Openhouse spoke to a Liverpool Businessman who recently climbed Snowdon for charity.

We caught up with James, who recently raised money for The Red Cross by climbing Snowdon with his friends. Earlier this year he collected money in Liverpool city centre for the charity, and Openhouse were inspired by his money raising efforts.

To reward his kindness, and spur him and his team on, Openhouse sent them 30 Self Heating Meals so that they would have enough energy and warmth to complete the challenge.

Here’s what he had to say:

What drew you to support the Red Cross?

I belong to an organisation called the BNI (Business Networking International). Every year we pick a charity, and this year we picked The Red Cross.

The Red Cross has been an inspirational charity this year, helping displaced people around the world, sending aid to people in Haiti and also Nepal after the earthquakes, and even helping the wheelchair appeals that are right here on our doorsteps.

So as a group we tried to raise as much money as we possibly could by climbing Snowdon.

How did the climb go?

Really well! We started early at 6.10am and went to Llanberis to register with the organisers. After signing up, we set off at 9.30pm and I have to say, it was surprisingly more difficult than I thought it would be.

There’s two really steep gradients that I wasn’t expecting and when you got two thirds of the way up, the weather completely changed to wet, windy and cold, but we did it! Came up and then down with a quick pint at the end. We had a lot of fun and felt great about the money we had raised for The Red Cross.

How Much Did You Raise?

All in all, I’ve personally made £650 so far. A tradesman in our group refused to give out any work unless they signed up to sponsor him so he made a couple of thousand for the charity!

Did anyone struggle or were you racing up the hill?

When we finally made it to the top, we found huge enjoyment in watching the grimaced faces of the people walking up! But we too had some people with us that struggled, and I’m glad I didn’t bring my little dog, Basil, with me as he wouldn’t have made it. As for racing, there were a few fell runners and some fellas brought mountain bikes to the top so they could cycle down with GoPros on their helmets, that looked really cool.

How was your Openhouse Self Heated lunch?

Excellent, I was amazed by the product. We had a little practice before we went on the walk and were surprised by how easy they were to cook.

We weren’t able to eat them at the top as planned because the weather was so awful in the top two thirds of the mountain, but once we found cover in a warmer spot we got cooking! A bit of water and 15 minutes later we had a much needed meal. I had the pasta, it was lovely, and I hear the sticky toffee pudding went down a treat.

So what’s your next charity challenge?

They’re talking about doing a 3 Peaks, but I’m not sure if I’m up for that! There’s also talk about doing a GoApe day, which sounds a bit more fun.

A massive congratulations to James and his team, well done on the amazing amount of money raised for a very important charity. If you would like to find out more about Openhouse’s Self Heating Meals, then please visit our store today.