It wasn’t a climb for the faint-hearted but, as they walked through the clouds to be lashed by torrents of rain, Julie Groom and her party made it to the top of Mount Snowden.
“We were wet through, my teeth were chattering with cold and there was just time to snap off one photo to prove we got there before we headed back down”, said Julie, who had refused to take the easier railway journey up the mountain so she could honour a promise she’d made to raise money for the ME Association.
What started out as a walk in dappled sunlight from the youth hostel at Llanberis became an endurance survival test as Julie climbed the 1,085-metre mountain earlier this month with husband Martyn and her sister’s two children.
“If it had got any worse, we heard later that they would have closed the mountain!”
Julie organised the expedition because her 21-year-old son William has ME. He had to wait two years for an official diagnosis of ME after becoming ill when he was just 12 years old.
William missed a whole chunk of school because he was too ill to attend but still managed to obtain six GCSEs and took an IT course at college.
He has to carefully manage his energy levels but volunteers for the RSPCA when he can, the family try to involve him in days out and he does enjoy a spot of fly fishing. “Unfortunately, he still has days when the ME catches him out”, said Julie.
Back to the mountain: “We got to the summit after a two-and-a-hour climb but the view was completely obliterated by cloud. We couldn’t see a thing”, said Julie, an admin assistant with the East Midlands Probation Service.
Julie said they were all kept going by Evie, her 16-year-old niece, who led the way and sometimes had to be called back before she disappeared into the clouds. Evie was with her brother Archie (18).
“Evie has the most amazing energy and enthusiasm. She never stopped leaping up and down like a flipping mountain goat!”
After a quick change of clothes and warm-up in the café at the top of the mountain railway, the group were soon making plans for a return visit!
“We missed so many views that we’re thinking of doing it all over again later in the year. But next time it will almost certainly be on the spur of the moment – we’ll pick a day when the weather forecast is sunny!”
Thank you, Julie, Martyn, Evie and Archie! Their fundraising page is still open if you would like to make a donation. Please visit:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/julie-groom-1718298850159
Tony Britton
Senior Fundraising Consultant, The ME Association
tony.britton@meassociation.org.uk Mob: 07393 805566
