Colleagues of a Fort William shinty player hurt in India have raised more than £21,000 to help his recovery – despite the weather making it a tough challenge.
Bryan Simpson, Craig Forbes and Darren Quigg pledged to complete the Three Peaks Challenge for their friend James Tangney.
Mr Tangney, 28, was left temporarily paralysed from the neck down after an accident in India late last year resulted in a broken neck and spinal cord injury
He underwent intensive surgery abroad before being flown back to Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital for rehabilitation.
The trio set out on their intrepid adventure on August 8 up Wales’ tallest peak Snowdon, before setting their sights on Scafell Pike in the Lake District.
As heavy showers and thunderstorms battered the north yesterday, the trio began their final assent up Ben Nevis in the hope of reaching the summit. However, the group were forced to turn back at 4,000ft.
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They wrote on social media: “Three peaks completed 16hrs 12mins. Unfortunately never summited the Ben, adverse weather at 4,000ft.”
The group have so far raised more than £21,000 for the cause, smashing their initial £3,500 target.
Fellow member Ross Wilson, who took on the challenge of transporting the fundraising team on their mammoth 475-mile journey, praised the men for facing such harsh conditions head on.
He said: “Huge respect for putting themselves through so much pain and still managing still to have a laugh all the way through right up till I dropped them all of at home. The thought of them even getting out of the car and heading up the Ben in those conditions was actually quite worrying.”