Ex-Chiefs trio scale Alps peak for wellbeing charity
Three former Exeter Chiefs rugby players have completed their climb of Monte Rosa in the Alps to raise money for the LooseHeadz Foundation, a rugby clothing charity dedicated to supporting the emotional needs of those involved in the sport.
Greg Bateman, Phil Dollman and Kai Horstmann started their ascent of Gran Paradiso on September 7 to allow them to acclimatise to the conditions, before tackling their main scale of Monte Rosa at a summit of 15,203ft (4,634m) on September 10.
The trio had been due to climb Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps at a summit of 15,771ft (4,809m), but after extreme heat caused rockslides on the trail, they had to change their plans to take on the second tallest mountain in the range.
Horstmann said their time playing the rugby together helped spur each other through the challenge, which has raised more than £13,000 for the Foundation so far.
He said: “Because we’ve played together, and we’ve experienced being in a hard position – nowhere near as hard as this – we kind of know how to help each other through. It would have been so hard doing it on your own.”
Bateman added: “We knew it was going to be hard, but you don’t realise how you’ll be affected by altitude, or how you’ll manage walking 10-and-a-half hours a day, five days in a row.
“We got to the top, we had a big hug, but we were all just being really grateful to the guide for getting us there!”
Dollman said: “It just shows that when you’re in a bit of hurt, you can come out of it with a bit of support around you and a bit of positive thinking.”
Horstmann concluded: “I think those endorphins of accomplishing something, and doing something that’s meaningful and that matters, it’s just felt good.”
Dave Nicoll, co-founder of LooseHeadz, said: “We are truly humbled by the incredible efforts of Greg, Kai and Phil. The money raised is absolutely vital as a small charity and will allow us to continue building on our mission to place a mental health lead into every rugby club around the world.
“The guys have raised an unbelievable sum of money for the LooseHeadz Foundation which will be used to continue developing new resources for our toolkit, and to help us provide more in person resources within rugby clubs.”
The ex-Chiefs-turned-climbers were sponsored by People’s Captain. MJS Group, FDS and Pearce Properties, which meant that any money raised went straight to helping LooseHeadz.
Their fundraising page can be found here.