The speaker for our June supper meeting was Ella Murphy, the granddaughter of one of our members. Last year Ella was one of a group of 36 students who did a sponsored climb of Mount Kilimanjaro, and she raised over £3,000, half of which paid her expenses. (We learned that there are 150 support staff involved in a climb like this). The rest was raised for a charity which provides clean water in Kenya.
The climb took four and a half days. Kilimanjaro is just under 6,000 metres high so it was a steady upward slog from day one. Ella suffered from altitude sickness from the second day which meant that she didn’t sleep well and didn’t want to eat the food she badly needed to keep her strength up. She was full of praise for the support she got from the group (who applauded her when she managed to eat something!) and also for the constant help she got from her personal guide. Each member of the group had a guide assigned to them for the trip.
The final push to the summit started at 10.30pm on the third day, so the group wore head torches. Much of the climb was on hands and knees. Sunrise was at 5am and there was then an ice field to cross before they reached the summit at 11am. Amazingly, all but three of the group reached the summit and Ella was one who made it to the top.
This was a very honest account of what is involved in a venture like this – even for a young person who is physically fit (Ella is a rower) it is an endurance test, both physically and psychologically. It sounds glamorous and exciting when you reckon without the altitude sickness, the physical tiredness, the loss of appetite and the steep gradients. So I think that we now have a much better understanding of what it means when we hear that someone has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro – and a real respect for their achievement.