Nottingham Trent University student from Farndon hiked to Mount Everest Base Camp for Meningitis Research Foundation

A group of students, including one from Farndon, have raised £57,000 by trekking to Mount Everest base camp.

The 15 Nottingham Trent University students completed the challenge for Meningitis Research Foundation.

Among them was Frances Wilson, 22, from Farndon, a keen hiker.

It was her second mountain charity hike after she climbed Kilimanjaro in 2019.

The Nepal challenge was due to be completed in 2021, but it was postponed because of covid.

“I was just raring to go outside and give another mountain a go," said the business management and marketing graduate.

I was in my second year of university and the opportunity came to go to Mountain Everest base camp.

“At the time all charities were struggling because of the lockdown, it was a difficult time for all of them, after doing some research I decided to do my trekking for Meningitis Research Foundation,

“Not only is meningitis is second biggest killer of children under the age of five but also a major health risk for first year university students.”

Frances Wilson joined the non-profit organisation Choose A Challenge, which runs alongside universities and works both with charities and students.

All the 15 Nottingham Trent University students involved met online through university as they were all involved in fundraising and similar causes.

They had never met until the moment they saw each other at the airport on their way to the adventure in Nepal.

“It was unknown to me that those stranger's were about to become my second family.”

Before embarking on the challenge, the group raised money through lockdown with online quizzes and setting up social media pages to try to get funding for clothing sponsorships.

Alongside her final year of university and dissertation, Frances despite time-management difficulties, managed to complete a 100k run in March to raise money.

Every weekend during summer, she used to go to Peak District and trek for five or six hours as part of her training.

The real challenge started when Frances left the UK to go to Nepal.

“We started by taking the most dangerous and chaotic flight in the world, landing in Lukla airport," she said.

“Being a nervous flyer I was dreading this part the most, that was another fear I had to overcome.

“The second fear was the first few days, when we were walking through the national park and to get from one side to the other we had to go over quite high suspension bridges, about 250m high,

“I’m also terrified of heights, so that was a fear I had to overcome quickly.”

The trekking lasted 12 days, of which eight were going up, and described as “tough, tiring, without any signal, phones or showers.”

During the first eight days until the group reached their goal of Mount Everest Base Camp the weather was foggy with torrential rain.

“Because of the weather our clothes would be very damp so it was about hoping that the clothes would be dry for the next day," said Frances.

“That was the worst part of it, putting damp clothes back on in the morning.”

The group reached the famous prayer flags at the base camp but didn’t stop there, reaching to the top of Mount Kala Patthar the next morning in temperatures of -4C.

As a reward for trekking a total of 5,364 m (17,598 ft), the weather cleared out to an incredible sunrise, allowing a view from the top of Mount Everest and a panoramic view of the Khumbu Glacier.

“I definitely would do it again, I got an adrenaline rush, I think when you come home you just want to get back there again," said Frances.

“You take yourself away from reality, we didn’t have social media for nine days, it was just us, the mountain and the people who live there,

“If anything that I took away it was enjoying the difficulties because unless you go out there, push yourself and leave your comfort zone, you don’t really know what your best strengths might be,

“I think everyone should do it once in their life, it might be the hardest thing you do in your life but also the most extraordinary and rewarding, especially when you do it for a worldwide cause.”