During 2022, Plymouth business owner Joe Smith took on one of the biggest fundraising challenges in Devon Mind’s history — climbing no fewer than seven mountains across the world and giving up alcohol for the whole year! Initially embarking on a six-mountain challenge, Joe and his team added their biggest climb of all in October, the 5,895 m/19,341 ft Mount Kilimanjaro, to smash their £12,000 target.

Joe and his team kicked off their challenge way back in January 2022 when they climbed the highest mountain in Wales, Snowdon, which was followed by Ireland’s highest mountain Carrauntoohil in March. After an excursion to mainland Europe in April to summit all 3,715 m/12,188 ft of the highest mountain in Spain and the Atlantic Islands, Teide, they returned to the UK to tick off England’s highest peak Scaffell Pike in May followed by Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Scotland, the UK, and the British Isles overall. The initial run concluded with Castor in Switzerland/Italy.

Climbing over seven and a half miles wasn’t enough for the dedicated fundraisers, however, and in October the team of three headed to Tanzania to tackle the highest single free-standing mountain in the world — Kilimanjaro. Adding an amazing 5,895 m/19,341 ft to total just shy of 60,000 feet (18,279 metres or 11.3 miles) across the year, Joe, Craig and Jamie also brought their fundraising total up to £12,000.

Speaking to PlymouthLive shortly after the Kilimanjaro climb, Joe explained why he chose to raise money for Devon Mind:

“There’s a lot of people who are battling mental health, especially after all the lockdowns, and I just felt like it was a really worthy cause. The fact that it’s a local charity that serves the people within our own communities made a lot of sense, rather than doing it for a national organisation. I just felt like I wanted to give something back to our own community and you know they’re based in Plymouth, so it just seemed like an obvious choice to me to try and support them.”

Joe also gave up alcohol for the whole of 2022 (as if climbing seven mountains wasn’t epic enough!), commenting that “I've had a topsy turvy relationship with alcohol … It just felt like I wanted to conquer that demon as well and live life without alcohol in the mix for at least a year.” When we met for the cheque presentation photo, Joe said that he had “four beers” on New Year’s Eve, but hasn’t felt like drinking much since.

Speaking about Joe’s fundraising campaign, Devon Mind Marketing & Fundraising Manager Andre commented:

“We’ve been following Joe’s journey keenly throughout 2022. What he and his team have done is nothing short of miraculous, and all to support people across Devon looking for help with their mental health. We can’t thank Joe, Craig and Jamie enough for their truly epic contribution to Devon Mind, it’s been inspirational to watch and serves as a reminder of just how incredibly dedicated and generous the people of Plymouth and wider Devon are for our cause.”

If you want to help Joe raise even more for Devon Mind, you can still contribute to his fundraising page by clicking or tapping the button below. If you would like to take on a challenge of your own — don’t worry, it can be much simpler than climbing seven mountains! — then we recommend creating a fundraising page on our own fundraising platform and letting us know about your plans and how we can help.

Donate to Joe's fundraising page