Seven Lincolnshire Freemasons and three friends are paying more than £4,000 each to make an assault on Tanzania’s iconic dormant volcano Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for our Festival. A chance remark by Festival Chairman Jez Hyland sparked Colin Hill to put into action a dream he’d been considering for some time. “Jez said he might be prepared to go for it, and that was the catalyst I needed to spur me on to do something I’d had in mind for a while,” said expedition leader Colin Hill, newly-appointed Charity Steward at St James Lodge in Grimsby.

Colin has put together a team of 10 for the climb, which will begin on August 14th. “There are various routes available. We’ve opted for the nine-day one. It has a far higher chance of success than the shorter options, because it gives us time to acclimatise to the altitude – a major factor, because Kilimanjaro is almost four and a half times higher than Ben Nevis­. 

The ascent is about a slow and steady uphill walk to the summit, at
almost 5,900 metres, the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. The last day will start at midnight so they’ll be at the top, above the clouds, to watch the sun come up. “We have no way of knowing how we’ll cope with the thinner air until we’re actually experiencing it,” said Colin. The ascent isn’t just about the relentless uphill walk; night time temperatures can be as low as minus 15. 

Colin, has also organised a three-day safari  to end the trip. “It felt wrong to conquer Kilimanjaro and not to have some kind of celebration afterwards; this will give us that opportunity.”