Epic ‘Everest’ climb conquered by Littlehampton duo

Littlehampton’s Harold Gibson-Bell and Lizzie Puttock, alongside friends George Phillips and Emily Moss, completed their challenge on Monday (September 1).

The four college friends spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday climbing up and down the High Sports walls, at the K2 in Crawley, to reach the total height of 29,029ft.

They were raising money for three different causes.

Lizzie, 18, and Harold, 19, were raising money for Lupus UK – a cause close to Lizzie’s heart.

“It has been pretty tiring and I have lupus anyway, which is why we chose it as our charity,” said Lizzie, who lives in Bayford Road and works at the Lamb Inn, in Rustington. “It is a summer-time achievement before going off to university and getting jobs and all of that.

“The first day was the hardest. I’m not a very experienced rock climber and all my joints were really painful after it.”

Friend Emily, 19, was raising money for St Wilfrid’s Hospice, in Chichester.

Speaking after completing the epic Everest climb, she said: “It’s been great, we don’t feel like we have climbed Everest.

“Well, our fingers and arms do.”

George, 24, who was raising money for Bradbury Court, said: “I wore through my first pair of gloves, I think we have gone through three rolls of tape and two boxes of plasters over the three days.”

However, the group agreed the challenge was worth it to raise money and awareness for their chosen charities.

The friends met at Chichester College when Emily and Lizzie joined a climbing course run by Harold and George.

They marked the end of their three-day challenge by planting flags at the top of the wall.