David
The Mountain, The Story, The Route, Special Thanks
Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa, located in northeast Tanzania, near the Kenya border. Kilimanjaro is an extinct volcano, and is one of the most massive in the world. It towers 5000m above the surrounding plains, and much of its surface is over 5500m Beneath its ice dome, snow extends down long gullies that have been eroded in the mountain sides. It was only ‘discovered’ by explorers from the west in 1848.
Kilimanjaro’s summit crater, known as Kibo, measures nearly one kilometre across. The highest point on Kibo’s steep rim is Uhuru, the highest peak in Africa, at 5895m. Deep in the center of Kibo is a smaller , 200m crater. The summit was successfully climbd for the first time in 1889 by Meye and Purtscheller.
David Lim, the project organiser, had the germ of an idea to undertake a climbing expedition with an all-disabled team of mountaineers in Oct 2000; subsequent to a UIAA General Assembly that he attended. The intention of the climb was to highlight the abilities, rather than the disabilities of people burdened with handicaps.
The project moved along with members invited and objectives sifted through. Ultimately, an unsupported climb on one of Kilimanjaro’s remote northern icefields was selected. Very few recorded ascents are known and almost no information on these routes are available online. The ascent was to have taken place in Jan 2003 but personal issues in the team led to the project postponed by another year.
The team will rendezvous in Nairobi, with Jamie Andrew flying from Britain and the rest of the team from Tasmania and Singapore.
The team will take a route via the Shira Plateau in the direction of the Arrow Glacier/ Western Breach area. This is part of the classic Shira route. A total of 9 climbing days have been allocated ( versus the usual six days ) to allow for route-finding and the fact that members of the climbing team are disabled. The team hopes to climb unsupported on the final four days from the terminus of either the Penck Glacier systems or the Credner Glacier. See the possible route options above.
The team thanks Doug Hardy, Ph.D. of the Dept. of Geosciences, Morrill Science Center, University of Massachusetts for invaluable information on the conditions and potential routes in the northern icefield areas.
5 1/2 hands, 5 1/2 feet for four men – a strange combination from around the world; united by a common history of personal adversity and a quest for a route to Africa’s summit
Paul Pritchard – UK.Well known extreme climber. Now hemiplegic from his 1998 accident on the Totem Pole, a sea stack off the Australian coast. Has limited control over his right side. Paul is also known for receiving the prestigious Boardman and Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature twice (for Deep Play, 1997 and The Totem Pole, 1999). His past specialty in extreme rock climbs on alpine peaks included a new route on the 1200 meter East Face of Central Tower in the Torre de Paine, Patagonia. At grade VI, 5.10, A4, the route’s name, EL REGALO DE MWOMA, translates from the Patagonian native Tehuelche Indian language, “A Gift from God”.
David Lim – Singapore. Best known in Asia for leading the 1st Singapore Everest Expedition in 1998, his 50 alpine and expedition ascents have included many climbs in the French, Swiss and NZ Alps; as well as the Andes. He summitted Cho Oyu ( 8201m ) in 1997. In 1998, shortly after returning from Everest, he contracted the rare nerve disorder Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and was totally paralysed for many months. Now partially disabled in his right leg and left hand. His comeback climbs have included a successful 2-man, alpine-style ascent of the Polish Traverse on Aconcagua, leading the 2001 Singapore-Latin American Everest Tibet Expedition, and a lightweight attempt on two 8000m-peaks. He is author of Mountain to Climb, and Against Giants
Pete Steane – Australia. Hails from the island of Tasmania. In 1982 he sustained a rock-climbing accident where a piece of climbing equipment pierced his spine. He now lives with permanent nerve damage and walks and climbs with the help of two leg braces. A teached by profession, Pete has climbed on the rock faces of Yosemite National Park ( USA ) and in the New Zealand Alps.
Jamie Andrew – Scotland. An accomplished technical alpinist, he suffered severe frostbite when he was trapped by blizzard conditions near Chamonix in January 1999.He and friend Jamie Fisher became trapped 4000m up on the north face of the Droites in the Mont Blanc area. Rescuers were unable to get to them for several days and by the time they were eventually plucked off the ridge Jamie Fisher was dead. Doctors were forced to amputate Mr Andrew’s hands and feet which had been damaged beyond repair by the ravages of frostbite.
He became the first quadruple amputee to scale Ben Nevis in 2000.
Film Team:
Slackjaw Productions have been making films for six years mostly in the field of climbing and mountaineering. Their list of projects include the seminal Hard Grit, Stick It, Stone Love, Blood Sweat and Bagels, One Winter, Safety in Mountains, Meltdown – Crisis in the Himalaya and Splinter. In the process they have garnered eighteen awards on the International Mountan Film Festival Circuit. They have also sold footage and done free-lance work for many TV networks.
The Kilimanjaro film team comprises the director/videographer pair of Richard Heap (above) and Benedict Bevan-Pritchard (below)
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| Top: Pete Steane and Paul Pritchard in a Sep 13 feature for the Mercury newspaper. Photo by Raoul Kochanowski | Top: Dave Lim and Jamie Andrew meeting for the first time in Glasgow, Jul 2001 | Top: Look Mom! No hands or feet. Jamie showing how it’s done in the Swiss Alps. A spot of rock climbing in summer 2003. | Top: Hundreds of metres, high on the steep rock of EL Capitan (USA), the Slackjaw Productions team shows some lofty commitment to the ideal of filming climbing expeditions. |
An international climb in Jan 2004, featuring four disabled mountaineers attempting a remote route on the northern icefields of Mount Kilimanjaro (5895m), the summit of Africa.
Patron: Sir Chris Bonington
Supported by:
April 2007 Update: Slackjaw Productions of the documentary of the expedition, Kilimanjaro: Going For Broke – won the 2006 Jean-Marc Boivin Award at the International Adventure Film Festival in Dijon. The award was based on ” authenticity of adventure”
Wed Jan 21, 2004, Media Release
The Voltaren Kilimanjaro Challenge succeeded in climbing to Africa’s summit, Mt Kilimanjaro on Jan 18th scoring a possible first in placing an international team of all- disabled climbers on top.
A variety of setbacks from unseasonal bad weather to illness forced the team to abandon its original plan to climb the straightforward but remote Credner Glacier. Instead, the team focused on the Western Breach route, a more approachable route but one with a steep face; laced with rock steps and cliffs. The preceding week’s bad weather had plastered Kilimanjaro with a thick coating of snow; giving the peak an unusual icing. No other teams were on the route that day.
Leaving their 4800m camp at 0100hrs , they climbed through most of the night on the 18th; reaching the summit crater rim ( 5700m ) between 1030 – 1100hrs. From here, Uhuru ( the main summit of Kilimanjaro ) was reached at around 1500hrs in good conditions. The team helped each other where personal physical impairments caused some difficulties at the technical sections.
Messrs Pete Steane, Jamie Andrew, David Lim and Paul Pritchard descended from the summit at 1600hrs and began a gruelling seven-hour descend into the darkness to their Karanga campsite on the southeastern side of the mountain. The whole summit day took 23 hours. Dehydrated and tired from the climb, the team pulled into the campsite at about 0030 hrs, Jan 19th.
The team have returned to their respective countries, with Messrs Paul Pritchard and Pete Steane transiting in Singapore on Jan 25th prior to their return to Australia.
The climb has been covered extensively in the world media including:
BBC Worldservice (Jan 9)
CNN (Jan 13, Jan 19)
The Times ( UK ) Jan 12
The Scotsman ( UK ) Jan 23
The Straits Times ( Singapore ) Jan 7, 24
Streats ( Singapore ) Jan 6
Channelnewsasia Jan 23
Arusha Times ( Tanzania ) Jan 17-23
The Daily Nation ( Kenya ) Jan 23
EverestNews.com
The team thanks it supporters:
Voltaren Emulgel [ Novartis OTC ( Asia Pacific ) ]
and Reuters Foundation;
With support from:
Marmot,
DMM,
Canon,
Emirates Airlines,
Mountain Designs,
Black Diamond Equipment,
Nike Timing.
Sandisk and
Ad Idem Productions