Top of the world- and beyond!

Phew... 14 hours, 79 climbers, 7 very tired belaying legends and 9148m later, we've finished our relay climb...and accidentally climbed 300m beyond the top of Mt Everest (which is only 8848m high). I guess our counting muscles had got tired too by the end of it too, but at least we weren't 300m below the top!

Huge thanks to all the climbers, the supporters, the sponsors, the staff at the Mill Adventure Centre who let us use their wall and kept us supplied with cheese toasties and cups of tea...

the 'justgiving' page is now set up here so please use it to find out more and support the project.

This picture is at one of our 'quiet' spots when we only had a few hours to go- I'm belaying one of our youth group who said she couldn't do the climb and then proceeded to climb the wall 40 times!

Climbing up the walls!

Tomorrow (Friday 3rd July) and the next day a team of climbers including 35 primary school children as well as local residents and members of Holy Trinity and Goodleigh churches will be undertaking a huge sponsored climb- we'll be attempting to climb the total height of Mt Everest (8848m) in 18 hours of relay climbing at a local climbing wall.

Its all part of the fundraising and awareness heightening projects for Holy Trinity Church, which is having essential work done to keep the building safe (bits of the tower falling off, dodgy electrics and a leaking roof just aren't popular- and we wonder why people sometimes stay away from church!). Once the work is finished the tower will look awesome, the building will be fit-for-purpose as a multi-use worship and community space, and we're also trying to build a community climbing wall inside the tower: it won't affect the exterior at all, and will give local schools and community groups an added facility...

Anyway, its a sponsored thing, any donations would be hugely appreciated (email the Trinity Church office on office@trinitybarnstaple.eclipse.co.uk or send cheques directly to trinity vicarage, victoria road, barnstaple, Devon).

But thats not the point- its also an intentionally missional thing: a bunch of Christians are doing something with the express purpose of blessing the local community, and we aren't doing inside our church services, and we've involved the local community in the actual project... we won't be preaching with words, but we'll be showing the fruits of the Spirit in our actions and building connections with the people who live and work around us... lets just hope and pray that i don't drop someone from the climbing wall!