Back in May, Events undergraduate Sebastian Field described preparations for his climb of Kilimanjaro to raise money for The Nasio Trust. Seb successfully completed the challenge, so we caught up with him to find out more."Kilimanjaro was fantastic and extremely difficult. It was a phenomenal experience and one I'll never forget, but also one I'll probably never do again because it was SO hard! It is without any doubt the single hardest thing I've ever done.
"Lots of people think it's easier than it is, because it is essentially mostly a trek rather than any technical climbing, but the altitude sickness, extreme heat and extreme cold make it really hard.
"I suffered quite badly for about five days from altitude sickness, and there were times where I had a splitting headache or felt like I was going to throw up with every step. At one point, I was extremely close to going down, but I made it.
"On the summit night, we got out of our tents (we camped at 4,800m - around the same height as Mt. Blanc) and started our seven hour climb to the summit at 23:00. It took a long time, and with 50% normal oxygen levels it was extremely tough, but after a long and tiring trek we all made it to the top.
"After the trek I had the chance to go to Kenya for a week and visit The Nasio Trust. This was a truly eye-opening experience and was very rewarding, since we were able to work with the young orphans who are being supported by the charity. It was all-in-all a fantastic experience."
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