Ollie Sangster Climbs The Matterhorn

Ollie Sangster was one of Archie’s oldest friends from school and was very determined to take on a challenge in memory of his great friend and to raise awareness of teamArchie. In Summer 2016, at the age of 18 after a short stint of mountain training he set out to climb the Matterhorn, one of the most difficult peaks in the Alps.

Some words from Ollie:

Archie was a great friend of mine, who tragically passed away on the 6th of August last year. Arch has a real zest for life and made the most of all opportunities available to him, he was an extremely talented sportsman and was determined to be, and often was, the best at everything he put his mind to. Arch and I became the best of friends from an early age at Cheam together and spent many happy times enjoying each other’s company, although we went our separate ways to Marlborough and Harrow respectively, both of our competitive natures came out regularly be it on the slopes, tee, peg or court with one and other! These memories are ones in which I will always look upon fondly and treasure.

More about the climb-

The Matterhorn is one of the most recognisable mountains in the Alps if not the world (It’s the mountain on a bar of Toblerone chocolate!), it’s on the border between Switzerland and Italy and stands at 4500m above sea level. The Matterhorn was first climbed in 1865, although four of the group who made the ascent fell to their death on the descent! I am going to attempt to climb the Hornli ridge of the Matterhorn on Tuesday the 23rd of August, weather dependant, and it should take approximately 8-10 hours. I am doing it with renowned Swiss guide Kurt Lauber and we will be staying at base camp the night before prior to starting the climb in the dark in the early hours of the 23rd. If all goes well I will hopefully be placing an Archie flag at the summit around 4/5 hours into the climb whilst taking in the beautiful views and most definitely catching my breath!