Iceland executive chairman Richard Walker has revealed how he almost went blind after climbing the summit of Mount Everest and suffered a panic attack sitting next to a corpse.
The businessman, 42, embarked on the challenge over the spring break to raise £1million for the Iceland Food Charitable Foundation (IFCF), which is building the world’s first Rare Dementia Support Centre.
Upon reaching the peak of the world’s tallest mountain, Mr Walker said the water in his drinking bottle was frozen solid in temperatures of almost –50°C (–58F) during the coldest May in living memory.
It was also there that his eyesight started to deteriorate due to a retinal haemorrhage, losing around 60 per cent of his vision, The Grocer reports.
Mr Walker was forced to sit down on the mountain top, next to a dead body perfectly preserved from a climb in 2021.
Richard Walker, 42, executive chairman of Iceland, pictured with the Princess of Wales, climbed Mount Everest as part of a challenge for the company’s charity endeavours
Richard Walker posted on Instagram: ‘After months of training, an exhilarating and challenging journey and plenty of support along the way we have reached the summit of Mount Everest’
The father-of-two said: ‘I still had another eight hours of descent ahead of me, with no water, and I just lay there, next to a dead body, utterly terrified.
‘The wheels came off, emotionally, I was scared, and losing a lot of energy.’
Mr Walker was accompanied by veteran mountaineer Kenton Cool, who had previously scaled the mountain in Nepal a total of 17 times.
But he said that Cool ‘was in a bigger mess, and starting to shake’.
As the pair struggled to make their way down the mountain, they spent a second night at Camp 4, situated in Everest’s ‘death zone’ above 8,000m.
Despite running out of oxygen, Walker’s vision gradually returned and they successfully made it back to Kathmandu.
Just three weeks later, Mr Walker, who is the son of Iceland’s founder Sir Malcolm Walker, was in Iceland HQ’s Deeside being cheered by colleagues.
But he said his return to work was too soon and even as an experience climber, he had underestimated the physical and mental strain of the journey.
Upon reaching the peak of the world’s tallest mountain, Mr Walker said the water in his drinking bottle was frozen solid in temperatures of almost –50°C (–58F) during the coldest May in living memory
Mr Walker (pictured in conversation with the Princess of Wales) recently announced plans to stand as Conservative Parliamentary Candidate at the next general election and was placed on the party’s shortlist of approved candidates
Mr Walker also said he had an ‘epiphany’ about the success of his company and career and vowed to use Iceland’s platform ‘to do more good things in the communities we serve’.
Among its endeavours is the Rare Dementia Support Centre, which is carrying out research into the causes of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Other measures include the Iceland Food Club’s interest-free microloans scheme, which was awarded a Gold Lion at this year’s Cannes Festival.
Mr Walker recently announced plans to stand as Conservative Parliamentary Candidate at the next general election and was placed on the party’s shortlist of approved candidates.
Although not one of the ‘big four’ supermarkets, Iceland is performing well against its competitors with £4bn sales last year.
The company has also taken steps to help shoppers through the cost of living crisis. This week it announced a 20 per cent reduction on 500 lines – a £26m investment – to go hand-in-hand with a giant ‘meal deal’ on 1,000 lines.
Mr Walker hails the step as unparalleled among UK supermarkets and adds that it means shoppers can feed their families for £10.
In the New Year, Iceland also renewed the price freeze on its value frozen food range for another 12 months, keeping over 600 items from its £1 or Less range as near to £1 as possible. Around 20 per cent of Iceland’s range is included in the policy.
