A MOUNTAINEER who survived an earthquake and 200mph avalanche returned to his old school to raise awareness about a debilitating illness and the charity striving to find a cure.
Former Barnard Castle School boy Nick Talbot became the first person living with cystic fibrosis to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
So far his efforts have raised £92,000 with the audience of the Bentley Beetham Endeavour Lecture helping to swell the coffers.
Barnard Castle School stages the biennial lecture in memory of former pupil and housemaster for 35 years Bentley Beetham, who was also an accomplished mountaineer tackling Everest in 1924 but defeated by a bout of sciatica.
With a talk entitled Pushing Boundaries, Nick, 40, of Hamsterley, described how he had developed the lung condition cystic fibrosis as a child. “My first taste of camping was a hospital oxygen tent at about the age of six,” he said.
“Then when I was 13, I went down with pneumonia and the doctors decided it was cystic fibrosis.”
A miracle drug, made by Vertex, transformed his life allowing him to pursue his passion for climbing, maintaining the tradition of Bentley Beetham.
“It must have been amazing for Bentley because when he tackled Everest it was true exploration – no-one else had been there,” said Nick, an international businessman.
The audience heard that he succeeded in the ascent of Everest only at the third attempt, narrowly missing death and sustaining injury on the second when the massive earthquake that ravaged Nepal last year dislodged a huge chunk of glacier, which swept through base camp at 200mph.
“I felt the earthquake and came out of my tent only to be greeted by a 300m wall of snow, ice and rock. I had about nine seconds so I legged it. It smashed me into the ground. It was like a bomb blast hitting base camp and I was very lucky to come out of it alive.”
On his third attempt Nick was faced with rapidly deteriorating weather including high winds and cloud.
“Thankfully the weather broke but so did my oxygen,” he said. “The tube had frozen so we bashed it around a bit and got it working again.
“When my Sherpa friend and I got to the top were were alone for about 15 minutes. It was incredible just looking down on a sea of cloud. It was also a huge relief as it meant I didn’t have to embark on a fourth year of gruelling training.
“When I consider the effort it took, step by step to reach the summit over a six-week period, I realise how lucky I am – for many people living with cystic fibrosis it is only what they experience every day of their lives.”
Nick said that research into the condition relied on charitable donations and was not funded by central Government. “When you look at the breakthroughs there is so much hope out there but for many people with cystic fibrosis it is a race against time.”