Karen’s Kilimanjaro Climb for Cancer Care

Symptoms of altitude sickness include severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, lack of appetite, insomnia, fatigue and dehydration. And, as if all this weren’t enough, we were going to be camping out in small tents with little or no sanitation – and not a shower in sight!

So why on earth did I want to do this? On the positive side, I needed a challenge and surely this would be one. I read somewhere that the group most likely to succeed was females over-50s (well, being of “a certain age” has to have a plus point somewhere!) – and here was a way to raise to money for a cause I very much support and get to climb a really impressive mountain, something I had never done before.

Preparations

Before I knew it I was signed up, issued with a list of equipment, ideas on how to fund raise and all I had to do was raise £2,900, sort out my visa, have my jags, do a bit of training and then turn up at the airport, meet the other 39 “challengers” and get ready for a group photo. Not really that difficult if it meant that I could contribute to raising money for Macmillan Cancer Relief and the fantastic work that it does.

A number of people I spoke to before leaving questioned whether this wasn’t just some sort of “jaunt” and a cheap way for challengers to get a good holiday. I understand their point but the challenges do raise money (currently our group has raised approximately £125,000).

My initial worry was raising the £2,900. As it turned out, this was totally unfounded thanks to the amazing generosity of so many local people. I was totally humbled at the donations I received from people of all ages and all incomes. They are too many to mention individually but I am incredibly indebted to them and to all those who helped me in my fund raising events. I really felt I had an easy task and the Aberfeldy community should be exceptionally proud of themselves. Thank you all so much.

Charity challenges are not a “jaunt”. On my trip, one lady had raised £12,500, others were on their second, third and fourth trips and, in successive years, had given up a week of their annual leave. And it isn’t an easy option.

Although you don’t need specialist climbing equipment, you do need either to buy or borrow good outdoor gear – I made an expensive blunder in that I bought boots which fitted with one pair of socks on but were purgatory with two. I totally panicked with just two weeks to go when I couldn’t find a comfortable pair of boots and, had I realised just how much it was all going to cost, I would probably have opted for walking the Sahara, but I am so glad I got as far as I did.

The Trip

40 “challengers” all congregated at the Machame Gate (see picture above), waiting for our 80-strong support team to get ready. Each day we were only to carry a day pack with whatever clothing we needed for that day whilst seemingly juvenile, miniscule but heroically strong porters carried our big packs effortlessly balanced on their heads – no hands! Before the “off”, the porters had their baggage weighed as they should carry no more than 25kg each. Every day an assortment of pots, pans, cooking utensils, gas bottles, water containers, backpacks, food, tents, chairs, tables, would be carried by these amazing porters who strode by the “challengers” with gargantuan loads, looking as if they were out for an afternoon stroll.

Porters ready, challengers loaded up with their obligatory 2-3 litres of water and their soon-to-be-familiar packed lunch boxes, group photo taken – and we were off. First camp was made just above the tree line and the southern sky was the clearest possible and the second day we woke to views and more sunshine. Unfortunately this trend was not to continue and, come mid-morning, a wet mist descended – vaguely reminiscent of a wet day on a Scottish hill – and that really was the end of the views. Each day we walked for 6-9 hours in varying degrees of damp to wet, with not a view in site.

On the second and third days people started feeling slightly nauseous or were off their food or couldn’t sleep because of the altitude but on we plodded at the pace set by our wonderful guide, slow to dead slow: a bit frustrating at first but obviously designed to make us pace ourselves and try to get us to the top.

Only on the fifth day, late afternoon, the sun did come out, an hour from our final camp at 4,600 metres, from where we would leave at midnight on the final ascent to catch the sunrise at the top of the mountain before the walk back down. Two members had already been sent down the mountain with altitude sickness and another with a chest infection, but everyone else was nervous but determined to give it their best shot.

However, by the time we reached camp an hour later, the wind had got up and minutes after getting to our tents it began to snow. An hour later a blizzard was blowing with winds of 40-50mph. The porters still managed to produce a three course meal with hot drinks, but our guides started looking worried and at 9pm we were told it would be too dangerous to start in the dark at midnight but we would try at 6am when, generally, the weather is likely to break.

At 5am there was a ‘knock’ on our tent and we were told that the weather was too bad. Dislodging a foot of snow from our tent and walking out into a blizzard, we all knew it was the right decision but it is difficult to describe how devastated we all were. We were all prepared to fail because of altitude sickness, over which we had no control, but it had actually never occurred to any of us that we would not get the chance to try because of the weather – and the guides were equally amazed that the weather would be like this.

A very subdued group made its way down the mountain in the rain until we eventually reached the Mwenka gate, now in brilliant sunshine, in late afternoon, all in shorts and T-shirts with our packs filled with wet clothes and sodden waterproofs. Not getting to the top was made harder by the fact that the weather was very unusual – the following week I went on a safari when the temperature at midday was 45oC, as unusual as the weather on Kilimanjaro, and there is a lot of discussion in Tanzania about climate change.

I was disappointed not to have the chance of trying for the top but the purpose was to raise money for Macmillan and, at least, I was pretty successful with that. Currently I have banked about £6,000 and I am really grateful for an amazing experience.

Karen Banyard