In October 2005 Laura, Joe, Niamh & Andrew made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro. and in doing so they raised €4,000 for the Association! Here is Laura’s account of the journey.
Kilimanjaro – The Summit
By Laura Fingleton
On the 20th of October last, myself, Niamh, Joe and Andrew set off on what was to be one of the most physically challenging experiences each of us had ever undertaken.
After a year of planning our trip, fundraising, which I feel was almost more difficult than the actual climb, and working together as a team on our fitness, it was finally here. From face-painting on all-Ireland final days, bag-packing in Tescos, numerous table quizzes, approaching businesses both large and small, articles in the print media, appearances on TV3’s Ireland AM, a slot on 2FM’s Newstalk, there was lots to do!
The four of us had agreed from the outset that raising awareness was equally as important as raising funds. We are very proud of the awareness we raised about cleft lip and palate as well as highlighting the fact that there is support out there for those born with a cleft and for their parents/siblings in the form of CLAPAI. Indeed, personally as someone born with a cleft, I was particular touched when people who also had a cleft saw our t-shirts on our face-painting days/Tesco bag-packing days and came up to chat to me – many never even knew that CLAPAI existed! They were very supportive of what we were trying to do.
In the months nearing the destination date, things got very hectic indeed. Here’s a snippet from my fundraising diary, which gives an idea of the preparation needed:
Tuesday 10th of September
- Emailed President of D.C.U. re. Sponsorship.
- Rang Garda Siochana – Portlaoise and got ok re. Electric Picnic Camping Fundraisig idea.
- Rang Walshe P.R. for some publicity tips – they gave me addresses and points of contacts of radio stations throughout Dublin, speaking with Mary Bodely.
- Emailed Tesco Ireland re. Bag-packing permission
- Emailed Croke Park re. Collecting on All-Ireland Final day
- Emailed TV3 Ireland AM as regards re-appearing just before climb to raise awareness about CLAPAI and what we do etc.
- Emailed P.O.D. organising Electric Picnic re. Campsite idea.
- Spoke to John re. Fancy Dress Hike at beginning of Semester.
- Emailed Martley’s Bus-hire re. Organising buses for Electric Picnic Day.
- Emailed Laois Hire re. Portaloos for Electric Picnic day.
When the months of fundraising, jabs and fitness work drew to a close there was nothing left to do, but climb the mountain!
We flew from Dublin to Nairobi via London staying in Nairobi for one night. We set off the following morning on the daylong drive through Kenya to the little town of Arusha in Tanzania. That first night in Nairobi, the four of us were apprehensive, Nairobi is a dangerous city so we were a little uneasy and on edge. While we were physically prepared for the climb, I myself wondered how much we’d have to push ourselves mentally. Our training involved climbing some of the highest mountains in Ireland – Carrauntuohill and Mt. Brandon and also smaller hikes in Wicklow as well as regular jogging but Mt. Kilimanjaro stands at 5,895m in height (the tallest free standing mountain in the world) – Carrauntuohill is 1039 m so altitude sickness would be a real concern.
We spent the next six days on the mountain. It took four days to ascend and two to descend. We were careful to take it at a nice slow pace as our guides advised that ‘pole pole’ (slowly slowly) would give us more chance of making it to the summit – your body copes better with the change in altitude if you give it time to adjust. The first day’s hike took only four hours and was mostly through rain forest, it was very scenic although we did encounter a particularly nasty “long-drop†in the middle of the rainforest, swarming with flies and not exactly smelling of roses. We arrived at base-camp and found our tents had already been set-up by our guides as well as our dinner having been pre-prepared, this was a pattern that continued throughout the climb which was great!
During the following days, the scenery changed dramatically – rainforest to scrub to rubble and finally to the desert between the two peaks of Kili. After the tough and thirsty scrambling during the day, we’d reward ourselves with charades and singsongs by candlelight as we looked out over the plains of Kenya from our great height. We didn’t encounter too much wide-life, bar the odd huge crow…although the rat-infested caves were definitely not the nicest when munching sandwiches during pit stops. By the third day, most of us were feeling the affects of altitude sickness, the headaches being the worst. Then came the final stretch.
We awoke at five on the fourth day for our summit attempt from Kibo Hut to Uhuru Peak. We all felt pretty exhausted at this stage and both Niamh and I were feeling particularly rough suffering from all the symptoms of acute altitude sickness. Trying to climb while feeling like this was a real challenge and about an hour into it, I personally thought I would have to turn back. But we’d put too much of ourselves into preparation for this thing that we couldn’t just turn back.
Close to Gilman’s Point, the summit – 200m from the top – I felt very ill. Our head-guide, Reginald, a lovely local Tanzanian, felt I should start descending as he was concerned that I was putting my body under too much strain. Serious symptons of altitude sickness are high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) or high altitude cerebral edema (HACE), which can be fatal. Our watchful guide asked me how bad I felt, and if I thought I had it in me to continue. I had a real think, I felt pretty awful but was unsure, things that ran through my head at that time, were a) the amount of work it took to get to here (for us, our friends & our families!) b) the four of us had pledged to reach the top for CLAPAI c) maybe everyone else was feeling as bad as I was but I just wasn’t coping as well, I decided to continue.
Without Reginald’s continuous words of encouragement and giving out, when I requested just another 5 minutes during our frequent pit-stops, I don’t think I could have made it to Gilman’s Point, every time I sat down to rest, my eyelids refused to stay open, my stomach was churning and I just felt like curling up in a ball and sleeping for a week. But, when I waned, the others muttered words of encouragement in between their own gasps for more air and when I thought they needed a boost, I returned the favour.
Without totally being aware of it, we suddenly found ourselves at Gilman’s Point, the summit! We were thrilled but absolutely wrecked! The three guides with us encouraged us to drink water and eat some biscuits before the attempt to go another 200m across the ice-glaciers to Uhuru Peak. I looked at the others, and admitted I was feeling very unwell, and thought it might be best if I turn back and they continue. Andrew was also feeling particularly bad , suffering from an acute headache, exhaustion and dizziness. Niamh and Joe felt ok to continue. Andrew and I started our descent to Kibo hut with one of the guides. Saying goodbye to other two was very hard, Andrew and I desperately wanted to continue – the four of us were a team. We wished Niamh and Joe the best of luck and began our descent to Kibo hut, which took about two hours, it had taken about seven to ascend!
On the way down, we were still very ill which in a way was reassuring as it proved continuing to gain altitude would have been a real risk. We fell through the door of our tents and conked out, still rigged out in our many layers of clothing. We both fell asleep mid-conversation about how worried we were about Niamh and Joe. About four hours later, Niamh and Joe peaked into the door of the tent, they’d made it to the top and we were truly delighted for them…they spoke animatedly about the ice-cliffs they’d seen, we all shared a well-earned meal together and then had to pack up to descend to the next base-camp as the guides felt we all needed to get to a lower altitude, it was very difficult as the temptation to stay and sleep was hard to fight. Once we got moving, we were ok and noticed our condition dramatically improved during our descent.
The following day we spent hiking down to the bottom…and at the last camp we felt a real sense of achievement but also great sadness at leaving this great mountain. It was an amazing experience and one the four of us will never forget.
We like to say a huge thank you to all those who supported us.
