An intrepid team of Leeds firefighters gave themselves a mountain of ladders to climb at the weekend.
Around 10 firefighters from Leeds and Gipton stations took on the challenge to scale the equivalent of Mount Everest and raise money for Help for Heroes and the Firefighters Charity.
As shoppers outside Marks and Spencers on Briggate watched on Saturday, each member of the team climbed the ladder onto the roof of the store, only to go down the fire escape and then start the climb all over again.
Everest, the world’s highest mountain, stands at 8,848 metres above sea level.
The roof was around 20 metres high, meaning each fireman had to climb the ladder just under 45 times.
The event was organised by Christian Lawton from the fire service.
He said: “It’s Gipton Fire Station’s 75th Birthday and we wanted to do something to celebrate the occasion and help a good cause. We have done a lot of ladder climbs before; it’s something we are good at.
“The Everest challenge is not something we have ever tried before, and it sounded a bit different and gave us a specific aim!”
As the firefighters were busily climbing, bucket collectors were out on the street, aiming to collect around £2,000 which will be split between Help for Heroes and the Firefighters Charity.
Christian added: “We feel Help for Heroes is a very worthwhile cause, there is a lot of correlation between firemen and service personnel.
“Both roles require discipline and risking lives to help others, despite the similarities we are still in awe of what soldiers do and the extreme dangers they face, and we hope our efforts can assist those who get injured.
“The fire-fighters charity is also a good cause, they do a great job at looking after employees who have been hurt doing what they do – it’s an obvious choice for us.”
A second team of firefighters also set temperatures soaring by selling the new Red Hot Dates dates calendar featuring local firemen.
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