On November 26th this year, Izzy and I (ex 'Chicks with Altitude' - previous Kilimanjaro climb) will be leaving for a 24 day expedition to attempt to climb Aconcagua in Chile. At just under 7,000m, Aconcagua is the second highest of the seven summits (after Everest) and is the highest mountain in the world outside Asia. We will spend up to 17 days hiking to base camp and on the mountain, probably in snow from Camp 2 onwards and in temperatures of minus 30 degrees and possibly lower. Everyone who has climbed it says it is just the longest and coldest slog but with moments of magnificence. Altitude sickness and 80mph winds aside (for which Acon is infamous), we hope to summit around Dec 13th. It is around a 50% success rate but we are girlies with endurance power and we will give it our very best shot.
We both made it last time we tried something like this. As I think Ranulph Fiennes said, it is the journey not the destination that matters, and it has been a huge journey already with 9 months of training by the time we go, hiking up and down Alpine mountains and glaciers, strength training, visits to the Altitude Centre and even poor Mark has agreed to sleep in the hypoxic chamber that is to become the bedroom from mid October!!
The peak of Aconcagua can be a sweet and complacent woman if the goddess of the sun (Febo) shines and the god of the wind (Eolo) sleeps, but when the furies of the gods of the wind are unleashed and the dragons of the clouds devour the sky, the peak turns into a terrifying and cold witch. Only when you have seen the two completely different sides of this mountain and its special climate, can you really love and understand it completely.
My chosen charity is the Kids Company, founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh in 1996. They are an inspirational charity providing practical, emotional and educational support to incredibly vulnerable inner-city children, reaching 14,000 children across London, including the most deprived and at risk whose parents are unable to care for them due to their own practical and emotional challenges.
These exceptionally vulnerable children not only negotiate significant challenges in their family homes, they also face immense threat within their neighbourhoods. Often they are exposed to relentless violence, some are forced into working as drug couriers or prostitutes, and many experience chronic abuse.
Kids Company operates through two street level centres and a therapy house in South London, as well as a drop-in provision in Camden, North London where children can simply turn up.
All centres employ a widely skilled team of professionals working at street level with a unique multidisciplinary approach combining health, housing, emotional wellbeing, mental health, arts, sports, youth justice, education and employment. These interventions are designed to strengthen, supplement or substitute the child’s parenting experience.
The aim is to first stabilize each young person by meeting their practical needs, before helping them to address emotional and behavioural difficulties. Once the young person has achieved some sense of stability and calm, they are helped to identify talents and interests and so develop aspirations for the future and to develop skill bases required to achieve those objectives.
It is an amazing charity that requires £9 million a year towards helping kids get off the streets, away from crime and towards employment or simply to escape from whatever they need to run from.
Please help us to support them. Izzy and I have funded every aspect of the trip, our training and equipment and so every penny of your donations will go to Kids Company.
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So please dig deep and donate now.
