From Aviva to Africa

I’m Steve Heale and on the 12th of June I leave Exeter to climb three of Africa’s highest mountains, Mount Baker, Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya one after the other.

The reason I'm doing this, is to raise money for the Exeter Foundation which was set up to support a number of local charities such as Children's Hospice FORCE, Families for children.

What’s different about this trek is that I consider myself a fairly ordinary kind of guy, I like my cider, I like my curry and I love my rugby. The fact that I'm climbing three mountains one after the other makes it very different. Many people attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and many don’t get to the top, however, attempting to climb three mountains with only a few days in between each one, walking on average 8hrs each day for nearly 40 days, represents a much tougher challenge.

Until recently I was the National Sales Manager for Aviva but I wanted to break free and see the real world. An opportunity arose for me to do this so I took it to pursue my lifelong dream of seeing the world, helping people and raising money for a good cause.

Rob Hitchings managing director of Nomadic travel who helped Steve plan this unusual challenge said…

‘Steve’s ‘3 Peaks of Africa’ is a unique and demanding challenge. An ascent of Kilimanjaro at almost 20,000 feet is sufficiently tough in its own right, but to also climb Mt Kenya, which after Kili is the 2nd highest peak in Africa, as well as the remote and jagged peak of Mount Baker in Uganda will be an epic ‘tour de force’. These 3 summits add up to almost twice the height of Everest – that is some undertaking! I for one will be watching Steve’s progress this summer with great interest and wish him all the very best with his fund-raising for this amazing expedition.’ Rob Hitchings - Managing Director, Nomadic Travel.

Steve leaves for Uganda on the 12th June, to find out more about Steve’s challenge and how you can help, please visit www.steveschallenge.co.uk