Rugby League fan aims for Everest
Former Army commander and Castleford Tigers fan Leslie Binns is raising money to attempt a second climb of Mount Everest.
Binns has done tours in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan and was given the special commendation for bravery after losing the sight of one of his eyes after being hit by an explosion in his final tour.
He attempted to climb the world’s biggest mountain last month and was just 500 metres from the top when he rescued an Indian woman named Sunita Hazra – a complete stranger to him – who was struggling as she began her decent down.
Binns said: “It was going quite well. It (finding Sunita) happened at the summit, the last part of the climb I’d been there nearly two months and I had a couple of good days and a couple of bad days as you would in that time.”
“When I’ve been on the TV and the news they have set up live links and I’ve talked to her like that. I’ve talked to her recently but she’s going in for more operations on her hands so I will get back in touch with her and see how she is.”
Now, he is raising funds to do it again and he will be donating the money to ABF, the soldiers charity, England and Wales Mountain Rescue and his local rugby league side Dearne Valley Bulldogs.
“What I am trying to do is raise money for the ABF Soldiers Charity, Mountain Rescue and my local rugby league club which is the Dearne Valley Bulldogs,” Binns said.
“Also I’m going up the north side from Tibet as well instead of the south side which I did last time.”
“The guy that set up the page put £1 million pound down which is a bit far for me but that’s what he reckons we can raise.
“But once it gets out there to the public you never know. The only thing I’ve been doing is sitting on my computer getting the word out through Facebook but I haven’t had a chance to do anything a bit more physical.
“But we are going to do the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge, there is a guy climbing Kilimanjaro in January to try and raise money.
“I’m writing to all different companies to try and get sponsors on board and a few other things and some of the charities have links to sponsorship and hopefully they can bring a bit of positivity to the table.”
The page is currently at around £2,000 and the proceeds will be split 40:40:20 with the Dearne Valley Bulldogs getting 20%.
If you wish to donate, his page can be found here.