Make a Wish – Ski the World Challenge!

Last weekend I was in Courmayeur in Aosta for the Make a Wish, Ski the World Challenge.

The challenge – to ski or snowboard the combined vertical height of the highest mountains on each continent, with two peaks in Europe thrown in for good measure. (Mont blanc, Elbrus, Kilimanjaro, Everest, McKinley, Aconcagua , Vinson, Carstensz Pyramid)

The exact total of all the peaks is 43,314m. That is a vertical drop of about 30 miles. It is almost five times higher than the altitude a plane flies at!!

The aim of the challenge – to rise money for the Make A Wish Foundation. The charity makes dreams come true for children with life threatening diseases. www.make-a-wish.org.uk The total raised was almost £20,000!!

We were in teams of two or three, we found the ski run with the largest vertical drop (and the fastest chair) and stuck on it all day! I was surprised that I could do the run so many times and not get bored but we all got quite competitive and were very focused on getting it done. It was a great bunch of people who were involved and Graham Bell joined the event too which was brilliant. He’s not a bad skier!

The Ski the World Challenge is run by, Ski Solutions, who are celebrating their 25th anniversary. It was such a fun weekend, I’d recommend it to everyone who can ski or board (you can do it even if you’re a beginner, just make sure you’re in a team with someone who’s fast!). www.skisolutions.com