WHEN eight-year-old Sam Ford reached the summit of Mount Toubkal, he pulled out a watch belonging to his grandad John.

He had been carrying it with him for the entire 4,000 metre ascent, knowing his grandad was egging him on in spirit.

After taking his final step, he touched grandad John’s watch against a metal pyramid - ‘we did it, grandad’, he thought.

Reaching the summit of any mountain is an achievement for anyone, of any age.

But for Sam, from Colchester, it has been a life-changing, and possibly even record-breaking experience.

The Friars Grove Primary School pupil, along with his parents, Martin and Helen, conquered the mountain in Morocco in aid of St Helena Hospice.

Sam took on the challenge in memory of his grandad, John Walker, who was cared for by the hospice last year.

The trio started the challenge on April 11, trekking over five days to acclimatise to the altitude, before reaching he summit at 4,167m on day six.

Dad Martin said it was proving to be a tough challenge from day one.

He said: “When we first started off it was really hot, it reached 30 degrees at some points, we were walking for six hours on our first day and we stayed in a little village with donkeys.

“At one point there was a ridge on the edge of the summit which went around the side of the mountain, it was only two feet wide and we had to take our crampons off our shoes as there was rock and snow.

“It was a 1,000ft vertical drop.”

Crampons, which attach onto shoes to help climbers through the snow and ice, were alien to the family before the trek.

However they quickly became the piece of equipment they relied on the most.

Sam had to have his custom made, as they do not usually come in children’s sizes.

Having to take them off towards the end of the trek was like cutting off an arm.

The extreme conditions did not stop there.

Martin added: “It was really windy, at one point we saw some other climbers and we all had to shelter over Sam as there were 70 mph winds.

“We didn’t know whether to turn back but our guide advised us to push on.” There was big chunks of ice coming down.

“It was much more extreme than I was expecting.”

However for Sam, he did not seem to be phased by the freakish weather, and actually enjoyed being lifted into the air by harsh winds.

He said: “There was one point where I took off from the side of the mountain in the wind, I was attached to the guide.

“It was fun, I really liked flying - I got blown backwards.”

He did say he found it tricky when he had to remove his crampons, and the final nine-hour walk to the summit was a bit of a push, but even after reaching the summit he was still full of life.

Sam is one of only four children under the age of 11 to have conquered the summit and Martin has submitted an application for Sam to be awarded a Guinness World Record as the youngest child in the UK to reach the summit.

Sam decided he wanted to climb a mountain after his dad told him he would climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in October.

Sam’s grandma had given him one of his grandad’s watches before the trek, so he could have part of his grandad with him.

He said: “I feel really proud, I didn’t feel tired afterwards and I still have a lot of energy.

“I got my grandad’s watch out when we reached the summit and I touched it against a pole.” Before the trek he had said: “I know my grandad will be proud of me when I get to the top.” There is no doubt grandad John is the proudest grandad in the world.

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