A FATHER-OF-FOUR who is preparing to tackle the world’s highest peak will don a Santa suit in the run up to Christmas to raise cash for charity.

Dave Reeves, from Acomb, in York, plans to make his bid to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 2012 and hopes his efforts will raise £100,000 for the charity Bowel Cancer UK.

As part of his fundraising, he is inviting children to visit Father Christmas at a Victorian-themed Santa’s grotto at Deans Garden Centre, in Stockton-on-the-Forest, which opens today.

The grotto will be open from 10.30am to 4pm every Saturday and Sunday before Christmas, as well as December 21 to 24.

Dave, 30, who will be dressing up as Father Christmas to meet children in the grotto, said: “It’s a great way for parents to support charity and their kids will also get a gift.”

At 8,850-metres tall, 210 people have died on the slopes of Mount Everest and only 2,700 people have ever reached the top.

Dave, who works as a finance manager, will also experience temperatures of minus 40 degrees and oxygen levels that are a quarter of what they are at sea level.

He said: “I’m in the gym at least four times a week and I’ve just bought a gas mask, which reduces my oxygen intake down to 40 per cent, so I can get used to the altitude. I keep wanting to take the mask off because it feels so claustrophobic.”

In January, Dave, who has never even been on a mountain before, will travel to Geneva to complete a winter skills course in the Alps.

He said: “I’ll be taught how to climb with ice axes and crampons and I’ll also learn survival skills. At the end, I will climb Mont Blanc.”

Dave, who is determined to reach his £100,000 target, said he was hoping to set up a fundraising committee and was looking for volunteers.

He said: “Due to the sheer number of fundraising ideas I now have and the size of some of them, I simply cannot organise them all on my own in the 30 months I have available. For that reason I am looking to form a sort of fundraising committee who will meet every so often, discuss ideas and then move them forward with a view to raising as much as possible for Bowel Cancer UK.

“This may be an opportunity for retired people to get involved in community events or for younger people wanting to gain experience to put on their CV.

“Experience is not essential, just the desire to give up a bit of spare time for a good cause.”

Anybody who would like to get involved can contact Dave online at climb.daveoneverest.com Entry to the grotto costs £4.50 per child, including a gift. Adults are free. To sponsor Dave, log onto his fundraising page at justgiving.com/climbthehill

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