On October 13th, forty legendary musicians, mountaineers, artists, cancer survivors and supporters will embark on the most momentous climb of their lives - “Everest Rocks” - a fourteen-day trek up Mount Everest, culminating with the first-ever rock concert at Base Camp. The climb was designed to bring awareness to and raise money for the Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHSF), founded by two-time cancer survivor and rock icon, Mike Peters of the UK band "The Alarm" and fellow cancer survivor James Chippendale, president of CSI Entertainment, one of the country's largest entertainment and sports insurance brokers.

Joining Peters and Chippendale on the 18,000 foot climb will be musical legends Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats, Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook, Nick Harper, The Fixx’s Cy Curnin and The Fixx’s Jamie West-Oram. Following long, strenuous hikes each day, the musicians will create acoustic recordings that will be fed directly to iTunes from the mountain. Once reaching Base Camp on October 23, they will perform together – a Mount Everest first - and will then hike four days down the mountain to play a finale concert in Kathmandu on October 29. Each day, people all over the world will be able to watch and listen to video, live recordings, photos and read a daily blog, and even send text messages to the rockers via www.lovehopestrength.org.

All funds raised through iTunes will go to the Love Hope Strength Foundation, and more specifically, the funds raised from this climb will benefit the Nepal Cancer Relief Society – allowing the local Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital to build the infrastructure of its clinic. In a country where the average annual income is $300 a year, the Love Hope Strength Foundation’s donation and support will go a long way to save lives.

Marmot proudly supports this event by supplying the Trekkers with much of the gear they’ll use on the climb.

EVEREST ROCKS SCHEDULE
October 1: Arrive in Kathmandu

October 13: Begin 10-day Climb to Base Camp on Mount Everest

October 13 – 22: Daily videos, live recordings, photos and a daily blog posted on www.lovehopestrength.com
Daily podcasts and acoustic recordings available to download on iTunes

October 23: Everest Rocks Concert at Base Camp

October 24 – 28: Downhill climb

October 29: Finale Concert in Kathmandu

NOTABLE CLIMBERS
The music legends will be in good company with a number of note-worthy mountaineers, two of whom are fellow cancer survivors.

- Sean Swarner, 32, is the only person in the world diagnosed with both Hodgkin’s disease at age 13 and Askin’s Sarcoma, at age 15, the latter of which resulted in the removal of a golf ball-sized tumor in his right lung. Both diagnoses were supposed to kill him within weeks. A decade later, with only partial use of his lungs, Swarner became the first cancer survivor to climb Mount Everest and more recently became the first cancer survivor to climb the tallest peaks on each of the seven continents. Swarner’s new goal is to become the fifth person in history to accomplish the “Adventure Grand Slam,” which consists of climbing the seven summits as well as trekking to the North and South Poles. http://www.seanswarner.com

- Alan Hobson, 49, achieved his dream of reaching the peak of Mt. Everest ten years ago. Three years later, he was diagnosed with cancer of the blood and given one year to live. Today, Hobson is an Everest summiteer, a worldwide adventurer and an astute businessman, following his founding of Adventrepreneur™ - which XXXX. Climb Back from Cancer – Introducing the 10 Tools of Triumph for Survivors and Caregivers is Alan’s sixth book, which he co-wrote with his wife, Cecilia. It chronicles their uplifting true story of survival and pinpoints what they consider are The 10 Tools of Triumph™ for survivors and caregivers – the key psychological skills necessary to survive life-threatening illness and thrive beyond it. http://www.climbback.com

- Jake Norton, 32, is one of only a handful people to twice reach the summit of Everest in consecutive years and has spent more than 365 days on the mountain. In 1999, Norton found the 75 year-old remains of British pioneer climber George Leigh Mallory; and in 2001 rescued Chinese glaciologists on the mountain. Norton has a wide range of experience in one of the world's most inhospitable places. Norton will serve as the photojournalist to document the trek and as second to help navigate the group safely to base camp. http://www.mountainworldproductions.com