Gerard McCarten, the 85-year-old Whitehaven cyclist who is aiming to reach the virtual top of the world’s tallest mountain, has reached a milestone in his attempt to complete his mammoth task by the end of October.
After battling wind and rain during the past 13 days Gerard has climbed the height of the Matterhorn (4,478m) and beyond to reach 5,311m of climbing.
This is just above the halfway point of reaching the top of Mauna Kea (10,205m) in Hawaii, the world’s tallest mountain.
On his journey the intrepid cyclist has also reached the height of the highest mountains in Australia, Mt Kosciusozko (2,228m), Mt Cook in New Zealand (3,724m) and Mt Foraker, Alaska (5,302m) and all achieved by cycling just 50m from his front door.
Gerard is now reaching out for the highest peak in America, Mount Denali, Alaska (6,190m).
His endeavours are aimed at raising funds for the Macular Society, and particularly for research into a rare genetic eye condition known as Sorsby Fundus Dystrophy. SFD can affect children but is more readily seen in adults at the early age of 40.
Gerard’s late wife, Margaret found she had the condition at the age of 40 and survived many trials and tribulations which accompany many sufferers who become severely sighted.
Gerard explained, on one occasion we had visited a restaurant with the ladies room at the top of a flight of stairs. After being escorted to the rest room Margaret insisted she could find her way back to the dining room.
He recalls: “Unfortunately, the stairs had a bend at the top and the handrail had a gap on the bend, suffice to say Margaret lost her balance and tumbled to the bottom of the stairs. Fortunately, serious errors of judgement like this were few, though it was a constant fight to assess potential hazards, but we learned to avoid most of them.
