I thought I would share a bit of good news just received last night from British climber John Codling, a veteran of Maltese climbing development in the 80s and 90s and co-author of the 2007 Malta guidebook.
“Happy to report that I got up Kilimanjaro a week ago. Four months after obtaining a steel surface to my R hip. I was the oldest of 5 to succeed in a team of 11 that attempted it.
A really fit 22 year old Paratrooper in our team failed half way up after puking & fainting. Someone else had to be stretchered off the mountain after losing the use of his legs due to altitude sickness on the day.
It took 16hrs on the day to get up 1100m and down 3000m & was exhausting (just look at the photo!). My hat goes off to Cheryl Cole & Chris Moyes (and Viv) who got up (but not to Robbie Savage and Roman Abramovich who failed).
Now what is the next challenge…?”
Great effort John, what next indeed!