“What did you get up to over
the weekend...?”
I don’t always have the
opportunity to provide such a satisfying response across the coffee
machine at work on a Monday morning...
“Oh…well, I flew back from
Tanzania after climbing Kilimanjaro with the most inspiring, fun and amazing
colleagues ever… whilst raising an incredible amount of money for research into
the health and wellbeing of women and babies…”
As I type the final members
of our 14-strong team are making their way back to the UK. We left just over 8
days ago as colleagues, bound together by a common employer and a common
ambition to reach the Roof of Africa. We return to sea-level bound by new
friendships and memories that will last a lifetime – friendships built through
shared laughs, fears, experiences, and a shared sense of team as we plodded our
way to the 5,895m.
As individuals we pushed ourselves to our personal limits,
to the nth degree and beyond, putting
one heavy altitude weighted foot in front of the other whilst being spurred on
the journey by our collective sense of team and sights on the ultimate
objective…
One thing that I have learned
from this adventure is the importance of celebrating success in the progress
toward a goal. The PwC Wellbeing of Women Kilimanjaro Climb the
goals were to (1) reach and surpass our 25K target and (2) challenge ourselves
our our journey to the summit of Kilimanjaro.
‘Fresh’ off the plane last Saturday evening, our
PwC team sat down for our very first dinner together in our hotel in Arusha,
Tanzania. Anticipation was running high. It was here that I realised just how
much we’d achieved already – not only had we put together a strong, connected
team with a common vision and common goals, we’d also actually made the
preparations to say ‘Yes, let’s do this..!’
Shiny new kit had been purchased, flights had been taken via cities
who’s names we could hardly pronounce, Tanzanian visas had been sorted,
overflowing bags had arrived, hotels had been booked, new boots had been broken
in… and nearly £30,000 had been raised for Wellbeing of Women through the hard
work, creativity, passion and commitment of the team.
So much achieved, so much to
celebrate - and we hadn’t even set foot on the mountain yet!
The trip continued to be jam-packed with successes. At the end of our first day on the trail we’d just
reached camp and Jess exclaimed, ‘Woohooo!!’ and gave Aysegul the hugest high
five.
That night crammed into our mess-tent, bundled into our warm jackets and
hugging hot cups of tea we raised a toast to the days achievements. Everyone
was smiling. Everyone was laughing. The team had made tremendous progress already
– Camp 1 reached – and it was only a matter of ‘onward and upward’ to reach the
following day’s objective.
The days on the trail passed quickly, broken up through ‘sippy-sippy’
water drinking stops, eating stops, photo-stops, sunscreen application stops,
and impromptu stops to accommodate frantic dancing to ‘Uptown Funk’ while gasping for breath… All the while conversations
flowed, learning more about each other and the environments we were passing
through.
I’ll never forget stopping on a walk with Martin and looking up at the sea of stars above - the
Milky Way stretched out in all her glory before our very eyes. Hundreds of
millions of stars reflecting endless possibilities, opportunities and
questions. The moon shone so bright that we were able to walk without head torches.
At one point our guide pulled us aside to show the Zebra rock – a giant natural
rock formation etched into the side of a hill that looked like a zebra’s stripy
belly. Crickets chirped and a gentle breeze whistled through the long African
grasses. London seemed like a million miles away.
Onto the ‘main event’… When
the team reached our ‘base camp’, 'Kibo Hut' at 4,750m (almost as
high as the summit of Mont Blanc!) in the early afternoon before our ‘summit
push’ the effects of altitude were starting to show. We walked across the
saddle between Mawenzi peak and Kibo, with laborious breaths, our packs
suddenly feeling heavier and every step harder than the last. This did little
to dampen Team Spirit as we settled in for the afternoon and began mentally
preparing for the challenge ahead. We would be leaving camp at 11.30pm for our
ascent.
That night at around 11pm I
awoke from a restless hypoxic slumber to hear Richard shout over the noise of
the gusty-breeze hammering down our tents, ‘Don’t worry everyone! The winds’ bark
is worse than its bite!’ No sooner had we all bundled into the mess tent with
head-torches aglow nervously scoffing ginger-snap biscuits and hot tea then the
wind started to die-down and our guide stuck his head around the corner. It was
go-time.
The team performed absolutely
brilliantly. Heads down, our Kilimanjaro conga-line snaked its way through the seemingly endless
switchbacks and zig-zags over the volcanic scree. We stopped every hour for no
more than 5 minutes to refuel and reassess our progress. It wasn’t until I
looked up to see the familiar rocky final section that I realised that we’d
reached the first of the three summits –
Gillmans Point (5685m) – in record time and in the dark..!
We then continued on with a further
3-hour round trip to the summit, Uhuru Peak - the highest point of all Africa. The
route took us through a moonscape of volcanic rock and remnant glaciers with
their impressive ice cliffs.
I can safely say that I’ve
rarely seen such an incredible sunrise. The conditions were clear and there were
panoramic views over the crater, to Mawenzi and Mount Meru looking very small
below us. The view from the final summit was quite literally ‘breathtaking’.
Despite
our cold fingers, desperate gasps of rarefied air, throbbing heads, and rosy
cheeks, we were laughing as the dawn broke over the summit crater in
spectacular fashion and we celebrated our combined successes. A ‘journey’ that
had started with an email saying ‘Yes! Sign me up!’ led to these happy (tired!)
faces, new friendships and memories to last a lifetime. Additionally, we
succeeded in our challenge to surpass our fundraising target, raising nearly
£30,000 for Wellbeing of Women – money that will go toward improving the health
of women and babies – and leave a legacy that will long outlast aching feet,
sore muscles and throbbing heads..!
Climbing Kilimanjaro (or any
mountain for that matter!) is no different from any other major challenges that
we face in our lives. Whether we want to start a new career, have a healthier
lifestyle or mend a broken relationship - we’re all climbing mountains of
sorts. These experiences require us to be stronger than we think we are, endure
more than we think we can, and become more than we dreamed possible.
Over £55,000 has been raised
for the Wellbeing of Women thanks to the hard work, dedication, determination,
creativity and fortitude of some of the most amazing people that I’ve ever
shared a mountain with. Once again it highlights why I love climbing - not only
for the breathtaking views, the physical challenge, and the personal sense of
achievement, but also for the inspiration gained and insights shared by the
people you meet along the way.
It's not too late to donate if you'd still like to show your support. All proceeds go to Wellbeing of Women and can be made via the link below:
Thank you to the amazing team
– Angus, Aysegul, Ele, Jaya, Jessica, Karolina, Martin, Matthew, Mette,
Richard, Sophie, Victoria, Zeynep and our amazing team of porters and guides - for
the wonderful trip memories; your humour, honesty, commitment, and enthusiasm
through thick and thin (air) will never be forgotten and I can't wait to share
another mountain with you again soon.
A massive Thank You to
friends and family who supported the climb. We’re most grateful for the many
ways that you have showed your support – donating to Wellbeing of Women,
providing us with moral support, advice on kit, and getting involved in
fundraising activities. We could not have achieved our goals without your
tremendous and most generous support.
A tremendous Thank You to PwC
and the firm’s Community Affairs Team who worked tirelessly over the past few
months to make our climb such a success and who helped us to achieve our
£25,000 fundraising target through support at Bake Sales, Pub Quizzes, and
support with our internal campaign. Thank you for all of your encouraging words
and your support. It's through the passion that you put into your work for
Wellbeing of Women that we were driven to put one foot in front of the other.
Huge Thank Yous to Thalgo UK for
the wonderful goodie-bag which kept us feeling fabulous throughout both the
run-up to the expedition and on the expedition itself. We especially loved the
SPF 50 sun-cream which kept us all protected and moisturised on the mountain.
An added bonus was the leg mist which kept us refreshed...!
Thank you to The Jerky Group
for nurturing a taste for beef jerky and biltong. Your very generous donation
of beef jerky fed us and fuelled us up to the summit and provided a constant
source of protein and snacking pleasure for all times of the day - breakfast,
lunch and dinner along the trail and to the summit.
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