A father and son from Douglas have climbed western Europe’s highest mountain, Mont Blanc, to raise money for charity.

Patrick and David Butterworth raised £1,700 to split between Craig’s Heartstrong Foundation and the Isle of Man Netball Development Squad.

The mountain lies in a range called the Graian Alps, between the regions of Aosta Valley, Italy, and Savoie and Haute-Savoie, France, with summit at 4,808 metres above sea level.

Patrick said after the duo achieved their mountainous task: ’The climb went well but was certainly tougher then I was expecting. We had to use crampons for large periods of time and I had never used them before so I was having to learn quickly. Thankfully the weather was good for the entire time and upon reaching the top it was clear and not too windy. The temperature was still around -15C though.

’The hardest part was coming down, climbing down a 600 metre rock face. It was very icy so crampons had to be worn, and very nerve racking, making sure the rocks were stable, as it was long way down. It took us two hours to climb up this face and another two hours to get down as we had to be very careful.’ It took Patrick and David two days to climb Mont Blanc and another two to get back down.

Patrick continued: ’We stayed in two different huts, on the first night we stayed in Refuge de Tête Rousse. From there we reached the peak on the second day then went down to the Refuge du Gouter to rest. On the third day we then climbed back down.

’I felt great afterwards, my legs were very sore, especially my calves, but in good spirits and very happy with what I had achieved. I managed to get away with only a small blister on my heel.’

Isle of Man-based eGaming firm Newfield, where Patrick works, also supported the fundraising with a donation.

Patrick said: ’I’m very happy to have raised so much and extremely grateful to everyone who donated. We chose Craig’s Heartstrong as it is my works (Newfield Ltd) charity of the year and also it is a Manx-based charity so we wanted to help a charity on island.

’My Dad climbed Kilimanjaro last year and after hearing him talk about the experience it was something I really wanted to do.

’I’d like to thank all my colleagues at Newfield for their support throughout the preparations, and for the generous donation, as well as everyone else who has supported us.’