MEMBERS of a Wirral based mountaineering club will be trekking in the steps of two famous Birkenhead explorers for their 50th anniversary.
To mark the occasion 22 members of the Gwydyr Mountain Club will visit Sikkim in North East India to trek on the eastern boarder of Nepal on Friday April 14.
Led by founder member Roger Hughes, 72, seven members will then attempt to climb the 6,010m peak of Tingchen Khang (Tenchenkhang) part of the Himalayan mountain range.
Andrew Irvine and George Mallory left Wirral in 1924 to climb Mount Everest, after using the same path that the Gwydyr club will take through Sikkim, but never returned.
In 1999 Mallory's body was found on the north face of the mountain in a snow basin.
The route the group will trek to the peak of mount Tingchen Khang
In recent weeks the team has stepped up their training including trekking up and down Moel Famau - walking at least 10 miles and climbing 3,000 feet.
The group has also completed training through a winter snow and ice course which included an avalanche rescue.
Roger said: “This area appeals for a number of reasons.
"It has a particular place in mountaineering history in that the early Everest expeditions all passed this way – through Darjeeling and Gangtok in Sikkim and over the passes into Tibet before turning west to reach Everest from the north.
“It has local history as well because we would be in the footsteps of the 1921, 1922 and 1924 parties with Mallory and Irvine who were both from Birkenhead.”
For more information about the club and their journey visit www.gwydyrmc.org.uk.
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