August 2004

Exhausted Local Trio Reach Top of Mount Kilimanjaro

Stumbling forward under a pitch black night sky was hardly how Rose Kelly imagined she would reach the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro but things don't always work out as we imagine and it was the middle of the night that the Greencastle woman reached the top of the daunting mountain.

Rose, along with fellow adventures Aine Parkinson and Kevin O'Leary undertook the trip to the famous Tanzanian Landmark to raise money for the Children in Crossfire charity. They braved altitude sickness and dehydration on the way up the 18,000ft mountain and although Aine did not quite make it to the top Rose and Kevin had the satisfaction of conquering the East African peak.

"We began the last leg of our climb, about 1000 metres, at midnight on the fifth day of the ascent. Our guides brought us up at this time because the skree slopes are more stable at night. There was a group of us who went up and many had to turn back. Luckily we took a day out to acclimatise."

It was still an ordeal for the Moville based trio. Rose says she had to concentrate every inch of the way to keep going. She did not want to come so far only to fail at the last. " We had prepared ourselves for the disappointment of not reaching the top. We always said if we were sick there was nothing we could do about it, we'd have to stop and go back. It is too dangerous to go on in that condition. A fellow died that same week from pushing himself too hard."

The oxygen was so thin that Rose felt her legs give way a number of times as she struggled to the summit. "I climbed in silence to try to conserve energy. I remembered the advice our guide who told 'slowly, slowly,' was the way to make it to the top. I was concentrating on walking and breathing, not even thinking. It was almost like an out of body experience, a spiritual thing."

The final day's climb was roughly the equivalent of going from sea level to the top of Errigal, but as they were beginning from 5000 metres up it was many degrees more challenging. "It was pitch dark when we reached the top, it gets very cold so we couldn't stand around to wait for the dawn to come up. I could see a snow filled crater at the top. We were back at the hut before the sun came up" says Rose.

Their climb completed the trio went on to visit some local beneficiaries of aid from the Children in Crossfire charity including a medical clinic. The group then travelled to the island of Zanzibar where they witnessed first hand Irish workers from Aids Charities work. "About €120 would keep the aids project we visited going for three months. What is a tiny amount of money to us literally saves lives."

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