Darlington mountaineer Steve Graham sets up charitable foundation

STEVE Graham's biog on the website for his charitable foundation says he "dabbles" in the mountains in his spare time. Now that really is an understatement.

He's the first person from his home town of Darlington to summit Everest, a member of an elite band of climbers worldwide who have completed the Seven Summits, and has just returned from a climb in Nepal which included "hands-down, the hardest, most dangerous day" of his life. "Ama Dablam was on another level to what I have done before. The technicality, exposure and level of endurance were intense, and for some reason, I experienced altitude headaches like never before."

Starting his bid from further away, lower down and with less rest than most of the team was always going to be tough, says Steve, but factor in to that the amount of technical night climbing, exposed ridges – just six inches wide with 5,000ft drops – being held up by a team of Ukrainians in howling winds and energy-sapping fluted snow slopes, and the 20-hour round trip was utterly exhausting.

The accommodation left a bit to be desired, too. "I’ve camped in some pretty extreme places over the years, endured gale force winds and extreme cold in a tent in Alaska for ten days, snow holes in Norway, -40c in Antarctica, to name a few, but at Camp 2 on Ama Dablam we were balanced, tied really, onto a small rock outcrop with around 4,000ft of fresh air on either side of the tent opening," says Steve. "You learn to live with a lack of sleep on expedition. There can be a lot of downtime in between rotations, where it seems you’re not doing much, but your body is working very hard to acclimatise."

Steve Graham

When he's not tackling the world's most terrifying mountains, Steve works as a self-employed plumbing and heating engineer.

He was born and raised in Darlington, excelling at sport at Hummersknott Comprehensive. After a brief stint at Barclays Bank, he took off to join the RAF as a Physical Training Instructor, which is where he learnt the various disciplines of the outdoors.

Now 48, he's still superfit, but works hard at it. "I have to train just as hard as other folk," he says. "Fitting it in around my work and after a physical day on the job can be tough, but that’s the mindset you need when tackling high mountains. When training for an expedition, I generally combine cardio and strength exercise in the gym with visits to the Lake District. There is no substitute for the mountains."

His biggest achievement, he says, is the Seven Summits, although he never really set out to do it. "The first four happened by chance and then after my wife suggested I did Everest whilst the kids could keep her company, the others were a no-brainer. When I completed them in 2019, I think I was number 118 in the world to have achieved the goal. It’s difficult to rate them in any form of satisfaction; they all mean a great deal to me. Everest was a great achievement, but the logistical issues I had made it much more difficult than it should have been. Denali took me three visits in 2011, 2012 and 2013 before I summited. The weather is notoriously challenging, creating large amounts of downtime. Stranded in your tent for up to ten days, you simply run out of supplies and have to retreat. I can be quite tenacious, and wouldn’t let it defeat me, so it was very satisfying to eventually top out on that."

Ama Dablam

Steve has never given up on a mountain, but would never say he has "conquered" a mountain either. "I feel fortunate that the mountains I have climbed and mother nature have afforded me safe passage and that I’ve returned uninjured with all my digits." He's had a few close calls over the years. "I’ve come out unscathed from three avalanches, and dropped through the odd crevasse. However, the only time I've ever had to really dig deep (pardon the pun) was on my Everest summit day." Steve's Sherpa had to give up because of illness half an hour into the summit bid, so he climbed solo for 16 hours, with very little water and eventually running out of supplemental oxygen at around 8,400m on his way down. "I sat down looking at the South Col in the distance, wondering if I could make it back. After a few minutes of trying to control my breathing and remove the proverbial razor blades from the back of my dry and damaged throat, a voice in my head told me to get up and keep moving, which I duly did. After all, the body usually wants to give up before the head, so if you can muster the strength of will, the body usually follows suit."

Everest with Victoria Pendleton and Ben Fogle

He's brushed shoulders with many famous faces over the years, in 2018 climbing Everest in tandem with Victoria Pendleton, Ben Fogle and Ant Middleton; he's friends with British mountaineering legends such as Kenton Cool, Tim Mosedale and Jon Gupta. "Although I’ve hung out with them on my trips, you don’t have to a be famous or wealthy celebrity to achieve your goals," he says. "Everyone is entitled to have ambition, dream big and aim high. All you do have to do is work hard and believe in yourself. If a plumber from Darlo can do extraordinary things, anyone can."

THE TRIPLE-S FOUNDATION

Steve set up The Triple-S Foundation in 2019 after completing his Seven Summits challenge. He was inspired to give something back to the community after seeing the positive response from children he had given presentations to about his Everest expedition. After raising a considerable amount for various charities over the years, he wanted to be able to do something on his own terms.

Steve Graham

The foundation aims to provide funding and equipment so that children and young people in the region can experience activities in the great outdoors and the numerous benefits it brings.

"If the past two years have taught us anything, it is the importance of spending quality time outside in the fresh air, something I’ve been advocating for decades," he says. "For obvious reasons, the foundation hasn’t been able to operate to its potential since its inception, but hopefully, from now on, we’ll be able to progress with local agencies and outdoor businesses in giving children and young people the outdoor opportunities they deserve."

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Steve and his Darlington team need help with local business support, sponsorship and grant applications. If you can help, get in touch with them through the "contact us" page on the website, thetriplesfoundation.org.uk