Alarm star ready to rock Everest

Mike Peters will also perform to around 10,000 in Kathmandu

Welsh rocker Mike Peters of The Alarm will be on top of the world after trekking to Everest to perform what they say is the world's highest gig.

Peters, who has twice been diagnosed with cancer, has already played to adventurous fans at the top of Snowdon.

But he has reached even greater heights for his new fundraiser - trekking for ten days to reach Everest base camp.

Peters, 48, from Dyserth, Denbighshire, will play with other musicians such as Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook at 19,000ft.

The group are raising money for a cancer centre in Nepal, but first they faced a three-hour trek followed by a four-hour climb to reach their special stage.

Speaking from the Himalayas on Saturday, Peters, said his training in north Wales had helped him get ready.

"It's been pretty hard with the altitude. We have had to acclimatise," said Peters, a keen walker, who helped organise the Everest Rocks trek.

"There are a lot of people on our trek - 40 people, not including the sherpas and porters - and 18 went down with mountain sickness yesterday.

It's been an amazing cultural experience on many levels Mike Peters

"I have been pretty good so far. and have been able to stand up to the altitude but I did a lot of training in north Wales in Snowdonia."

Peters first beat leukaemia 12 years ago. Then in 2005, he was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CCL), a cancer of white blood cells and is still undergoing drug therapy despite being in remission.

He co-founded the Love, Hope, Strength Foundation with entertainment insurance executive James Chippendale, which has helped organise the trek for cancer survivors and musicians, to perform an acoustic concert at base camp to help build the Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital.

'Pretty intense'

Peters said the trek had been punctuated by musical moments.

"It's pretty intense, especially when you go up the steep hill parts," he said.

"We have got some great musicians on the trek and we're stopping to play music wherever we go."

He added: "Having the music with us has been pretty special. Last night in the lodge the power went out and we had a big sing-song with all the sherpas in Nepalese and it was a pretty magical moment."

After completing their Everest gig, the musicians will thank local people for their support with a concert in Kathmandu.

"I sang one of our Welsh songs - New South Wales - in one of the Himalayan villages on the way up and all the local children, they loved it," Peters said.

"It's been an amazing cultural experience on many levels."

The journey will be captured by a documentary team.

Snowdon Rocks, which was watched by around 100 walkers, raised money for two hospitals, Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan and Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, which both helped treat his illness.