Father and son climb mountain for Exeter Foundation

In June this year, South West Communications and Exeter Rugby Club Director Brian Lodge and his son Sam scaled the Monch, raising over £1,100 for the Exeter Foundation and Royal Marines Charity the C Group.

The team spent a total of ten days on their expedition, including training and scaling the summit of the mountain, which is in the Swiss Alps.

Brian and Sam originally set out to climb Mont Blanc, but severe weather conditions meant that the mountain was impassable. After a day and night of attempting the ascent, the group travelled from France to Switzerland to the Monch; one of a group of three mountains, which also includes the Eiger and Jungfrau.

From base camp at the Monch, the group were flown to the glacier by an alpine rescue helicopter. The actual climb began at 4am and took nearly the whole day to complete.

Talking about the experience, Sam said: “it was cold, windy, scary and amazing. I could hardly walk when we finished but the experience was so worth it!”

The duo’s Virgin Money Giving page is still open – find it here