22-year-old Bonita Norris is aiming to become the youngest British woman to summit the mountain.
A 22-year-old from Wokingham is tackling
Everest this April
in a blaze of publicity which is possibly not totally unrelated to her
blondeness.
According to her web site, 18 months ago,
Bonita Morris woke
up one morning and decided to climb the world's highest
mountain - despite not being a climber - and become the youngest ever
British woman to stand on the roof of the world.
Since then she's managed to garner enough sponsorship to cover her
£50,000 costs and, in August 2009, summited Manaslu,
the world's 8th highest mountain as training, something she describes as
'a baptism of fire'.
'I learnt that mountaineering is definitely mind over matter,' she
says. 'It was the hardest thing I had ever done, but also
with the greatest achievement - I am the youngest woman to have climbed
the peak, and was the youngest climber on the mountain by many years.'
Bonita's climbing the mountain in support of a charity called
Global Angels
championing the causes of children around the world, and providing
sustainable solutions. Her aim is apparently to raise £50,000
for the charity.
She's
auctioning
space on three flags which she's planning to
carry to the summit on eBay. Win the auction and you can - provided she
succeeds - have your name flying from the roof of the world. Proceeds
from the auction go to Global Angels.
Great story, good cause, and we're sure she'll take a load of flack for
being blonde, female and attractive, but she has been
backed
by Chesney Hawkes, so what do they know? We say
good luck to her and we'll keeping an eye on her progress once she
reaches the mountain next month.
You can find full details at Bonita's web site:
www.bonitanorris.com
