In February next year, two employees of Threshold, Paul and Em will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise awareness and money for Threshold, a local homeless charity.

At Threshold we often ask our clients to strive to achieve what they consider to be either impossible or very challenging. An example of this can be as subtle as a change in their current lifestyle, which could lead to employment, access to education, rebuilding relationships, or access accommodation. All these things are at first glance simple, but to our client group they can be terrifying as they require them to step into the unknown.

Thresholds motto is “A chance to change” and this isn’t just in relation to our client group, it is just as important for the charities employees to continue to progress and develop. We believe that with support and appropriate encouragement almost anything is possible.

To demonstrate this, Paul and Em feel that it is their turn to strive to achieve something that we consider not totally impossible but will definitely be very challenging. This would be an amazing opportunity for them, and they will be faced many different challenges along the way that will enquire both to draw on the skills they have learned and developed through their current and past roles within THL.

Kilimanjaro has the reputation for being a ‘very long hike’ leads many trekkers to underestimate its difficulty and have to leave disappointed and ‘summit less’ from the slopes of Kibo. In fact, statistics from Kilimanjaro National Park show that on certain routes as little as 50% of trekkers actually reach Uhuru Peak, the summit of Kilimanjaro.

Why such a low success rate? Well, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro is 5,895 meters (19,341 feet) above sea level; an altitude that is aptly categorised in climbing parlance as extreme. As you might have guessed the body does not cope well at very high altitude, let alone extreme altitude.

Find out more at Threshold at: http://www.thl.org.uk