Napier scales the summit (nearly)

Never accuse this blog of not getting the big scoops. A mere 54 years after Hillary and Tenzing scaled Everest, Graham Napier, the Essex all-rounder, got close to matching their feat last week when he was part of a party that climbed the big rock in Nepal and, unlike Hillary and Tenzing, played cricket at Base Camp. Relieved to be back in the foothills of Chelmsford, Napier spoke to Line and Length (in a "spoke to the Essex press officer who emailed me the quotes sort of way") about his experience, which was to raise money for the Professional Cricketers Association Benevolent Fund:

"The walk was fantastic. It has to be the biggest achievement of my life so far. By the time we reached Base Camp we were walking on adrenalin alone and the enormous sense of achievement felt by us all is difficult to explain.

"At the beginning we took in some very picturesque scenery at the bottom of forestry, woodlands and glacial rivers. Then it gradually became more bleak and colder but the higher we went the more we could see of the tops of the mountains, which made for some amazing views.

"Unfortunately one of our companions had to drop out before the end due to altitude sickness which dented all of our morale as the days were becoming harder as it went on anyway. But we took his flag along with us to the top and had our pictures taken with it to show our solidarity. That one of our group had to pull out made us all realise how tough the walk was. If we needed further inspiration it came when we passed a 69-year-old who was also trying to make it up to Base Camp, which was a phenomenal effort.

"My preparation for the climb was a mixture of cardiovascular and interval work with short sprints designed to build up the lung capacity and longer runs to improve my stamina. As well as going down the gym this has also included a lot of walks through the lovely Essex countryside, starting by the river at Chelmsford along to Danbury.

"At Base Camp, we ended up playing a six-a-side match between one team made up of professional cricketers and others on the trip against a team of Sherpas. Sadly the Guinness Book of Records won’t officially recognise it because it wasn't an 'official' match but we can still lay claim to having played a game of cricket at the world’s highest (in terms of altitude at 5184m) cricket ground on the Gorak Shap glacier.

"As we were coming towards the end of the trip by that point people had become mentally and physically exhausted so this was a light-hearted, joyful highlight to break up the walking – and not just because I hit the winning six off the penultimate ball!"

You can still make a donation to the PCA Benevolent Fund by logging on to Graham's web page.