Royal Holloway student's bid to conquer Everest

Jun 17 2009 By Russell Butt

THE closest most students come to a mountain, is the five-foot high pyramid of empty beer cans in the living room.

Scant few ever reach the summit of a real peak, let alone that of tallest and most infamous mountain in the world. But a 21-year-old Film Arts student from Royal Holloway, University of London, hopes to do just that next year, and in doing so, will become the youngest female Briton to conquer Everest.

Tenacious Bonita Norris is squeezing intensive training sessions in-between her studies in Egham in readiness for next March's expedition which could raise thousands of pounds for Chertsey's White Lodge Centre.

Bonita aims to raise £50,000 of sponsorship through childrens' charity, Global Angels - which secures funding for projects in some of the most poverty or war stricken areas in the world.

But a portion of this will go to White Lodge Centre which offers respite and treatment for disabled children and adults and their families.

"I really wanted to help a charity that was close to home and because I am a care worker too, it all tied together perfectly," she explained, "Coming down here and meeting the children for the first time it all felt 'right'. Plus, its nice that its not just about me going to the top of Everest, but there's another reason behind it."

The remaining funds will be split between a childrens' aid project in Uganda and feeding projects in Darfur, Sudan.

The Berkshire born adventurer said the intrepid challenges she seeks out are a natural progression from her love of sports.

She explained: "I would not say that I was always an adventurer, but I have always been very sporty. I did my first half marathon, in Reading at 17, then my first London marathon at 20.

"I always just liked a challenge I read about Everest as a kid and for some reason just being completely taken by it."

In two weeks' time Bonita will traverse the Alps completing the Mont Blanc Marathon, then in August she aims to scale Mt Manaslu in Nepal, the world's eighth highest mountain. She will be the youngest person ever to climb it. An accolade she is keen to secure before she scalps the current British Everest record from 25-year-old Victoria James.

"I remember saying to my step dad at about 16 that I was going to climb Everest one day and he just said, 'Don't be stupid Bonnie'", she recalled, "I also once wrote it on a list of things I wanted to do before I died that I sent my mum, and she didn't believe me either."

When seven-times Everest climber Kenton Cool hosted a Royal Geographical Society lecture in London last year, it was the final push Bonita needed to get things underway.

She said: "I was just sat completely enraptured by it. My jaw was on the floor. I am the kind of person where if i say i am going to do something, I just have to go out full pelt and do it."

The aptly named Mr Cool will be Bonita's guide. Sir Ranulph Fiennes among the climbers who completed the feat under his guidance.
Running 40-miles per week is part and parcel of Bonita's training regime, but the reality of what she stands to achieve is still sinking in.

She said: "I was pushed on by the idea of the record - It's very surreal because of what my step dad said that day, he'd told me that only the very fittest people in the world climb Everest. I hold those people in such high regard, that I can't believe that I might be one of them. I feel extremely lucky."

Friday last week was the final day of the academic year at Holloway. But true to her dedication, Bonita's evening was spent somewhat differently to her friends.

"They all were going out and drinking, but I ran 16 miles, then went to sleep," she confessed.

To sponsor Bonita, visit www.bonitanorris.com