Everest – Deano's World

Due South: The Drawing Board

28/12/202028/12/2020Mark "Deano" Dean

When you go back to the drawing board and start exploring the Southern Hemisphere, outside of Antarctica, it turns out you are spoilt for choice for potential challenges in some incredibly remote and breathtakingly beautiful places. Personally I’d love to attempt the Sydney-Hobart race, but only on the condition it was with my Kiwi brother Eric Haagh at the helm, so I’ll keep that idea for another day. The other challenges that immediately spring to mind are climbing Aconcagua, or travelling Ruta 40 that runs from the Bolivian border with Argentina, parallel to the Andes Mountains, down to the southernmost tip of South America. As Paul Jordan was also quick to point out, in one of our “sanity check” catch ups, these challenges have the added benefit of being in close proximity to several exceptional wine regions.

Climbing Aconcagua is extremely appealing for many reasons. It is the highest peak in the Southern Hemisphere and Americas with a summit height of 6961m. It is also the highest peak on any continent outside the Himalaya in Asia and, perhaps most importantly, the normal route up is not hugely technical. It is also one of the seven summits and, as genuine isolated peaks go, there aren’t many better.

The downside to climbing Aconcagua is that it effectively mirrors the ascent to Advanced Base Camp on Everest (6500m) but without playing a game of rugby up there. Weighing it all up, Aconcagua feels more like a personal challenge than a team challenge and doesn’t seem to have the immediately obvious and engaging story needed to get buy-in from challengers and sponsors. Still, definitely one for the bucket list!

I have always wanted to travel through Patagonia down at the southern most tip of South America and, given the remoteness and terrain, it certainly makes for an incredible adventure. Obviously, simply driving or catching the Patagonian Express is not an option if the journey was to be undertaken as a challenge, but cycling Ruta 40 would certainly push most people, and definitely me, both mentally and physically.

To get a better understanding of what would be involved I chatted with the insanely fit duo, Shane Williams and Ollie Phillips, who have undertaken cycling challenges previously, to get an idea of what was possible from a time/distance perspective. The biggest obstacle seemed to be the time it would take to cycle the whole way from the Bolivian border down to the tip of South America. Even with a team of incredibly capable challengers, the time required would seriously limit the number of people who could afford to take up the challenge. We would need to start the trek near the city of Mendoza in order to make it work logistically. I could already imagine Paul Jordan planning his vineyard visits, and consuming high quality Malbec, with reckless abandon.

Despite these two ideas for challenges being mouth wateringly alluring the simple matter is I don’t believe they quite tell the right story or set the right challenge to follow playing rugby on Everest. Time spent “at the drawing board” is never wasted however and what I have come to realise is that not all the challenges I undertake have to continue the same narrative or journey. Although my next Everest remains elusive it is always a welcome reminder that there are, as Robert Frost would say, other paths to follow through the yellow wood.

Anyway, Aconcagua and Ruta 40 can always go on the old “bucket list”, I guess I should start putting one together.

Due South: And Now For Something Completely Different

09/12/202009/04/2024Mark "Deano" Dean

After returning from Everest, inevitably attention turned to the next challenge and fundraiser for Wooden Spoon. Understandably, there was a desire by some of the challengers to effectively “complete the set” by playing rugby at the South Pole: Wooden Spoon had previously undertaken challenges to play the most Northerly rugby match (North Pole) and the highest altitude rugby match (Everest). It is easy to see the allure of a challenge in the unspoilt wilderness of Antarctica inspired by the legacies of the likes of Ross, Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton, Bancroft, Fiennes & Stroud. For me, just the thought of the vast ice covered expanses and the clean air are enough to get my pulse racing and start looking at what exactly is realistic and feasible.

When you look at the idea in any detail however, the cracks start to appear. The problem with playing rugby at the South Pole, in my opinion, is that there is either a cost issue, time issue or story issue. What I mean by that is that you can either pay to fly to the South Pole itself for no other reason than to play the game and set a record which removes any element of challenge, reduces the number of challengers who can actually afford to go and decreases the appeal of sponsoring challengers. So you could walk in from the edge of Antarctica to play, which would be an astonishing challenge, but due to the time it would take to walk that far, recruiting enough challengers to play the match would be nigh on impossible. Lastly, the option to be dropped in at a realistic walkable distance feels scripted and doesn’t lend itself to authentic storytelling which is what inspires support and fundraising for the challengers and the charity. I also struggle with considering a charity challenge when potentially the cost of the expedition is going to be considerably more than the amount raised for the charity.

It may be that in the future, with increased exposure or funding, that the time and/or cost issues surrounding a game at the South Pole will be overcome and that the idea can be revisited and the set can finally be “completed”. But for now, in my mind at least, it is back to the drawing board to find a suitable challenge to undertake in 2023. I do feel however, that continuing to look Due South may well be the right approach and that a trip to the Southern reaches of this planet may well be on the cards in my not too distant future.

Everest: A Well Overdue Guinness Or Two

28/10/202009/04/2024Mark "Deano" Dean

A year and a half after the Everest Rugby Challenge, we finally have confirmation that the two Guinness World Records attempted in Tibet in April 2019 have been approved. We knew that the highest altitude game of touch was already in the bag (played at 5119m at Everest Base Camp, Tibet on 25th April) as Guinness World Records (GWR) quickly confirmed they had accepted the evidence. However, the second record, for the highest altitude game of rugby, unfortunately proved more problematic. I’m not sure why it was stymied for so long, given we had told them what we planned to do, did what we planned to do, videoed the whole damn thing and then invited them over to watch the video. On 22nd October this year we received notification that after much, much, much deliberation GWR had ratified the attempt and the record for the highest ever game of rugby was ours. Time for, ahem, a Guinness or two.

5119m

My biggest regret with the game of touch at Base Camp is that Graham Allen and Paul Watkins were not there to take part. Both fell victim of accident and injury just weeks before departure after playing key roles in the preparation for the trip. Both were instrumental in convincing me I could get there and for that I will be eternally grateful. It was also to be the last involvement for several of the tour party as altitude and illnesses took their toll. Despite this, for 14 minutes on an ice pitch plus a much needed half time break, everyone who made it to Tibet and who had raised much needed funds for Wooden Spoon got to play touch rugby on the tallest mountain on Earth.

To view the official record for the highest ever game of touch rugby please click here

Celebrating after playing the highest altitude game of touch rugby!

6322m

The first pint of Guinness always sails down so sweetly but I hate it when the second takes an age to appear from the bar. Hats off to Sarah Webb and the rest of the Wooden Spoon team who have fought to have the second record ratified over the last eighteen months. It must have been incredibly frustrating trying to get GWR to agree to the record when, to everyone involved, it seemed so obvious that it had been achieved. It would have been a real shame if it hadn’t been approved given the personal sacrifices so many people made to get there, and, in some cases, return seriously ill from the attempt.

Better late than never… so to see the official record for the highest game of rugby ever played please click here

Celebrating back at base camp after playing rugby at 6322m on Everest

94.77m

So that’s it, we’re done, I have no more stories to tell about this particular journey. The record being confirmed brings an end of to one of the most exciting chapters of my life, and for me it is very much a fitting end, worthy of the efforts of all involved. One question I get asked is: would I go back to Everest? The honest answer is yes, but only for the right challenge. I don’t see me queueing to get to the summit just to tick a box but, you never know what the future holds. I certainly intend to go back to the Himalayas. For the people, for the peace & quiet, for the sheer awe-inspiring raw beauty and for the soothing of my soul. That being said, garlic pak choi, bounty bars and chest infections can fuck right off.

I look forward to catching up with all those who shared in this epic adventure, to reminisce and tell tall tales, tales that will undoubtedly get taller in the telling as all good stories inevitably do. Part of me is sad that our paths will now diverge as we all get on with writing the next chapters of our own lives. I guess we all now have a choice of where these chapters take us, to decide where each of our stories will go. I often wonder if this was just a one off for me or the start of something greater? I cannot speak for my companions, but I am keen to keep on pushing myself to take on new challenges. It turns out I quite like the outside of my comfort zone.

Thanks to all those who have followed my ramblings on here, I genuinely hope you have enjoyed my telling of the story. So, for one last time, on behalf of everyone who went to Everest to play rugby and for all the disadvantaged and disabled children for which our charity makes a real difference: please, if you can, make a donation to support the incredible work that Wooden Spoon do by clicking here and change a child’s life for the better.

Yours aye,

Deano

Everest: 366 Days Later

29/04/202009/04/2024Mark "Deano" Dean

It is a year to the day since I played rugby on Mount Everest and to say things are a little different would be an understatement. A sense of immense freedom walking in the vastness of the Himalaya has been replaced by the confines of my house and garden mitigated only by my rapidly diminishing wine cellar.

We are still waiting for the official ratification from GWR regarding the full contact match played at 6331m but you can see the record for the highest ever game of touch by clicking here

The only thing that has remained constant is the vast amounts of daily abuse dished out on the Everest Rugby Crew Whatsapp group. Dark humour is certainly a recurring theme with Jay “They come in the night” O’Malley being a regular victim. For those who are unaware Jay got pretty seriously ill at Advanced Base Camp and was medically evacuated off the mountain by Yak to base camp and then over the border to Nepal where he stayed in hospital for over a month before being allowed to fly back to the UK. In the usual manner we all took the piss rather than offer any sympathy and I was particularly proud of the care package we sent him comprising of a genuine life size medical teaching model of the human lung, a game called “Where’s my Yak?” and a case of Tenzing energy drink. The jokes and humour were, of course, a none-to-subtle cover for genuine love and concern for a member of our party who we nearly left on the mountain.

The full story of Jay’s journey was first publicly recounted at the “Captain’s Fundraising Lunch” by the ever tactful Ollie Phillips. The event was a fundraiser for Wooden Spoon and most of the team, including Jay who had recently left hospital on what turned out to be day release, had made the trip to London. Ollie gave a fairly descriptive account of the whole event conjuring up, for the audience, a vivid image of how serious it had all been. I was laughing because I happened to be watching Jay’s long suffering wife Becky as it became increasingly apparent that Jay had left a few of the “details” out of his story when he got home. That would have been the worst moment of the day had Robin Callaway not come up with some slightly questionable uses for gaffa tape later that evening.

We try and catch up as often as possible but the two big formal reunions at the “Everest Documentary Screening” and the Drinks Reception with Princess Anne in The House Of Lords were the closest we have come to getting the whole band back together. Of course this led to the usual missed trains, stolen artifacts, drinking marathons and nudity for which we have become famous.

Matt Franklin is getting married this year and I think pretty much everyone, global pandemic permitting, is going to be there to celebrate with him and his lovely lady if only to hear him knocking out a few songs on his guitar.

Ackers, Jordy and I met for dinner before Christmas, in what became the basis for “The Naughty Boys Supper Club” and I cannot remember the last time I laughed like that . More importantly Ackers learnt a valuable lesson regarding online hotel bookings, time zones and dates that evening and Jordy learnt that queuing doesn’t always get you into a night club.

A lot of the gang are still fund raising for charities with Jon Ingarfield aiming for a triple triple challenge (three highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales) at some point this year to finish his fundraising for Wooden Spoon and I think he will be joined on various legs of the trip by a familiar collection of reprobates, gentlefolk and perverts. For more details of Jon’s endeavours please click here and please support him if you can!

I have hard rumours that Roger Davies and Paul Jordan are planning on swimming the channel. This may of course be a drunken attempt at breaching social distancing rules and escaping the lockdown but in any case I have declined to participate for fear of being harpooned by a rogue whaling vessel attracted inevitably by my “is he swimming or drowning” style of doggy paddle.

Roger Davies

Ollie Phillips, the Chief Vacations Officer at PWC, is probably planning on swimming to Fiji, playing rugby in a minefield or some other such nonsense this year as well as becoming a father for the second time. Apparently the CEO of PWC and Ollie’s lovely wife Lou are delighted to find that a Global Pandemic is pretty much the only thing that will keep him in the country for any extended period of time.

We’ve discussed where we can go from here with regards to a fundraising challenge for Wooden Spoon and the problem is how do you top Everest? Having played rugby at The North Pole four years ago the obvious choice is to replicate that at The South Pole but the logistical, financial, ethical and time considerations to achieve that make it exceptionally difficult. I have been floating the idea of undertaking charity work, with a rugby element, with some of the children orphaned by war in Syria with some of the gang and the response has been pretty good although tempered slightly by comments like “The FCO advise against all travel to Syria. British nationals in Syria should leave by any practical means.” A bit negative if you ask me.

I’ve been in a few “interesting places” as Roger Davies would no doubt put it but I think an active war-zone without a Commando or two in tow might be a little risky. Maybe one for the future but I think helping rebuild the lives of some of the most disadvantaged children in one of the places most devastated by war is something I would like to be involved with.

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As I think about how my life has changed over the last 18 months both from the Everest Challenge and the global disaster currently unfolding around us I remember how lucky we all were to be involved in such a monumental feat and that all of us came back safely to our loved ones and families.

Two things are absolutely certain: I need a new challenge and it has to involve as many of the lunatics, idiots, saints and sinners that were with me on Everest.

P.S. I hadn’t realised I was a such a draw for the Ealing Times as I live about 50 miles away from Ealing but was delighted to find they ran an article “Dean hopes to slim down ahead of Everest rugby challenge” the other day – you can read it, including all the nice things I definitely never said, by clicking here

Everest: Birches, Brothers & Paths

05/05/201929/12/2020Mark "Deano" Dean

I imagined many months ago that when the Everest Rugby Challenge was all over I would feel a great emptiness. I was not wrong.

It is difficult to explain how an expedition like this can so utterly fill every waking moment of your life. The camaraderie, the laughter, the arguments and the tears that are a part of everyday life and permeate your very existence. It completes my soul in ways that are difficult to explain and I have more than once struggled to articulate my feelings adequately. Even writing this is itself overwhelming and strangely I find myself on the verge of tears.

I often fall over that verge if truth be told.

As we start our way home, despite the mental and physical struggles, my soul yearns to remain in the peace of the mountains but my heart tells me I must return to the World as I have been away too long from my loved ones. In being part of this challenge I have roused a spirit that I long since thought gone and I have rediscovered a wanderlust and yearning for sights unseen and experiences yet unexplored that I had forgotten had previously existed. This is both a curse and a blessing and, on occasion, leaves me feeling like two souls desperately at odds with each other pulling in two very different directions.

“I’d like to get away from earth awhile and then come back to it and begin over. May no fate willfully misunderstand me and half grant what I wish and snatch me away not to return. Earth’s the right place for love: I don’t know where it’s likely to go better. I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree and climb black branches up a snow-white trunk toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more, but dipped its top and set me down again. That would be good both going and coming back. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches”

Robert Frost

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I know I will miss my fellow challengers, we shared a journey that shall not likely be repeated and in doing so genuinely achieved great things for a worthy cause. It is difficult to describe the bond you build with your companions in circumstances like these and as I struggled to explain it I remembered, in a flurry of public school pretentiousness, a passage from Henry V that just seemed apt:

“From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.”

William Shakespeare – Henry V, Act IV Scene iii 58–62

For me it is always the little things that linger longest in the memory. My kit reviews with Robin Calloway that will probably never be deemed suitable for broadcast or publication, fleshlightgate that somehow managed to slip past the censors, my personal unspoken demons and the unconditional support of so many people.

My friends, family and supporters, who I suspect at times struggled to understand the meaning or purpose of this trip, I feel I owe you an explanation of why I went and to try and explain why I am the way I am. I do not have the words to put it better than this, my favourite poem, by Robert Frost:

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

Finally for those all those strangers who read these ramblings out of morbid fascination, genuine interest, idle curiosity or simply boredom I will leave you with this:

Be unexpected, be kind, be authentic and above all live your life without regrets. Speak for those who have no voice and where you are able help those who need it give aid without reserve, without condition and without regard for the often man made barriers or conventions that seek to control or divide. If you are privileged understand that it is also a duty of privilege to help those less fortunate than yourself. Not for reward but because if we all do our part the cold distant world becomes closer and warmer than before.

As a great man once told me: No what ifs, no if onlys and no regrets.

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: 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.

Everest: 41 Years Later

29/03/201929/12/2020Mark "Deano" Dean

My love affair with Nepal, Tibet & The Himalaya started when I first read Chris Bonnington’s account of the 1975 expedition to Everest in his book, Everest: The Hard Way. I found it on my parent’s book shelf and for some reason it piqued my curiosity so I picked it up and started reading. I was hooked instantly and from then on I devoured books by the likes of Maurice Herzog, Doug Scott, Dougal Haston and Peter Boardman. I am pretty sure at that point I wanted to be a mountaineer; I was twelve years old.

While at Trinity School in Croydon I also had the chance to listen to legendary explorer Mike Stroud, a former pupil, talk about his unsupported crossing of the Antarctic continent, which he had undertaken in 1992/1993 with none other than Ranulph Fiennes. This was a spectacular feat of endurance in one of the most inhospitable and inaccessible places on the planet. I remember thinking that really Mike was no different from me and that there was nothing stopping me doing this kind of thing; I was fifteen. I was also lucky in that the school was blessed with staff, like Mike Alexander, Dick Bouacious and Mel Thompson, who actively encouraged outdoor pursuits and were happy to take expedition groups to the Cairngorms in the Scottish winter, or canoe around the Algonquin in Canada.

10714524_348855995276467_9195686368614420922_o — Snow Hole In Cairngorms, January 1995 (L to R: Dan Bentley, Mark Dean)

It is little wonder then that I spent most of my school years dreaming of exploring far off places rather than listening to my teachers and this was undoubtedly reflected in the piss poor grades I “achieved”. At University this continued as I, for most of the three years, spent my weekends on Dartmoor or in the mountains of South Wales. To be fair I wouldn’t change the experiences or the people I shared them with for a better level of degree. It is also nice to see a few of my companions on those trips have gone on to explore the great outdoors either in the military or, as in the case of Ben Fogle, done rather well with it on TV. I also seem to remember Ben being rather handy on a rugby pitch so Ben, if you’re reading this; do you fancy another trip to Everest? If so don’t forget your boots!

1497999_348855178609882_3192950566468358198_o — SURNU Rugby 7s Team, Portsmouth 1998

Life has a knack for getting in the way at times and after a succession of pretty serious injuries between 1998 and 2003 I gave up on playing rugby, climbing and walking. Don’t get me wrong this isn’t intended as a sob story. Perspective, if needed, is readily available in the lives and challenges of the incredible kids that Wooden Spoon work so hard to help. What I went through in terms of personal disappointments in those years are only meant to explain my journey and give context to where I have been and where I am intending to go. If anything they are a reminder that sometimes dreams are realised when you least expect and for reasons you would not have thought of previously.

In 2007 my focus swung from walking and climbing back to rugby, specifically the short seven-a-side version with Samurai RFC and then later the Nigerian national team. It is amazing how a focus on one thing can result in you neglecting other things in your life and with the exception of a Three Peaks trip in 2009 I haven’t set foot on a mountain or moor since 2003. I am very much looking forward to getting to Tibet and seeing the Himalaya for the first time. I won’t be doing any climbing or mountaineering and wouldn’t pretend otherwise. All I am going to be doing is putting one foot in front of the other and repeating as necessary, albeit between 5200 and 6600m above sea level.

Scafell Pike, 2009 (L to R: Jon Hooper, Rob Thirlby, Nick Wakley, Mark Dean)

Today I am 41 years. Yeah, I know, it looks like it was a tough paper round! The last six months, since I agreed to join the LMAX Exchange Everest Rugby Challenge, have been both incredibly difficult and immensely rewarding. I have somehow rekindled a love of being in the mountains. This is a very pleasant side effect of getting ready for the expedition and to be honest is not something I expected to happen. After so many setbacks and injuries in my twenties I just wrote off this kind of thing partly as a practical consideration but also to protect myself from further disappointment.

So twenty years after I smashed up my knees playing rugby and rock climbing (or more specifically falling off rocks) I am back doing something I love. I started this journey not really knowing why and, although that realisation still escapes me, I am feeling like the answers I seek may soon present themselves. That in itself is not a bad birthday present and possibly the most unexpected one yet.

Everest: #MyEverest

25/03/201929/12/2020Mark "Deano" Dean

With just 20 days to go before I leave for the Everest Rugby Challenge everything is slowly falling into place. I have finally bought all my kit and if anyone owns shares in RAB: You’re welcome! The extreme cold weather kit has arrived courtesy of LMAX Exchange and I have started packing to work out what I will have to leave behind to hit the max weight for luggage of just 23Kg.

I am now sleeping in an altitude tent which simulates the oxygen levels of somewhere around 3500m. You are probably thinking that this simulated altitude is the reason I am doing this but you would be wrong. The real reason for anyone in our expedition using an altitude tent is that it simulates being unable to sleep as the compressor makes almost as much noise as Paul Watkins does when he snores. The worst thing about the tent is that I have had to set it up in the spare room because of the noise meaning that Buffy and I are in separate rooms for the first time since we got married which is really tough.

In other altitude tent news two of my cats are also acclimatised to 3500m after claiming their own spots inside the tent every night. It is going to be a pleasant relief not being woken up every couple of hours for attention by needy cats when I get to Everest.

This month I am pushing it at the gym trying to shed the last weight I think is possible in the time left until we go. I figure that at this point every pound I can lose before I go gives me a better chance of succeeding when I get there. It is however getting to the point where I will have done all I can in the time available to get ready. I don’t think it will be enough to make the trip anything other than a struggle from start ’til finish. I am trying to mentally prepare myself for what will be a significant challenge at altitude when the reality is I genuinely may not be able to cope.

I am trying to focus on the positives and the fact I am now fitter than I have been for almost a decade. Coming back from an L5 disc extraction and a serious case of ITP is no easy thing and only 18 months ago I was weighing in at between 24 and 25 stone. The fact I am worried about my performance on the mountain and not just about the fact I am going speaks volumes about my progress so far.

The BBC and other news outlets have been doing their best to scare the shit out of me with a series of seemingly unending articles about people dying on Everest or mountains in general. These articles are in addition to coverage of real life tragedies on Nanga Parbat, Ben Nevis and the Alps this year and have not helped with the nerves particularly given they happened at altitudes below where we intend to set the record.

It has been great to receive good luck messages from around the rugby world from various members of the #SamuraiFamily. I found the picture below particularly helpful in understanding exactly where everything is on Mount Everest, although it doesn’t show the cable car or lounge bar I was definitely promised!

With the huge push by Wooden Spoon to help disabled and disadvantaged children overcome their own Everest it makes everything the Challengers are doing for fundraising all the more important. With a fantastic amount of help from a great many people I have hit my target of £10,000 for the charity. The focus is now on getting everyone across the line so as a team we can hit the magic number of £200,000 and hopefully get as high as £250,000 to help fund the incredible works carried out by Wooden Spoon around the UK.

As for #MyEverest? it seems at this point it is, according to Rob Vickerman, actually Everest.

Lastly if you want to get your school or club involved with the #EverestRugbyChallenge take a look at the video below and get in touch with team at Wooden Spoon.