An IT bod has vowed to clamber up Everest to raise £20k for Blighty's National Museum of Computing and Bletchley Park Trust - and she wants sponsorship and people to tackle the trek with her.

Astrid Byro, a tech consultant and publicity officer for the Association of C and C++ Users, is heading to the mountain's base camp, which she has reached before but this time she will be doing it to help preserve computer history.

Astrid during a previous jaunt to Everest

Byro is calling the trip "Astrid's Bloody Challenge", and described the joy of high-altitude trekking thus:

The trek to Everest Base Camp is an exhilarating and truly challenging journey through an alien, craggy, glacier-strewn landscape where oxygen is in short supply and the sun beats down relentlessly.

The sense of achievement in getting a close-up view of Everest is never to be forgotten and worth every little hardship.

Which sounds like a lovely Easter break.

The expedition will leave on 24 April next year, and anyone willing to join should fill out their paperwork by 24 November. Byro said she will, as team leader, share her knowledge and experience of the first 17,598ft of Everest with any newbies who want to come along to the base camp in Nepal.

Climbers can decide which of the two charities - both in Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire - they want to donate their sponsorship money to. Both organisations have pledged to educate young visitors who are inspired by technology of yesteryear in their exhibitions.

The National Museum of Computing will use the money raised to buy laptops to teach youngsters programming. Bletchley Park Trust will spend the cash on laptops for hands-on code-breaking and cipher classes for the 8,000 schoolchildren who visit site every year as well as historical research sessions and collaborative university projects.

To donate dosh or sponsor the trekking techie, visit her JustGiving page. To join the climb, click here. ®

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