Ella climbs Ben Wyvis

Saturday, 07 September 2019
Ella climbs Ben Wyvis

We’re thankful for amazing people like Ella, caring for our kids and doing something to make their lives better. Ella, at just 6 years old, took on a big challenge to climb a munro and chose Stand by Me to benefit from her efforts after hearing about our work through her school. A munro is a peak in Scotland that is over 3,000 feet high - not an easy challenge in the Scottish weather!

Last year Ella tried twice to climb a munro but the weather stopped her both times. Not one to give up easily, Ella wanted to try again this year and came up with the clever idea to raise sponsorship on the basis of a donation for each 100 metres in height with a bonus for making it to the top. This would mean that if the weather did cut her climb short, she would still be raising money for the children in Stand by Me’s care.

Ella’s mum tells us of the day she made her climb of Ben Wyvis:

“We were lucky on the day in that there was very little wind and the rain was only light. The first part of the climb was a gentle increase which then became pretty steep with lots of giant steps for about 400 metres. It felt at that point that the hard work was done but in fact there was another 3 km or so to walk to get to the actual summit. Overall, Ella covered 14 km in 7 hours - chocolate eggs at periodic intervals were a great boost! She was really proud of her efforts and really happy to have made the top which in one last step to the trig point doubled the amount of money she raised for Stand by Me.”

What an amazing achievement, not only did Ella complete a 14km climb but she also raised an amazing £445 for Stand by Me's children in Dembi Dollo, Ethiopia. Her incredible fundraising is helping the children at the Abdi Academy get a great education as well as providing nutritious food for children to stay healthy and continue to grow and learn. Thank you Ella, keep climbing mountains to make kids' lives better!

Stand by... almost there...