Jonathan Davies of the Cleveland Fire & Rescue Service is well on his way to achieving one of his lifelong ambitions by attempting to climb Mount Everest from the renowned north side in Tibet.

This is the famous route that Mallory and Irvine took in the 1920s. The expedition left on 3rd April and hopes to make the summit sometime in May, depending of course on the weather and how well they acclimatise to the altitude. "Everest's summit is at 8,848 metres and we expect it will take us nine hours to climb the last 500 metres as the oxygen level is only 30% of that at sea level," explained Jonathan.

To help him on his way, Excelerate is providing financial support as well as critical communications backup with lightweight satellite communications comprising a ruggedized laptop and a BGAN satellite terminal (in partnership with Thales) with £1000 worth of satellite airtime. This communications kit is capable of enabling Jonathan to communicate with anyone in the world, including his family back home, the media and his sponsors.

The BBC aired an interview with Jonathan before he left the UK and will be broadcasting live links with him during the trip. Jonathan will be using the equipment supplied by Excelerate and Thales for this, as well as for keeping a regular blog, which you can follow at: jdaviesoneverest.blogspot.com We all wish him and the rest of the Everest team every success.