A FORMER County High School student has taken on the ultimate alpine challenge to raise cash for charity.

Paul Foster and four friends – all of whom have connections with the farming community – decided to scale Mont Blanc to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Care at Addenbrookes’ Hospital and the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution.

Four of the team managed to reach the summit, while one pulled out due to altitude sickness.

Mr Foster said: “We did some practice in Scotland and the Lake District before we went but nothing prepared for us for what we faced.

“It is the most difficult thing I will ever do in my life.

“It wasn’t bad for five guys who were described as overweight, over-age and with no previous experience.”

Standing at 15,782 ft, Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe. It took the team 12 hours to reach the summit and return to base.

None of them had ever climbed a mountain of this scale before but they were aided by one of the UK’s leading climbers, John Bracey, who provided the pre-ascent training.

So far they have raised over �16,000 and this will be divided between the two charities.

Anyone else who would like to make a donation can still do so by e-mailing Mr Foster at pfoster@uap-europe.com