Ollie Ollerton summits Nepal’s 6,812m peak, Ama Dablam, to commemorat…

Ollie Ollerton has commemorated Armistice Day by summiting Ama Dablam.

Ollie completed the challenge along with Nims Purja – both of whom served with the Special Boat Service – and a team of former Special Forces soldiers and Royal Marines Commandos. They reached the summit of Ama Dablam at 6:30am local time (12:45am GMT) on 7th November.

The group climbed the 6,812m (22,349 feet) high peak to honour the many British soldiers who have given their lives in conflict and in support of the Royal British Legion, marking the moment with a two-minute silence.

While the expedition was technically straightforward for Nims, whose record-breaking feat of summiting all 14 of the world’s peaks over 8,000m high in just over six months was documented in Netflix’s 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, it was a challenging climb for the rest of the group. Ollie described the feeling as like “breathing through wet leather”.

The expedition initially made a two-day hike from Lukla to Namche Bazaar, a town to the southwest of Mt Everest, in Nepal’s Khumbu region, where it spent a day acclimatising to the altitude at 3,440m (11,286 ft). From here it progressed to Deboche via the Tengboche Monastery, a Buddhist monastery sitting in the Sagarmatha National Park, and then Ama Dablam base camp at 4,800m (15,748 ft). After further training and acclimatisation, including hikes to Camps 1 (5,800m) and 2 (6,200m), the group summited on 7th November.

Ollie’s expedition was sponsored by Terratoura. With Terratoura’s fitted to his VW Amarok to ensure predictable, reliable handling when travelling from A to B for crucial outdoor training ahead of the challenge, Ollie was able to prepare for his summit over a range of challenging conditions.

Ollie said:

“It was one of my life’s greatest privileges to be part of this expedition, accompanying a group of some of the bravest souls that I have been proud to call my military brothers up the steep faces of one of Nepal’s most celebrated peaks. The last three weeks have allowed us to reflect on our shared experiences and remember those we have lost along the way, and the moment we hit the summit was emotionally charged, to say the least. I knew I would come down the mountain a different person and this was so, so true.

“So that the Royal British Legion can continue its support of the Armed Forces community, we would ask people to give as generously as they can to the charity by visiting: www.justgiving.com/OllieOllerton.”

Peter Cross, general manager at Davanti Tyres, said:

“The whole team at Davanti wishes Ollie and his team our congratulations for successfully – and safely – summiting Ama Dablam, and the message that this achievement will spread. We have been exceedingly proud to support Ollie on this journey, helping him with the meticulous preparation that goes into such an endeavour. The ethos of our Terratoura tyres is adventure beckons, and this symbolises the partnership with Ollie and the nature of this incredible challenge perfectly. We would also entreat people to visit Ollie’s fundraising page for the Royal British Legion and give what they can.”