What better way to relax in preparation of your GCSEs? Hales student Alarna decided that she wanted to climb a mountain and not just any mountain – it was Wales’ largest beast, Mount Snowden! Dad, Nathan, said “Alarna suddenly announced over dinner one night that she wanted to climb a mountain and so part of her Christmas box was to travel to Snowdonia and climb Snowdon! To make it even more of a challenge she had to drag her uncle, Dan Wellard, and me with her. Our family has had at least one person per generation serve in the British armed forces for over a hundred years. She is currently with the local cadet force and I’m an old Sapper (Royal Engineer). So we thought we would raise some funds for the Poppy Appeal which is a cause that is close to our hearts”.  It took the trio 3 ½ hours to get to the summit, climbing up the miners trail and following the PYG track down. At -2^oC at the top it was somewhat chilly. Alarna, aching but smiling, said, ”It was an awesome experience. There are no other words to describe the feeling. The weather was great until we got to the summit where it started snowing but I am so happy to have climbed it. We have raised well over £800 with more coming in and we are thinking of tackling Scarfell Pike or Ben Nevis next”.