North-east fitness coach set to tackle Everest challenge
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North-east fitness coach Lee Donald has been inspiring others since starting her own fitness journey in 2011, a career path that has lead her to become a multi-award winning business owner and inspiration to hundreds of clients.
But never one to shy away from her own development, she is taking on a personal goal in 2024 that will see her face new and unexpected challenges as she explained: "I was at a crossroads in my life and didn't know what to do with myself. It was actually my Granny (who passed away 2 years ago) who handed me a job cut out in the paper of becoming a personal trainer. I explored it loved the sound of it. In February 2011, I went to Glasgow on a six weeks intensive Personal Trainer course. After qualifying, I started my business with no money, no equipment and no clients from my Mum's lounge.
"Three years later I bought a house and built my own fitness cabin on my property. Since then I've helped transform 100's of people lives, won 17 business awards both local, regional and national and survived a pandemic which many business's sadly didn't. This has been down to my relentless drive to succeed, work ethic, being willing to do what 99 per cent of others won't and having a strong passion for what I do."
Challenging yourself is part of the ethos of development and fitness and Lee explained what made her decide to take on this level of challenge: "I've loved the mountains since a young age when I would go on ski holidays with my Mum and sister. Everest is 'thee' mountain of all mountains so captured my fascination, watched every program on it and always wanted to stand at the top.
"In 2022, I came to the realisation after having a chat with my partner about Everest, that it was a 'now or never' situation. I had just turned 40. After this age your chance of success decreases significantly.
"I chose 'now and began to research how to make it happen.
"After overcoming a 15 year eating disorder, depression and alcohol issues, it became much more than just a dream. It was about my journey from rock bottom to the top of the world. The ultimate in overcoming all of life's challenges that have come my way. I also thrive on pushing my limits and seeing what I'm capable of."
Best described as intense, there has been a lot of training going on as she commented: "I reverse engineered the training required to successfully and safely summit Everest which naturally involved being the strongest and fittest I could possibly be. But more importantly I needed to learn essential mountaineering skills and gain experience at altitude.
"In February 2023, training officially begun with a Winter skills course on the West Coast. I learnt all the basics, summited various Munros and only three days the highest mountain in the UK (Ben Nevis) via a technical CMD arete route. It was super tough but learnt at lightning speed and really enjoyed it.
"In June, I travelled to Chamonix to gain my 1st experience of high altitude. I summited both the highest peak in Italy (Gran Paradiso) and Western Europe (Mont Blanc) in 4 days which are a combined height of Everest.
"High altitude is no joke and such a strange feeling.
"In September, I travelled to Ecuador to take on 5 high altitude volcanoes and my first 5000m and 6000m peaks.
"I successfully summited the first 3. Got caught in a crazy dangerous snowstorm at over 18,000ft in the pitch black around 3am. There was only me and my guide on the entire mountain with crevasses everywhere, zero visibility and high risk of avalanche. Luckily I had a very experienced guide and we survived.
"Despite a less than 20per cent success rate and unfortunately suffering from gastroenteritis, I managed to summit the last and biggest volcano - the mighty Chimborazo (6236m/20,547ft).
"Words can't describe how physically and mentally exhausting this was.
"In between, I've climbed more Munro's, trained hard running, cycling, using the stepper, Ski Erg machine and doing weights."
And all of this is being undertaken in aid of Friends of Anchor: "Four years ago, my Grumpa passed away and spent his last few days in the Anchor Unit. The staff were all amazing and thought this would be a great way to say thank you for everything they did for us. Also to help them to continue to be the best cancer and hematology department they can be."
Everest offers unique challenges even for the experienced climber: "There's an incredible amount of challenges and risks associated with Everest and 8000m summits.
"From the treacherous Khumbu ice fall where blocks the size of large buildings can fall off and take you out whilst trying to cross ladder with crampons on over deep crevasses ready to swallow you up, freezing temperatures causing frostbite, high altitude sickness which can be fatal, to hitting the death zone (8000m+) where it's impossible for human life to be sustained and your body breaks down, dying cell by cell even with oxygen.
"I also have exercise induced asthma where my air tubes close up when I challenge myself, triggered by the cold and heat.
"I'm an obstacle course racing athlete and was told by doctors, I would never be able to achieve my goals as a result of this. I didn't like that diagnosis so decided to prove them wrong. I got a coach, trained hard, managed to qualify for the both the European and World OCR Championships and represented Scotland!".
With training still ongoing Lee is set to head off on March 31 and return June 3.
She added: "People can follow my journey via my Facebookand Instagram. pages and it would also be amazing if people could show their support by kindly donating to Friend's of Anchor via my Just Giving Page."
Grampian Online will keep readers up to date as the challenge gets underway in the coming months.
