Nerves will disappear when I start the trek to Papua peaks
Published on 16 Sep 2010


Kate MacLennan

A Scots adventurer is planning an expedition to trek through remote forests and climb Australasia’s three highest peaks to raise cash for charity.

Ricky Munday, 33, will fly more than 8000 miles for the trip to Papua New Guinea in aid of Raleigh and MacMillan Cancer Support.

While there the 33-year-old from Bothwell, South Lanarkshire, will also gather vital information about the environment for scientists.

Ahead of his expedition which starts on November 6, he said: “The trip will be amazing. I’ve organised a few expeditions in the past.

“I am both excited and nervous about the trip. I’ve been planning it for more than a year and the closer it gets, the more nervous I get.

“But I know when I get out there the nerves will disappear.”

Ricky will be joined for part of the expedition by American Pei-Yin Lew, 24 and by fellow Scot Mark McGowan, 42, from Blantyre, who has a special reason for taking part.

Mark’s father lost an 18-month battle against cancer in 2008.

Mark said: “Towards the end of my dad’s fight with cancer, our family received incredible support from the nursing staff at MacMillan Cancer Support.

“During this painful time for our family, they made it possible for dad to come home and helped him pass with dignity, surrounded by his family.

“I’m raising funds so that other families affected by cancer can be supported in the same way.”

The expedition is expected to take two months, with the team planning to sleep in tents and hunting shelters and surviving on freeze-dried food.

They will also face many medical dangers including altitude sickness and malaria.

Ricky, who works for one of the largest development organisations as a project coordinator in Sudan, said: “We will often be days away from medical help.

“Once we leave the nearest airstrip we have to rely on ourselves. We will have a full expedition first aid kit and take the medical issues seriously.

“We will do everything we can to minimise the risk of a medical emergency impacting the expedition.”

Another purpose for the expedition will see the group collect information to let scientists monitor the condition of the peaks’ ice caps.

Ricky said: “We’ll also be collecting vital data on the existence and extent of the last few glaciers left on the island.

“These glaciers are shrinking rapidly due to the effects of climate change.

“We want to record them to help scientists understand the processes behind their demise and to document them for future generations.”

“It’s quite a unique environment because basically it’s mountains on the Equator on an island.

This is not really found anywhere else. They have been receding dramatically over the last 30 years because of climate change.

“They are going to probably disappear in the next 20 years.”

The group will create a photographic record and collect data for researchers at Glasgow University.

In recognition for his adventures, Ricky is shortlisted in round nine of British Airways’ Great Britons programme.

If he wins he will be given free flights for the expedition team members.

He said: “It’s an honour for me and the other expedition team members that the judges have selected us as potential winners in this prestigious programme. The public vote who wins.

“I would ask the Scottish public to get behind the team and vote. Those flights would make a massive difference to helping us.”

Ricky, who played rugby for Glasgow Hawks when he lived in Scotland, plans to live in Sudan for the forseeable future. His long-term goal is to be the first person to climb the three highest peaks on every continent.

He was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship to help complete the trip.

Ricky added: “Reaching the top of a mountain is always a fantastic experience, but it’s only half the journey. Getting back from the top safely will be just as important.”

To vote for Ricky to win the British Airways’ Great Britons programme visit http://www.greatbritons.ba.com/shortlists today.

This article was posted on 16-Sep-2010, 12:45 by Hugh Barrow.