Fundraising

We have been working really hard on fundraising since we decided to take on this challenge. The main reason why we are climbing Kilimanjaro, is to hopefully raise lots of money for our chosen charity 'Alzheimer's Society'

The first big fund-raising event we organised was a 80's fancy dress party which was in Dover (Kent) at The   Cricketers Pub.

The night was a great success, we raised £415.00 

We are so grateful to those who came and partied the night away with us and helped us raise the money. A massive thank you to the pub and it's owners who let us use the function room free of charge. A very special thank you to Louise Delivett who not only helped us organise the event but also was our super star DJ all evening, the night wouldn't have been such a success without her. Thank you to Party Packs http://www.partypacks.co.uk for donating the 80's themed party decorations, they looked fantastic. Lastly thank you to those who donated raffle prizes.

Our second big event is this Thursday 25th October it's going to be an exciting night of comedy at The Angel, 73 City Road, London right by Old Street tube station. The night will be hosted by Harriet Kemsley, (as seen on the BBC3 Comedy Marathon and recently listed as one of Rhod Gilbert's Top Ten Comics to see in 2012 by The Mail on Sunday.) She's hosting some of the best new stand ups around ... including Sarah Callaghan, Stephen Bailey, Patrick Morris and Kate Lucas... with a headline spot from the brilliant Bobby Mair (Laughing Horse New Act of the Year 2012) comedy night. 

We are really looking forward to this and are hoping to raise a lot of money.  

Come back soon to see how the night went and to watch our second video post where we will be announcing the current standing total of how much we have raised out of our £8000.00 target.

                                                                   Lisa and Sinini x

Training at Altitude

The training has officially started, we travelled to the French Alps, Meribell, in September to feel the full affects of Hypoxic trianing (training at altitude). 

We had a full week of fitness training and hiking up mountains that went as high as 2000 meters. The first mountain we hiked, we both found it very difficult, I don't think either of us had realised until that hike how unfit and unprepared we both are for the Kilimanjaro climb. 

It took a few days for our bodies to adjust to the altitude and by the end of the week we were finding it a bit easier. We weren't getting out of breath so easily but still the climbs were really hard, and our knees were feeling the full impact of the continuous strains of climbing up and down a mountain. 

Half way through the week we travelled to La Thuile in Italy to hike up a mountain. It was a very cold and rainy day, which made it more difficult to climb up the slippery rocks. Our boots and hiking poles were tested to the max that day, but they got us both up and down that mountain with only a few near stumbles. At the time the climb was really hard, we were wet, tired cold, but we were both determined to go on and our aim was to make it to the top. 

Due to the poor weather our guide took the decision to climb down early as it was steeper at the top and the weather was only getting worse. Even though this decision was out of our hands we both couldn't  help but feel that we hadn't achieved what we'd set out to do. It gave us a glimpse of what it would be like if decisions like this were to be made by the doctors and guides whilst scaling Kilimanjaro. 

Having carried out a lot of research into the Kilimanjaro climb, Altitude sickness - commonly known as Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) - is one of the main factors taken into account by the doctors and guides when deciding whether or not to continue with the climb or to head back down. There will be nothing either of us will be able to do if we were to be unfortunate enough to develop AMS. This really scares us both because Acute Mountain Sickness can progress to high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) or high altitude cerebral edema (HACE) which are both potentially fatal. This is something that literally we can not control but it will determine if we make it to the summit or not.  

We both came back from the week of training knowing where our strengths and weaknesses lie, we got a good feel of what it's like to climb a mountain, we got to test some of our equipment out eg walking poles, boots, rucksacks and waterproof clothes and most importantly we trained at altitude. So all in all the week was a success, it has given us the kick start needed to continue with our training and we are now in full swing with our intense training program which we started at the beginning of October .  

Check back soon for more updates on how our training and fundraising efforts are coming along. 

Lisa and Sinini x