Natasha Lambert on the summit of Cairn Gorm with support team, including Heather Morning, right
A young disabled woman completed the ascent of the UK’s sixth highest mountain to raise awareness of her charity.
Natasha Lambert, who has cerebral palsy, was helped to the summit of Cairn Gorm by Mountaineering Scotland’s mountain safety adviser Helen Morning.
The 18-year-old Isle of Wight woman normally uses a wheelchair, but partly made the ascent of the 1,245m (4,085ft) peak with the aid of a special wheeled walking device. The 5½-hour ascent of the munro was the latest event in her Sea and Summit Scotland challenge.
Ms Lambert, who lives with athetoid cerebral palsy, commands a yacht which she sails by sucking and blowing into specially adapted controls. After her successful Cairn Gorm summit, she made her way to Fort William to take to her boat Miss Isle Too.
She was supported by her dad, Gary, mum Amanda, nine-year-old sister Rachel and a team of helpers including Ms Morning.
The team was needed to help guide Ms Lambert over the steep rough, terrain, including lifting the walking device bodily over boulders. The group faced weather ranging from sunshine to hail and winds of more than 25mph on the summit.
One of her most arduous parts of the day was the descent. Her position in the walker makes walking downhill feel extremely precarious. Her support team helped prevent her from descending dangerously quickly.
The adventurer and her team are undertaking Sea and Summit Scotland to raise funds and the profile of her charity, the Miss Isle School of Sip Puff Sailing. Ms Lambert said she is keen to ensure others with similar physical conditions to hers are inspired to face new challenges, including walking and sailing.
Her father said: “What Tash has just achieved is awesome. That’s a very big mountain; it’s one of the munros and she’s managed to climb to the top of it. I am in awe.”
Her mother paid tribute to the support the team had received. She said: “We are so lucky to have the great support from both the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and Cairngorm national park.”
Ms Lambert has previously summited south Wales’s highest peak Pen y Fan, and was awarded the British Empire Medal last year for her charity work.
