April 2019 – Deano's World

Everest: Playing Rugby At 6331m

30/04/201909/04/2024Mark "Deano" Dean

On the 30th April 2019 at 6331m at the Rumbok Glacier, Mount Everest I took part in what is almost certainly the worst standard game of rugby in history. In other news: it was the highest altitude game of rugby ever played and it raised over £250,000 for disadvantaged and disabled children. I’m not proud of much I’ve done in my life but I’m bloody proud of that.

Another draw: 5-5. Shane Williams has still got it. Building the pitch was harder than playing the match. Possibly the most disappointing 35 second performance of my life but you’d need to check that with my ex’s.

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The press release from Wooden Spoon can be seen here

Everest: Advanced Base Camp (ABC)

29/04/201909/04/2024Mark "Deano" Dean

We left Intermediate Camp to walk the last leg of our upward journey to Advanced Base Camp (ABC) which is situated at a, literally, breathtaking altitude of 6500m.

We made our way up the glacier over a collection of rock and ice. It was clear and sunny where we were but you could see the snow being blown off the peaks above us in huge clouds of spindrift. We were told that the weather was so bad above the North Col that there was nobody higher than Advanced Base Camp on the North side at that point.

It took longer than I expected to reach ABC which is possibly down to being told numerous times that we were thirty minutes out when we were still hours away. I remember walking in just my thermal top for most of the trek and then the temperature rapidly dropping as the sun went down. As I tend to stay warm when I’m moving regardless of what I’m wearing I only noticed when I spotted my hands had a bluish tinge and my fingers had cramped around the handles of my walking poles. Putting gloves on is surprisingly difficult when you don’t have much movement in your fingers!

The cold air started to aggravate my chest infection causing me to cough more and more. On top of that I had left my thermal top open and had badly burnt a triangle of skin on the top of my chest which had blistered and was starting to smell worse than the rest of me.

I think we were all struggling to some extent and I genuinely believe if the bad weather above us had blown in at that point the whole project would quite probably have been called off.

wx_camera_1556726791000 — In my tent forcing a smile in -16 degrees at 6500m on Mount Everest

We had all finally limped into ABC at about 5pm exhausted and cold but quietly triumphant. We were up and all we had left to do was the small matter of setting up a rugby pitch and playing a game of rugby.

I was popping antibiotics, steroids, anti nausea (for the steroids) and tramadol for the chest infection, pain and sunburn at this point just to keep going and was incredibly lucky not to have to deal with any altitude sickness like many of the others were.

I spent the first night at ABC sharing a tent with Shane Williams. I remember trying to sleep in a sleeping bag that seemed to have shrunk on the way up whilst continually coughing and having to piss every hour or so. The only benefit of having to piss so often into a plastic bottle jar was that I could then use it as a hot water bottle. My tent mate was not having much fun either, in addition to me keeping him awake with my spluttering he’d manage to get a case of the shits which meant he was running to and from the toilet tent all night. There was a moment, at around 3am, with ice falling off the inside of the tent like snow and our breath freezing on our beards that we quietly agreed there was not a more miserable tent anywhere else on earth.

Trivia

ABC was the camp with my favourite Trip Adviser toilet review by Rob Callaway
It is possible to snore whilst still awake at 6500m
You don’t care if you dribble while pissing into a bottle in your sleeping bag when it is -16 degrees outside
The best piece of kit I took with me was a fleece head over (which was not made by RAB and was not on the extensive kit list of shit I didn’t need that was given to us by the guiding company…..)

Everest: Intermediate Camp

27/04/201909/04/2024Mark "Deano" Dean

Intermediate camp is, without doubt, the most inhospitable place I have ever been. A collection of tents perched on rock and ice halfway between Base Camp and Advanced Base Camp providing a very basic temporary home for those heading upwards

We arrived just as the sun dropped behind the ridge which immediately saw the temperature plummet well below zero. Walking up the ridge towards the tents was a bundle of laughs, the rock was wet and quickly froze as the light dwindled meaning that those last thirty yards or so took twenty minutes and roughly three sense of humour failures to achieve.

We all crammed into the communal mess tent, sitting where we could on upturned containers and boxes, for what I recollect being a watery garlicky pak choi soup. The Doc, as usual, had seconds and quite probably thirds.

Quick Stop — A quick stop on the way up to Intermediate Camp

I am pretty sure when I got to my tent that I didn’t so much fall asleep but drift into a hypothermic coma.

Everest: The Highest Ever Game Of Touch Rugby

25/04/201909/04/2024Mark "Deano" Dean

On the 25th April 2019 at 5119m above sea level we played the highest altitude game of touch rugby ever. Final score 15-15

It was great to play a game with everyone involved. Unfortunately after the acclimatisation walks several of the group had to either depart for Nepal due to ill health or remain at base camp due to altitude sickness.

The press release from Wooden Spoon can be found here

Everest: Acclimatisation

23/04/201909/04/2024Mark "Deano" Dean

So we had our first real “walk” in the mountains around base camp today getting up to around 5900m before heading down to the balmy depths of 5200m. The weather was clear and sunny which meant we weren’t having to wear too much cold weather gear

I remember being pleased with how my body was handling the altitude particularly as I didn’t have the same fitness levels as most of the group. I also remember this was the point that I was beginning to feel the effects of a chest infection which had spread around the group and that was to cause me issues further up the mountain.

IMG-20190423-WA0005 — Heading back down to Base Camp. Photo by Mark Dean

I remember this as a genuinely pleasant walk with a few hair raising moments on some unstable ground when we realised that there weren’t really any “paths” as such in this part of the world.

Everest: Arriving At Base Camp

22/04/201909/04/2024Mark "Deano" Dean

After a meandering journey from Lhasa (3700m) taking in some beautiful scenery, stopping at every single restaurant in Tibet owned by a family member of our guide from the Tibetan Mountain Authority and staying in some hotels which may or not have finished being built we finally drove up the valley to Everest Base Camp (5200m).

The mountain was shrouded in cloud but that didn’t stop us all staring up at her for a good while before heading into our communal mess tent for a briefing. The only thing I actually remember from the meeting was that they told us not to drink beer whilst simultaneously providing beer. We drank beer. To be fair it could have been worse the Russians had a vodka bar and massage parlour.

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Everest: Beginnings

20/04/201909/04/2024Mark "Deano" Dean

Every journey has to start somewhere and our expedition, to play rugby on Everest, started in the not so small city of Cheng Du in China after a surprisingly decent flight out with Air China.

From Cheng Du we flew to Lhasa in Tibet landing at an already impressive altitude of around 3700m. Lhasa is the seventh highest city in the world and it certainly felt it. Heavy legs and light-headedness seemed par for the course with the early signs of altitude sickness rearing its ugly head for many. Although not particuarly high the jump from Cheng Du at 500m to Lhasa was quite a shock to the system and I certainly struggled to sleep, waking throughout the night and popping a few paracetamol to fight off the headache lurking menacingly in background.

We spent our first day in Lhasa exploring, with a visit to the Potala Palace. First we walked around the mound watching hundreds of people spinning the prayer wheels in an amazing display of faith. They all seemed interested in us, we seemed to be something of a novelty, and the handshakes and smiles that were exchanged seemed to breach the language barrier. We then made our way up to the top which involved a fairly lengthy climb up the ancient stone steps to the red and white palace buildings of the Dalai Lama’s former winter home. The building was huge with dozens of rooms full of monuments to previous Dalai Lamas but what struck me was the huge amount of money being stuffed into the numerous donation boxes. This didn’t sit well with me, I guess I see it as religion exploiting poor people for its own gain.

From Lhasa we travelled by road to Gyangtse. The road meandered up to a height of over 5000m with spectacular views down over Emerald Lake. The views were incredible and are only a taster of what is to come. The passes were full of the prayer flags which decorate much of the Tibetan plateau. They were complemented by all kinds of animals displayed proudly by their owners. It was the first time many of the party had seen the famous Tibetan Mastiff, a gorgeous and rare breed of dog that resembles a Lion. We took time to wander around the little stalls that seem to be part of everyday life in Tibet and fill the mountain passes on the roads into the Himalaya. From there we dropped down again to Gyangtse and our accommodation for the night.

The next morning we walked from the hotel up to the ancient Gyangse Dzong fortress in the centre of this historic settlement. The view from the top was breathtaking, the air crisp and clear. Legend has it that it is is the same view that the last of the fort’s defenders had, when faced with starvation by the invading British forces in 1903; they chose to throw themselves from the top rather than surrender. A sobering moment highlighted by the incredible statues depicting the inhabitants’ last stand.

Leaving the fort we made our way down to the waiting vehicles for the two hour tranfer to the next stop in the acclimatisation process, a place called Xigatse at 4000m. In the afternoon after we arrived we all had a bit of down time learning how to breathe again (my o2 saturation levels were around 84% at this point) and I sat watching the film Meru with Ollie and Huw wondering what the next few days would hold for us.

We start pushing the altitude from here on in and have another short trek tomorrow, before heading to our last stop before Base Camp at 5200m, and the start of the expedition proper. I am finding perspective in much of what I have seen so far: this is a beautiful country with some of the friendliest people I have ever had the privilege of meeting. There is so much I don’tknow or understand about this part of the world and it feels like I am the one who is the poorer for it.

Meeting the Tibetan people and seeing first hand how some of them live reminded me that the cause of helping disadvantaged children is not solely limited to the incredible work of Wooden Spoon in the UK. It also reminded me how lucky I am to be here.

Everest: Quite Simply Put, Thank You.

13/04/201929/12/2020Mark "Deano" Dean

I am on my way to Everest as we speak but before I get to the mountain I need to thank all the people and companies that made this incredible experience possible. So, without further ado….

Huge thanks to PAYE Stonework for being both an incredibly supportive and incredibly tolerant employer. Family and rugby have always gone hand in glove and the family approach at the company is one of the reasons I genuinely love my day job. From everyone on the the board, my own team and to the guys and gals at the coal face the level of support has been incredible from all of you. I’ll be back in early May to bore you all to tears with stories about “weavils in biscuits” or failing that I’ll be dead on a mountain and you’ll have to find someone with a similar level of idiocy to replace me. If so do not look in my top drawer. Ever.

Much love to Samurai Sportswear and all the gang up in East Anglia for once again helping me with the next chapter in my life. You make the best sports kit out there and definitely have the best people working for you! Thanks for treating me like one of the family and you can never know how much everything you do is most sincerely appreciated

Dhan’yavāda to the Gurkha Kitchen and their incredible staff for allowing me to host a fantastic fundraising dinner in their restaurant and demonstrating once again why the Nepalese people are renowned for their hospitality!

Help is always appreciated but even more so when it is unsolicited. Thanks to John Fisher School, staff and pupils for supporting me by taking on their own Everest challenge and also donating the proceeds from their “mufty” day to my sponsorship page. It never ceases to amaze me how much John Fisher, a state school, does with regards to the game of rugby and I firmly believe they should get a lot more credit than they do given how many players and coaches they help on their journey.

I would also like to thank Huge Events, Built Visible, Formark Scaffolding, Hugh Anthony, Samurai RFC, Old Mid-Whitgiftian RFC, Wooden Spoon (Surrey), The Mercer Restaurant and Andrew Campbell Safaris for everything they did to help get me to hit my fundraising target and to get a fat broken old bugger like me on Everest.

Cheers to Ollie Phillips for realising when I was drunk enough to agree to do this bloody thing in the first place and then backing that up with a huge amount of help and assistance to actually get me on the plane.

Special thanks to Paul Jordan, Matt Mitchell, Miles Hayward, Graham Allen, Tamara Taylor & Paul Watkins for so much positive encouragement in the early stages when I didn’t think I would be able to complete that bloody Fairfield Horseshoe. You guys dropped me back in the bowl when I felt very much like a fish out of water. In a desert. Being hunted by a very hungry Eagle. I cannot wait to smash this on the mountain with you guys!

My gratitude to Hugh McCardy, Adedoyin Layade, Imogene Anglaret, Rob Anglaret, Zinzan Brooke, Purna Gurung, Matt Kember, Terry Sands, Rose Sands, Sarah Atkinson, Andrew Dean, Tom Street, John Inverdale, Chris Robshaw, Damian Hopley, David McCrae, Sirish Gurung, Joe Marler, Lawrence Dallaglio, Bryan Hodges, Adam “Bomb” Jones, Steve Kember, Mark Butcher, Sam Showering, John Pennycuick and Sophie Kidd all of whom donated prizes, time or expertise to my fundraising events and without whom I seriously doubt that I would have hit my sponsorship target.

I would also like to take time to thank all the individuals who sponsored me: Adrian Paye, Anna Paye, Antony Stagg, Mark Macaskill, Emma Aalders, Mark Aalders, Benjamin Aalders, Will Wilson, David Abercrombie, Alex Richardson, Geoff Griffiths, Alexander Dean, Catherine Dean, Christopher Dean, Marion Cross, Andrew Campbell, Rachel Hattersley, Caren Cummings, Tony Cummings, Alex Boyd, Luke Treharne, Scott Wight, Ben Ellan, Stephanie Ellan, Peter Wilby, Tom Cuff-Burnett, Will Matthews, Mark Coote, Rob Cottrell, Martyn Worsley, Dino Fritz, Mike Robinson, The Gouldstones, Faye Almy, Carla Cox, Matt Higgins, Karrie White, Linda Viner, Martin Harvey, Rick Eling, Rod Palmer, Tim Kerr, Rachael Burford, Daniel Alcon, Andrew Burnett, Kate Kirven, Christine Stobbs, Garry Gordon (Sunshine 7s), Paul Christopher, Darran Sly, Monique Tomiczek, Paul Archer, Dylan James, Paul Martin, Dom Peachey, Jon Hopper, The Clabburns, all those who donated very kindly but anonymously and everyone who donated by text.

I’d also like to thank all the rugby legends who took the time to send me good luck messages – the message from the USA 7s gang was truly epic!

Almost there……..thanks to Sarah, Jules, Amber, Matt & Laurie at Wooden Spoon for doing all the leg work to make sure this expedition and challenge took place.

Last and by no means least I genuinely couldn’t have done any of this without the support of my incredible wife. Buffy has put up with all my shit, all my meltdowns away from the public eye and never batted an eyelid when I told her I was off to Everest to play a game of rugby. She is my rock, my sounding board, my motivator and my inspiration who never fails to make me smile. Plus she cries at almost every remotely sad moment in every single film ever made which is unbelievably cute!

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PS: Buffy in answer to your questions: a) yes I did increase my life insurance premium, why? b) no I will definitely not mention our amazing cats Apollo, Athena, Artemis and Achilles in my blog that would just be stupid! c) I used your toothbrush to do it I hope you don’t mind d) 42 e) buried in the garden f) I have no idea where the 5th cat came from and g) why said cat is called Ares.

PPS: If your name or company has not appeared anywhere above and this makes you feel sad then rejoice! You can rectify this immediately by sponsoring me here

Everest: Perspective

04/04/201929/12/2020Mark "Deano" Dean

So far this blog has been about my preparation for the Everest Rugby Challenge, written in a somewhat haphazard manner and outlining my distinctly #1stWorldProblems. With just 10 days to go until we leave I think a touch of perspective about genuine hardships and real struggle is needed. It is also a good way of showing some of the incredible work that Wooden Spoon do to try and improve the lives of disabled or disadvantaged children and their families around the UK.

Wooden Spoon is a charity that changes children’s lives through the power of rugby. Each year they fund around 70 projects, from community programmes and specialist playgrounds to medical treatment centres and sensory rooms. Since 1983, they’ve distributed over £26 million to more than 700 projects, helping more than a million children.

At the recent Wooden Spoon Ball the one thing that stood out for me was the speech given by Belinda King, the head teacher of Kobi Nazrul primary school. I don’t mean to say that there was anything wrong with the ball, far from it, it is just that for me her speech summed up the reason for being there in the first place.

When you hear someone like Belinda King speak so eloquently and passionately about the tangible benefits her pupils have had from the works carried out by Wooden Spoon you are rushed through a whole spectrum of emotion. You are, of course, immensely proud of the fact that you are part of the team fundraising for this incredible charity. You are overwhelmingly sad that today, in a country as wealthy and privileged as ours, so many still have to rely on charities to give them opportunities many people in that room would have considered normal. You also feel incredibly guilty that you are sat in the ballroom at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane eating delicious food and bidding on luxury items. There is a moment of clarity where you realise that you are, in point of fact, privileged almost beyond measure.

Lastly you wonder why someone would be cutting up raw onions so close to you during someone’s speech.

I think it was around this time I finally started to understand why I had made good on my promise to go to Everest. Being honest I had considered withdrawing on a great many occasions over the last few months. I felt I was not fit enough and even if I could complete the trek but I couldn’t look after more than just myself that this would be letting everyone else down. I was also worried about whether or not I was doing it for the right reasons. I believed that the reason for joining an expedition like this should not be about the records or the adventure but about helping people who needed it: The “story” was just a PR tool to promote the charitable aims.

I suppose, to me, if none of us leave the UK and the match does not even get played we have still raised enough money to change the lives of a large number of disadvantaged and disabled children all over the UK. That is the core of what we are doing and in my opinion the part that actually matters: The other stuff is simply the icing on top. There are a great many people in the UK who do not get the chances, opportunities or start in life afforded to people like me simply because of the peculiarities of their birth. I don’t want to lose sight of that or forget why we are going to Everest in the first place. I said right at the start of this blog I felt that the journey was the worthier part of this expedition and the closer it gets the more convinced I am that I was right.