Veteran adventurer faces his toughest challenge after stroke

A fundraising drive has been launched to help a world-class climber left fighting for his life after a stroke.

Friends of Malcolm Bass have launched an appeal for £100,000 in a bid to give the 56-year-old the best chance of recovery.

Within days of the GoFundme “Move Mountains for Malcolm” initiative going live, support was flooding in – and after only a week, donations had reached almost £30,000.

Last week, Malcolm, who has made many first ascents in Scotland and of high-altitude peaks around the world, said he was “amazed and incredibly grateful” after hundreds of people pledged cash.

The money will pay for specialist equipment, as well as physical and occupational therapy, at a critical phase of his recuperation.

It was in August, without warning and with no underlying health issues, that the Montane-sponsored athlete suffered the devastating stroke.

He had just spent what he called “two days of joyful climbing” in the Highlands with best friend Simon Yearsley. The stroke left the NHS clinical psychologist barely able to move, see or speak in a hospital bed in Dundee, before he underwent life-saving cranial surgery to relieve pressure on his brain.

His partner Donna James, who had rushed north from England to be with him, feared he wouldn’t survive. Malcolm was finally deemed well enough to travel home from Scotland to Yorkshire. However, his friends believe he is now facing his biggest challenge.

Simon, of Bankfoot, Perthshire, said: “The stroke flung an immensely fit athlete and adventurer into the abyss. Even as someone who has pushed himself to the limits of his endurance, he is facing the toughest challenge of his life.”

To donate visit uk.gofundme.com/f/move-mountains-for-malcolm