High winds hamper dad's massive mountain challenge

A man says he has been battling high winds and injuries in his bid to climb Yr Wyddfa, or Snowdon, dozens of times to raise money for a children's hospital.

Matthew Chatting, from Denstone, near Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, started his epic challenge to try and reach the top of the Welsh peak 50 times in 10 days last Friday.

Due to the weather conditions, the target has since shifted to 41 or more summits and Chatting reached his 27th on Thursday afternoon.

"I've felt better, if I'm being honest," he told BBC Radio Stoke. "It's quite hard – it's basically an ultra-marathon every day, going up and down a mountain."

"When you finish an ultra-marathon, normally you can soak your feet and rest up for a week or two but there's no time."

Chatting, who is being supported by his wife Lucy at base camp, said each summit was a three-and-a-half-hour round trip and he was getting about four hours of rest every day.

He was hampered by heavy snow and 40mph winds on his first day, which caused him to fall down a small hole, leaving him with an ankle injury.

"You feel like you've been in a boxing ring for 10 rounds," he added.

"It's quite hard to get up there anyway and when you're in these sorts of winds, you're braced the whole time, because it's trying to take you off your feet, and you feel proper battered."

Matthew Chatting is doing the challenge to raise money for Birmingham Children's Hospital, with more than £3,400 donations so far on his fundraising page.

The hospital treated his son after he was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2016. The youngster went into remission in 2019.

"I'm here putting one foot in front of the other," Matthew Chatting said. "I can do that and it's painful but I choose to do it.

"We're doing it for the kids who, at the moment, can't and some of them won't ever be able to."

Lucy Chatting said her husband had faced some tough challenges with the weather but he was doing a "brilliant" job.

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