On Tuesday 13th October Rob Davies reached the summit of Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest point, standing at 5985 metres, and the world's tallest free standing mountain. The trip was the culmination of almost a years planning with a training regime that included 2 gym sessions a week from 1st January and an ever increasing number of long and hilly walks.
Rob was one of a party of 23 who met for the first time at Heathrow on 3rd October. All but 1 of the party made the summit, which is a gruelling 5 day ascent gradually acclimatising to the altitude, and passing through the mountains 4 different ecosystems. Despite suffering from altitude sickness Rob was encouraged to the top throughout the last 7 hour ordeal by one of the local guides, somehow managed a smile for the photo and then just said "Get me the hell out of here!"
Prior to tackling the mountain the group worked in a local primary school refurbishing 4 classrooms, the highlight of which was when all 800 pupils sang happy birthday to Rob! They challenged the party to a seven a side football match but cheated – seven of the party versus 250 of them!!"
Although Rob paid for the trip himself he decided to raise funds for a local charity back home in North Yorkshire, Ryedale Special Families, who offer support to families of children with special needs or disabilities. He set himself a target of £1 for every metre of the climb (= £5985) and to date he has achieved almost £5000. A huge thank you goes to all those who have sponsored him so far.
Anyone wishing to help Rob reach his target can donate now by clicking here www.justgiving.com/robdavies3
