Feature piece
Tackling the mountain
Sitting amongst the empty plastic cups, half full vodka bottles and take-away
boxes isn’t the setting I imagined I would be interviewing two women training to
climb the second biggest mountain in the world. Mount Kilimanjaro stands at
19,341, a task not to be taken lightly and as I sit with the two giggling friends I
wonder whether they know what they’re undertaking. “Probably not!” exclaims
Louise Johnson, 22 a trainee teacher from Cheshire, “But I’m about to find out!”
In Laura Shaw’s case, 22, from Liverpool, this will be the second time she has
tackled this particular mountain. In August 2012 she took part in the same trek
with fellow students from Liverpool University, but was struck down with severe
altitude sickness, and was advised not to continue any further. “I was devastated.
At no point during any of the training do you think you will get there and might
have to pull out. You are warned about the change in altitude and the side effects
of such a big trek, but you never consider that you may actually be affected.”
This time around, Laura is determined to give it another try with Louise in tow.
They are due to undertake the Marangu route, one of the five routes to choose to
take up the mountain. Also known as the ‘Coca-cola’ route due to little tea huts
along the way, it is also the shortest route but means there is less time to
acclimatize which gives it a lower success rate than some of the other routes. It is
also the same route as Laura took before, she says she will be taking it one day at
a time, but knowing she could get past the point she had to give in last time will
really give her a boost along the way.
Laura’s case is common in people who take on this climb, as every year
approximately 15,000 people attempt to reach the summit of the mountain, of
whom only 40% actually do so. It normally takes five to sex days climbing, which
is very quick for people that live at sea level and causes altitude sickness, which
takes the form of headaches, vomiting and problems with their digestive system.
Everybody feels something, and 60-70% of people get badly affected, as in
Laura’s case.
Both Laura and Louise usually live the student life, one at the University of
Liverpool and one at Edge Hill University. They are choosing to stay sober during
their ‘refreshers’ parties at university all of January and February in order to get
a solid start at training. Their training consists of six hours a week in the gym,
strengthening the legs and doing plenty of cardio whilst carrying small
backpacks with whatever heavy objects they can find in their student flats (they
tell me so far this has consisted of five Heat magazines, two bottles of lucozade
and three textbooks). Also as part of their training, the girls are climbing the
three peaks in Britain first, which are Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in
Scotland, Scafell Pike the highest mountain in Wales and Snowdon, the highest
mountain in Wales. The total distance of these alone is 27 miles with an ascent of
9,800 feet. The training is currently going well and their dedication is clear.
I’m curious to ask these courageous girls, why put yourselves through it all, why
not hold a bake sale or something easy? As Louise is a trainee teacher and Laura
a trainee doctor they both explain that child welfare is a cause very close to their
hearts. Their chosen charity is Childreach international, which focuses on three
areas: education, child rights and healthcare, as they want every child to reach
their full potential so by improving these basic things it should give them a good
start. Interestingly the girls have learnt a lot since working with their chosen
charity and the way in which the money is spent. One simple but significant story
that sticks out to them is a school which benefited enormously from the charity’s
money by having something so simple as their toilets being replaced. The
attendance in girls in this particular school rose by 33% because they finally had
enough money to create separate girls and boys toilets, as they previously had to
use one unisex toilet between all pupils. Girls had been too embarrassed to use
the one toilet that was there because it had no lock and they had to share with
the boys in the school. The girls are visiting the school in Tanzania close to their
boot camp before they start the climb, hoping it will give them the motivation to
carry them up there.
“The cause means more to us than just raising a few hundred pounds. We want
to raise enough money to try and help as many peoples lives as possible.” In fact,
they have already staged a bake sale but that was just to raise enough money to
get themselves flights over to Africa. In fundraising for their charities they have
no target to how much they want to raise. “Anything is a bonus. We are trying to
do our best to get it out there on all social media and get people donating!”
Having already got a taste of the experience last year, Laura must be confident
that she knows what she has let herself in for. “I don’t think I’ll ever be
prepared!” she finally exclaims, “I am still a student after all, I usually do the bare
minimum exercise and I live on beans on toast!”
Any last minute doubts? With a shrug of the shoulders Louise replies honestly, “I
think we’ve both debated calling the whole thing off, but seeing my backpack in
the corner of the room ready and waiting is urging me to go already.”