Father and son trek to K2 and Broad Peak base camps for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation

Father and son team Robert and Daniel Holland have completed a 16-day trek through Pakistan’s remote Karakoram mountain range - one of the world’s toughest high-altitude terrains - raising over £4,000 for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation and Cash for Kids.

In August, the pair set out to reach the base camps of Broad Peak and K2 - the 12th and second highest mountains in the world. The causes behind which Robert has been fundraising for meant the journey into the mountains also carried a deeper meaning for him. Having known Doddie during the early days of his diagnosis with motor neuron disease (MND), Robert placed a My Name’5 Doddie Foundation headband at the Gilkey Memorial near K2 base camp - a tribute to Doddie’s legacy and a symbol of pushing yourself through hardship to support others.

Far more remote than Mount Everest in Nepal - to even begin their challenge, Robert and Daniel first travelled to Islamabad, then took a 90-minute flight to Skardu, before enduring a 10-hour jeep journey to the end of the road in Askole - a small mountain village that sits 3,040 metres above sea level.

From Askole, they trekked 25-30km each day, along a route which took them across the Baltoro Glacier, one of the world’s longest glaciers outside of the polar regions, with a length of 63km (39 miles).

With no villages, no phone signal and no outside support, their only company was a team of local guides and porters, plus other fellow trekkers from around the world. The days were relentless: up at 5.30am for breakfast, hiking until midday, a brief stop for lunch, then continuing on for four hours before finally setting up camp for the night.

Conditions were extreme: “The temperatures were at record high, so reached 85 degrees on most days, but dropped to -10 at night. Daniel and I both got sunburn and frozen toes!” Robert recalled. Flooding in the area added to the challenge too - on the first day, a washed-out road forced the group to abseil down to the river using a telephone wire, and days later their intended camp for the night was swept away just hours before they got there. They also witnessed the dangers of the mountains first-hand, when a climber was tragically killed coming down to base camp, as the group was arriving.

Despite the conditions and dangers, and not to mention bouts of illness, the camaraderie of the trekking group helped pull Robert and Daniel through: “All of these were intense, but the group stuck together and supported each other all the way,” Robert said, “our group was brilliant - a 12 strong mix of nationalities of Scottish, English Pakistani, Mexican, Belgian, Dutch, Swedish - a real United Nations climbing together.”

The trek was also the fulfilment of a childhood dream, and reaching the K2 base camp was particularly poignant for Robert: “I’ve been fascinated with K2 since I was a 10-year-old boy, when I received a book about the mountain for Christmas!

“It was so satisfying to achieve a childhood dream, but to be able to do it for Doddie at the same time just seemed to make it more worthwhile. I also thought it would be a trip that Doddie himself would have appreciated, with the combination of adventure, teamwork, and banter from the international group of 12 climbers.”

Robert's advice to anyone else considering fundraising for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation is simple: “Go for it. Do a challenge outside your comfort zone - it will make you feel alive!”

Robert and Daniel’s fundraising page is still open and you can support their accomplishment with a donation by clicking here.

If you’re keen to push yourself and raise some money for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, then head to our challenge events page here, or see here to plan your own fundraising event. Whether you’re hiking, running, cycling or doing something entirely your own - every effort helps take us one step closer to a world free of MND.