Disabled climbers reach summit
By Karie Atkinson
 |
Jamie Andrew at the summit.
Story Tools
|
(CNN) -- Four disabled climbers have reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro after nine days of tough mountaineering.
The group chose a route that less than 1 percent of groups tackling the 5,895-meter mountain in Tanzania opt for, and took on the challenge despite suffering from physical disabilities due to previous climbing expeditions.
The team decided against taking the Credner Glacier because of its rough terrain coupled with poor weather conditions, approaching the summit from the Western ridge route instead.
After spending the night at Lava Tower Camp on January 16, where it rained and snowed incessantly for 15 hours, the group hiked to Arrow Glacier the next day, where they began their ascent around midnight.
The team reached the summit on Sunday after a climb of around 15 hours.
The team includes Singapore's David Lim, leader of the 1st Singapore Everest Expedition in 1998, who contracted the rare nerve disorder Guillain-Barre Syndrome on his return. The condition left him totally paralyzed for months and today he is partially disabled in his right leg and left hand.
Scotland's Jamie Andrew, who suffered from severe frostbite and had to have his hands and feet amputated after a climbing expedition near Chamonix, France, in January 1999, is also part of the team. Andrew is climbing with artificial limbs and prosthetic arms.
Other team members include Australia's Pete Steane and the UK's Paul Pritchard. Steen lives with permanent nerve damage and walks and climbs with the help of two leg braces due to a rock-climbing accident he suffered in 1982.
Pritchard, who lives in Tasmania, has limited control over his right side because of a climbing accident he suffered on the Totem Pole, a sea stack off the Australian coast.
An e-mail from Lim posted on the team's Web site sums up the challenges the team faced along the way.
The team took nine days to climb Kilimanjaro
|
|
Lim wrote: "All of us reached the summit, it is now 3 p.m. It has been a long hard climb up but it is worth it. The view is fantastic, breathtaking. We are the only team on the summit. Standing on the top of Kilimanjaro has been a challenge, the snow gave us a bit of difficulty."
Stephen Venables, the first Briton to climb Everest without supplementary oxygen and who has also climbed Kilimanjaro via Arrow Glacier, said the route was more challenging due to its awkward terrain, low dense forest and tricky ridge.
"There are hundreds of thousands of people who take the normal route and it's wonderful the team has not chosen the standard option," he said.
Musa Kopwe, Managing Director of MK Safaris, the Tanzanian company that organized the team's climb, said: "The group managed to climb to the top by yesterday. It was a challenge due to very bad weather and other parties gave up and returned down.
"But they kept up and did it. It shows exceptional courage. My guide was snow blinded and had to come down for treatment and has gone up today to take the group down."
The team has started its descent and is expected to reach the bottom of the mountain Tuesday morning.
Funds donated to the expedition will benefit the Upendo Leprosy Center in Tanzania.
