A Westbury man has completed a gruelling 112-mile trek on Everest – all while donning his traditional Scottish kilt!
Scotsman Robert ‘Rab’ Lundie battled steep rocky slopes, vertical scrambles, ice walls, extreme cold and high altitude to complete the trek. He raised over £2,000 for the cancer charity Coppafeel, following a friend’s experience with cancer.
“My kilt and travel companion, ‘Braveheart the Bear,’ went down an absolute storm with the locals, the children and many foreigners from across the world high fiving me as they passed,” said Rab. “Many of them thought I was nuts – especially at 20,000 feet where it was super cold!
“Along with Kiran, my guide, we were aiming to complete the 112-mile trek across the Everest High 3 Passes, regarded by locals as the toughest trek in Nepal due to most of the route being over 5,000m (16,500ft+) and to reach the Lobuche East Peak at 20,075ft.
“Unlike previous expeditions I have done in Nepal, the terrain was super tough with steep rocky slopes, vertical scrambles, ice walls and on number of occasions we required fixed ropes and crampons. And all this with the physical effects of altitude-reducing oxygen levels to almost half that at sea level, making you feel like you have a ton of bricks on your back.
“I luckily wasn’t affected by extreme altitude sickness but cramming a three-week expedition into two weeks took its toll daily and resulted in me losing just shy of a stone, which sadly has snuck its way back onto my body since returning!
“On the last day, I couldn’t wear my kilt due to the technical kit required, but when we did summit Lobuche East, I did pull it out for a summit picture which gave our technical guide palpitations due to a seriously small and thin summit with 1,000ft drops on all sides.
“For the trek, I set up a Just Giving page for a wonderful charity called Coppafeel who do amazing work in support of cancer awareness for young women and men by educating them how to check their bodies.
“I chose this charity for an amazing friend called Cat who faced her own extremely difficult battle recently; her fight, resilience and will to face cancer head-on was a true inspiration to all, especially me.
“In the end a total of £2,000 was raised thanks to the many generous donations, so a huge thank you to all those local to Westbury who very generously donated.
“So for now, it’s job done, the kilt is hanging up ready for the next adventure but, boy, was that one way to tick off many of the boxes in my mid-life crisis!
“I’ll close by saying a massive thank you to Kiran my guide and Ashok my friend and travel agent. Nepal is one heck of a place so if you feel like an adventure, you won’t be disappointed. Thank you and Namaste.”
Rab who lives in Westbury, is a major in the Royal Army Physical Training Corps based in Warminster. He has undertaken six previous trips to Nepal with the military and civilian groups, including in 2017, when a group of local residents joined him to complete the Westbury to Everest Challenge.
