Westonbirt Charity Talk Raises £900 for Walking With the Wounded

On Thurs 20^th Oct Jake Meyer gave a thrilling talk for charity Walking With the Wounded about his summer expedition to K2 in Pakistan. 

Waiting for the talk with refreshments supplied by
Cotswold Barristers.

With at least 100 in attendance, we all gained a fascinating insight into behind the scenes climbing. We saw all the things you don’t see on the front page! K2 is known as one of the most dangerous mountains in the world. Isolated from society, it has an ominous 25% summit to death ratio. This was the second time Jake would attempt the climb.

Having survived Everest and all the other seven summits, with a talented team to work with, it was certainly not a shot in the dark. But we discovered how K2 has so many intricacies, skill and planning don’t guarantee success.

Your house on a mountain.

Demonstrating the hooves of a mountain goat and jumping onto a chair, Jake explained the sport of climbing was relatively simple. It’s just getting higher than you were before. But imagine this: At 7000m, you need to tether onto a rope in the snow. Only you´re surrounded by a web of ropes, some potentially from 40 years before, running low on oxygen, surrounded by the bodies of people who couldn’t be buried when they succumbed to the elements. Getting just that little bit higher isn’t so simple anymore.

Keep warm!

Climbing is very safety conscious, but also requires a leap of faith once all precautions have been taken. Riding the tiger, Jake has managed to summit mountains that needed more than one go, and despite all the setbacks and confusion (one man in the team left because he couldn’t get internet access), it doesn’t seem like this is the last time he will confront K2.

To find out more about Jake, visit www.jakemeyer.co.uk  and to discover what the charity does, click here.

The event was kindly sponsored by local law firm Cotswold Barristers, who also attended and enjoyed the talk!