Meet Our Supporters – Sam Colmy and Thrudark
Meet Our Supporters – Sam Colmy and Thrudark
All of our Christmases came early at Scottish Mountain Rescue, when we discovered that we had been nominated by Sam Colmy for a donation of over £11,000 to help support our member teams.
We chatted to Thrudark and Sam Colmy to find out more about how this surprise donation came about!
Thrudark’s story
Every year ThruDark runs a “Santa’s Sack” giveaway. Members of our community are invited to donate £10 into a pot and nominate a charity of their choice. The winner is then selected at random and the money in that pot goes to their chosen charity. The winner themselves gets their hands on a bundle of kit from ThruDark and this year prizes were sponsored by brand partners including Scarpa, Garmin, Petzl, Dometic, Talos Vehicles and Nomad Mountaineering.
ThruDark is a high performance outerwear brand founded by former UK Special Forces operators. They specialise in functional, durable and protective outdoor wear for a range of activities and environments from extreme cold weather expeditions, to technical climbing, activewear and smart fabric clothing for arid climates.
As a brand designed for those who love the outdoors, particularly the mountains, the ability to donate such a significant sum to Scottish Mountain Rescue felt like a real chance for us to give back to those who make the outdoors a safer space for us all to enjoy. Having been in torrid conditions and sticky situations ourselves, we know what a dangerous job it is for the brave men and women that work for Scottish Mountain Rescue.
Sam’s Story
A little about me, so I’m 29 years old, originally grew up in London but my family moved up to central Scotland to the town of Kinross in 2007 to be closer to my mum’s family who are all originally Scottish. I love all things outdoor and adventure and adrenaline, even more so since buying a VW T4 transporter and converting it into a camper/day van for weekend activities all over Scotland. I’m a fairly keen runner, who prefers to be on the trails and in the hills than the roads. I like to hike and I have currently bagged around 43 munros so far. I enjoy climbing mostly indoors, although I recently started expanding on that by venturing out with an experienced mate from work on my first couple of experiences of winter climbing. I’m hoping to learn more and get more involved with this over the coming years.
I chose Scottish Mountain Rescue as my charity because since I have been going out onto the hills and into these remote locations, I have seen firsthand how quickly things can change or go wrong in the mountains. Thankfully I have never needed the assistance of Mountain Rescue, but I have seen Mountain Rescue in action a couple times when I’ve been out. Having seen some of the conditions that the teams operate in, it is honestly remarkable! There are some extremely skilled and hardy souls in the mountain rescue teams all over Scotland. I have great respect for everyone that volunteers their time and skills and puts their own lives in potentially dangerous situations to help others. People take it for granted that we have this service available to us so I thought if anyone could and would make great use of a donation like this then it would be Scottish Mountain Rescue.
“I was actually really quite proud that I had chosen Scottish Mountain Rescue”
When I received the message saying that I was the winner I was immediately in shock and equally excited as the bundle of gear in the prize is quite possibly the best mix of prizes for a guy like me with my hobbies and interests! A new fridge for my van and a fancy one at that, new boots for more winter activities, headtorches, a tent and winter skills course, a new Garmin watch, a 4×4 driving day plus a £2000 voucher to spend at Thrudark!! I now have some serious jackets and warm layers, which will hopefully see lots of good use over the years to come and will handle whatever the Scottish weather throws at me.
When I realised that my charity would also be receiving the donation I was actually really quite proud that I had chosen Scottish Mountain Rescue. I saw that the total amount raised was over £11,000 and I thought to myself that that would be a significant donation and I was very happy to know that Scottish Mountain Rescue will put it to seriously good use and could well play a significant part in ensuring that this outstanding service continues to operate to the best of its abilities across Scotland.