keeps half of the money you raise and uses the other half to pay for the event. I do not want to use this option. Every penny you donate goes directly to the charity and stays with them! These climbs, this entire challenge, will be funded by a mixture of my own money and (hopefully) forms of corporate sponsors along the way!
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Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and thank you for all and any support you show! Whether that be by donating, sharing my story and my posts, engaging with the event through social media or by watching and liking my video blogs and posts I make during each climb. Anything and everything you do helps us cast our net wider and do that little bit more.
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Thank you all.
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Ben