DAY 01
KILIMANJARO CLIMB FOR CHRISTCHURCH BEGINS Alexi O’Brien is a former ONE News reporter now travelling overseas, including climbing Mt Kilimanjaro to raise money for the Christchurch Red Cross Earthquake Fund. Here she describes the expedition.
August 01, 2011
Day one of our Kilimanjaro Climb for Christchurch, and we’re already one man down. Kusal, a Kiwi who lives here in Tanzania working for Volunteer Services Abroad, has been hit with a stomach flu. It’s a blow to the team - he was our official photographer - but otherwise we are all here and happy to meet up after months of emails and Skype conversations. It’s certainly great to hear the Kiwi twang in full force!
It’s rather surreal to be here in Tanzania, though. There has been such a build-up of planning and preparation that sometimes it felt as though this day would never come! And tomorrow the big trek gets underway. We’re climbing Africa’s highest peak to raise money for the Christchurch Red Cross Earthquake Appeal. Most of us are connected to Christchurch in some way - others just wanted to help out and we’ve flown in from all over the world to take on this challenge together. We had a briefing tonight, and heard in detail about each of the six days of the trek. Day five - our summit day - is set to be the toughest. We start climbing at one o’clock in the morning and walk all day in temperatures that can drop as low as minus 25. It takes anywhere from 13 to 18 hours to complete the day’s hike, and we’ll be constantly up against the symptoms of altitude sickness as we climb to almost 6000m above sea level.
‘Summit day - is set to be the toughest. We start climbing at one o’clock in the morning and walk all day in temperatures that can drop as low as -25.’ Our guide told us tonight that 75% of people get affected in some way - from nausea to vomiting and pounding headaches, as well as exhaustion. But meeting everyone and talking about our experiences in Christchurch, hearing teammate Argène’s story of how February 22 unfolded for her when she set off on a normal day to have a haircut before the city crashed down around her, gives us the determination to succeed, and hopefully some extra power in our leg muscles over the coming days!