The Emergency Service Challenge was born out of a desire to help raise awareness for mental health for our emergency service colleagues.

Now that the dust has settled on what were two incredible trips to Mount Everest Base Camp, we reflect on what has been achieved and the once-in-a-lifetime experience.

From the Emergency Service Challenge organisers, thank you to all those people who took part in the trek. Thank you for your unwavering efforts in fundraising, raising awareness of the challenge, and finally reaching Mount Everest Base Camp in what was an incredibly difficult but life-changing experience for many.

Most importantly, thank you to the public who supported not only the members of the team but also helped us fundraise a staggering £13,000 for Thin Blue Line UK and The Ambulance Staff Charity. The funds were raised through the official GoFundMe pages and also individual participant fundraising pages.

A few years ago, the Emergency Service Challenge nearly didn’t get off the ground. Now we have successfully sent two teams to Everest and raised a phenomenal figure for two charities that support the mental health and well-being of our colleagues. This was our ultimate goal, to change the lives of our colleagues and raise awareness of such an important topic.

During both trips in September and October, the Nepalese people welcomed us with open arms as they fed us, housed us, and guided us along the trail to Mount Everest Base Camp. Over 12 days, we formed new friendships with the most inspiring, strong, and courageous Sherpas who live in the Mountains. Inspired by the breathtaking views, the teams overcame a lot of physical and mental challenges that the trek presented. Temperatures plummeted as we approached Base Camp’s height of 5,364m, and the living conditions became tougher. Despite the adversities, the teams spent time taking in every moment that they could, knowing how special the trip was. There’s no way to describe the feeling of reaching Base Camp after such a long trip.

Here are a few stats that were collected from smartwatch over the trek to give you an idea of the distance covered: 185 km, 270,609 steps, 1358 flights climbed.

Now we are moving forward and taking on new challenges and seeing where the Emergency Service Challenge can take us. We have another international event in the pipeline and also some a little closer to home, so we can all get involved in supporting charities we care about. We would really love to have you as part of the team and help us raise awareness of mental health.

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