Michael Smith and Jack Stacy, who both work for Blackstone portfolio business Revantage Real Estate, are preparing to climb 24 mountain peaks in 24 hours in a bid to raise funds and awareness for sight-loss charity SeeAbility.
Smith, who has around 10% vision, and Stacy, whose brother Matty lost his sight after being born prematurely, have set a target of raising £150,000 ($198,250) for SeeAbility, which is celebrating its 225th anniversary this year.
The duo, who work together on property transactions as part of the firm's legal and asset management teams, will be tethered, with Stacy providing sighted guidance and support. They will have to work in unison to complete the challenge, which carries an "extreme" official grading.
Ahead of the climb, which will see the duo cover at least 28 miles, while ascending about 12,000 feet, the pair spoke to CoStar News about their motivation for tackling 24 peaks in the Lake District next month, including Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England.
Stacy, who is also chairman of SeeAbility, said: "Rather than me going off and doing something on my own, I wanted to do something to help someone else achieve something they may not be able to do on their own. So I suggested the challenge to Michael and he seemed weirdly keen."
SeeAbility is one of the oldest charities in the United Kingdom "and does incredible work supporting people with sight-loss and learning disabilities [...] so we wanted to do something big to raise awareness on its 225th anniversary," Stacy added.
Smith and his twin Dan lost the majority of their sight very quickly because of a rare disease called Leber’s Optic Neuropathy, an inherited condition that affects the optic nerve and causes sight loss in the centre of the field of vision. Smith, a trustee for the charity, talked through his feelings ahead of the challenge, insisting the working relationship developed with Stacy in London would help them to conquer the 24 peaks.
"I'm going to be so far out of my comfort zone when I'm doing this challenge because my visual acuity is diabolical. So it's going to be Jack providing me with a commentary and a bit of manual support, telling me where to plant my feet and giving me a description of what's around me."
"With Jack helping me on the challenge, it represents the impact that charities like SeeAbility have on individuals in their lives and shows that it's all possible with a bit of help."
Smith and Stacy have already raised more than £100,000 of their £150,000 target, with Revantage Real Estate, Thirdway, Knight Frank and Arthur Cox having already contributed to the cause.
They continue to train together ahead of the challenge on the first Saturday in September and have developed a set of verbal commands to communicate the terrain around them, which helps Smith to picture it in his head.
He added that SeeAbility helped him to overcome the disappointment of being unable to pursue a career in medicine after losing his sight shortly after completing his A Levels and beginning to study medicine at Bart's in London.
"I wasn't sure what the next step was going to be and there was a lot of life to live in front of me. So these charities like SeeAbility come in and tell you it's all possible within reason, and that's what I love."
"I think when I'm on transactions now, that ethos and attitude is what you've got to have, you can't do something because it's been done that way before, or hasn't, you have to find a route to 'yes' and have that glass half full mentality, especially in a very uncertain real estate market."
You can donate to Smith and Stacy's charity challenge on their JustGiving page, which is linked here.