Scotland: 80-year-old to climb 282 munros in 1,200 days in honour of wife with dementia

An 80-year-old Nick Gardner's life turned upside down when his beloved wife Janet was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s as well as vascular dementia two-and-a-half years ago. To turn the 'awful situation' into a charity fundraiser he decided to climb 282 mountains within a span of 1,200 days in honour of his wife.

Nick Gardner, who had discovered his love for mountains as a small boy in Leicestershire, England, got to live his dream once he moved with his wife Janet to spend the rest of his life in the Scottish Highlands. In Scotland, mountains with a height of more than 3,000 feet are known as Munros and Nick decided to climb them all after his wife was admitted to a hospital last year.

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249 more Munros to climb

According to LADbible, Nick decided to climb all the Munros in Scotland as a way to distract his mind from his wife's illness, which was devastating news for him at the time. Nick had initially planned to start the challenge in April this year after his 80th birthday but the COVID-19 pandemic spoiled everything and the octogenarian had to reschedule everything. Nick started his challenge a couple of months ago and so far he has climbed 33 Munros in 80 days and has raised nearly £5,000. 

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According to a blog post shared on the website Nicks Munros Challenge, the elderly man has climbed 32,718 metres to date, which is over 1,07,000 feet. While completing his challenge in the mountains of Scotland, Nick has met several people, whom he describes as "generous" because of their contribution to the funds being raised by him. 

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The mission of the fundraising campaign is to improve the bone health in the UK and prevent osteoporosis, influence healthcare providers and professionals to deliver high-quality healthcare so that people are assessed and treated for osteoporosis earlier, and to drive the research and development of new treatments and therapies that will ultimately beat osteoporosis. 

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(Image Credit: Nicks Munro Challenge/Website)