Climbing Mount Everest would be a daunting challenge for anyone. However, Saltash fire cadets took on the climb last Friday, but not in the Himalayas... Their Mount Everest was the training tower outside the fire station, but they did scale the height of Mount Everest – 29,028ft. Each of the 19 cadets, aged between 12 and 17, climbed 3,000ft – in other words, they had to cover the distances up and down a total of 30 times, wearing their uniform plus wellies and helmets – not easy on a warm weekend. The challenge, which raised a total of £2,500 for the cadets' funds, was dreamed up by fire cadet Lewis Parker, and the event was organised by firemen Jim Mullinger and Mike Parker. The cadets began their climb at 7pm on Friday evening, going on until midnight, then they started again at 9am the following morning, completing the challenge at 4.30pm. One of the sponsors, Huw Jones, manager of Barclays Bank, also took part and did 60 climbs. During the evening, Colin Worden of Mortgage Money presented a cheque to the cadets. Over three years the firm has given £5,000 to the cadets' funds. I joined the Mount Everest challenge on the Friday evening, wearing a tracksuit, together with a fireman's helmet and gloves. Fireman Mike Parker accompanied me as I climbed just 80ft up the ladders to the second stage. Difficult It was quite difficult, and the descent was equally hard, but maybe I am not quite as strong or young any more! I returned to 'base camp' to watch the cadets – my mountaineering will have to be experienced through the achievements of others, but at least I attempted to scale my bit of 'Mount Everest'. Overall, the challenge went very smoothly, with no one falling off! Apart from feeling a bit tired, the cadets reached the summit and, thanks to their tough training, will qualify towards becoming our fire fighters of the future.