Nick Hobbs - to climb the Matterhorn for Ukraine

The Russian regime’s invasion of Ukraine has affected me like no other war during my lifetime. It’s so wanton, so insane, so monstrous. As a company, we’re trying to do what we can - all drops in the ocean. And as an individual too - panels, articles, discussions with Ukrainians and Russians. Wanting to engage as best I can, wanting to support Ukrainians, and Russians who’ve come out against the dictatorship.

In April, I saw Thom Yorke play a wonderful solo gig in Zermatt just under the Matterhorn (4,478m). I’m a mountaineer (not a technical climber) and I’ve hiked around - but not up - the Matterhorn in the past. It’s the iconic mountain of Europe - if you like mountains, you want to climb it, as crazy as that might be. And thus came the idea to try to climb it and raise money for a charity working in Ukraine at the same time.

The plan - At the end of July, I spent some days in Turkey’s Kaçkar mountains getting into shape (hopefully), mountain walking and scrambling between 2,000 and 3,000m; then at the end of August I go back to Zermatt where I do two technical (meaning bloody hard) 4,000m climbs with a guide before attempting the Matterhorn (with a guide…) on September 2nd, with a couple of days spare in case of bad weather.

I cover all the costs for the trip and guides out of my pocket. All the money raised through Gofundme goes straight to our chosen charity - Humanity & Inclusion’s Ukrainian Emergency Appeal (https://humanity-inclusion.org.uk/en/ukraine-emergency) to help injured and disabled people in Ukraine. More info on the charity below.

If I don’t make it to the top of the mountain - the guide has the last word on whether I’m skilled and fit enough to complete the climb safely, or because they say the weather’s too bad - it’s your call whether to make the donation or not.

To make a donation, please go to: https://gofundme.com/f/mbxz97-nick-hobbs-to-climb-the-matterhorn-for-ukraine.

thank you

Nick

Humanity & Inclusion U.S. (https://www.hi-us.org) is rated 3-stars with Charity Navigator, receiving 89.18 out of 100 points. We became Humanity & Inclusion on 1/24/2018. NGO Advisor ranked Handicap International #8 out of 500 of the world's non-governmental organizations. Donors can "Give with Confidence" to this charity. This score is calculated from two sub-scores: Finance: 85.00 / Accountability & Transparency: 97.00.