A Bermudian decided to climb a glacier mountain to raise cash for needy youths wanting to go college.

Andrew Green, 29, took on Washington's Mount Rainier last Friday.

He didn't make it to the peak, but was able to raise more than $6,000 with the assistance of "surprisingly generous" friends.

Their donations will go to Knowledge Quest. Founded in 2001, it provides students with limited financial means a "last resort" scholarship.

Mr. Green, along with close Bermudian friends Jon Legere and Sam Grobe, battled steep inclines, fast walking paces, dramatically changing weather conditions and altitude sickness on Mount Rainier.

n the end however, they were hit by a blizzard which cut visibility to zero, and failed to get to the top of the 14,411-foot mountain.

Mr. Green told The Royal Gazette: "Actually I think even if we made the summit, on the day we wouldn't have been able to see anything. So while the act of summiting was taken away, the blizzard and the intensity of it made it a more rounded experience."

Mr. Green said he chose to benefit Knowledge Quest as the charity has helped him and his family immensely.

He explained: "Well my family set up a charity a couple of years ago called the Green Family Scholarship and Knowledge Quest helped us out in that. Even today they vet out all of our interview candidates and they have been incredibly helpful to us. Without them we wouldn't be able to run our charity."

The Greens give annual scholarships of $5,000 each, to ten Bermudian students to further their education abroad. In addition Mr. Green's grandfather has set up a full scholarship system at Prospect College boarding school in Jamaica, and is currently helping 35 underprivileged students pay their way through high school.

Mr. Green said "We just think education is the most important thing and something my family has been involved with for years now.

"There are undeniably headaches [in organising the charity], but it's absolutely worth it. Sometimes when you announce the scholarship winners they are in tears, and you can't help but feel good about helping someone who needs it so much"

Like Knowledge Quest, the Green Family Scholarship gives financial support to people in need <\!m> approximately two-thirds of the recipients would not be able to go on to college without such assistance.

Mr. Green has already reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. He says he will try to climb the Matterhorn in Switzerland next summer, in honour of his late mother's climb 25 years ago.

"This is something I have wanted to do all my life. My late mother always said she would climb it with me but unfortunately she passed away when I was nine so it would be my proudest moment to be able to do it."

> To donate to Knowledge Quest visit www.knowledgequest.com or to find out more about the Green Family Scholarship visit www.greenfamilyscholarship.bm.