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Mountain Man Challenges High Flying Para’s!
- Mt. Kilimanjaro rises way above the clouds…
Mountain Man Paul Banks, from Willenhall, Wolverhampton has successfully climbed the world’s highest free standing mountain in aid of Compton Hospice. His amazing three and a half day trek took him 19,340ft to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and earned the hospice over £1,000. Here is Paul’s story:
- …And towers above the vegetation below.
I started to climb on 17th April and to my surprise I found that I was on my own, yes I had guides and porters, but was the only civilian in my party. I was gutted as I was really looking forward to meeting other people. The first night was spent alone in my tent, the rain was so heavy, I didn’t get much sleep. The following morning I awoke to glorious sunshine and a fantastic view of Kilimanjaro. Whilst getting ready for breakfast, three soldiers from the Parachute Regiment, who had climbed a different route up stopped by our camp. I explained to them how upset I was to be climbing on my own and they swiftly invited me to join their party. After a discussion with my porters it was agreed that we should travel with them, and it was only after a couple of hours walking, that they told me they were intending to summit in three and a half days. Now, I had trained hard and I mean really hard for this climb, but three and a half days I thought would be impossible, I was told that six days would be hard enough let alone three and a half. After the initial shock I continued to climb reaching camp two, where we stayed for the night. The next day’s aim was to reach camp three, where I was told we would be having an early night so we could start out at midnight for the summit. This would enable us to reach the summit before sunrise. The night of our summit bid, the moon was out, the sky was clear and I had never seen so many stars, it was amazing. Accompanied by my mp3 player and with my head down I set off, knowing that seven hours climbing at a 40 to 50 degree incline was going to be tough.
- Paul Banks on the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro
The hours ticked by and I felt strong but kept it to myself. At 18,500ft I found myself waiting for the soldiers. On reaching Gilman’s Point, approx 600ft from the top, I was told that two of the soldiers had descended due to altitude sickness and the other soldier was almost on his hands and knees but had refused to give in. The guides looked at me and nodded they didn’t need to say anything; I knew they realised that I was going all of the way. I found myself at the front, the remaining soldier was soon left behind. I made the summit from camp three in 5 hours 30 minutes, the remaining soldier then summated in 7 hours 15 minutes.
Thousands of people climb Kilimanjaro each year but most take eight days. It does not matter how fit you are, although in my opinion it helped a great deal, if your body does not quickly adapt to the altitude when climbing at this speed you can find yourself in trouble.
If you have any further questions about Compton Hospice and Fundraising, please call 0845 225 5497 or contact us. We will do our utmost to help with your enquiry.
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