Vice president conquers new heights
Vice President Michael Scully has climbed Island Peak in Nepal to raise money for Save the Tiger WWF
June 29, 2011
After working with WWF in Germany, the world's largest independent conservation organisation with more than 5 million supporters worldwide, Appco Group Vice President (VP) Michael Scully decided to do something special and raise money to help Save the Tiger WWF. After months of intense training and preparation, Mr Scully flew out to Nepal at the start of May 2011 for a four-week trip to climb Imja Tse, better known as Island Peak, a mountain in the Himalayas which stands at 6200m - almost 21,000ft.
It took Mr Scully more than two weeks to trek to Island Peak Base Camp over three of the highest mountain passes in the world. “Some of the trekking days were the most physically demanding days of my entire life (on the trip I lost 11kg in weight) and the things that kept me going were the same things I used in the field and building my organisation - keeping my mind firmly on the goal and simply not giving up at any point” he said.
“The trip was an absolute adventure and a wonderful opportunity to become immersed in the Nepalese culture as I spent the entire time alone with Sherpa's most who didn't speak great English, but enthusiasm and body language go a long way in communicating with people!
“I'm very proud of hitting my goal and had an amazing feeling of accomplishment on summiting after a seven-hour climb which started at 1am. I even had a few tears in my eyes as I got to the top” he recalls.
WWF works with the governments, partner organisations and local people in each of the countries where tigers struggle to survive.
Michael has already set his next goal: he wants to climb Mt Everest, the world's highest mountain at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level, in May 2013. In the past 100 years, wild tiger numbers have plummeted by around 95 per cent, to as few as 3,200. You can make a donation via Michael Scully’s page: http://www.justgiving.com/Michael-Scully. You can also visit Michael Scully’s blog to read more about his adventure in Nepal http://appcogroup-de-wwf-support.blogspot.com/
