'No mountain too high'
October 22, 2007

Article by Don Butler originally published in The Ottawa Citizen

"This month, six Ottawa-area women -- all in their 50s or 60s and none with climbing experience -- journeyed to Kilimanjaro to fulfill a dream and do some good."

At 5,895 metres (19,340 feet), Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro looms over the arid African plain like a temple to some unimaginable god.

Spawned by the primordial eruptions of three volcanoes, the massive mountain sprawls over an area 100 kilometres long and 65 kilometres wide. Kilimanjaro is both Africa's highest peak and the world's tallest free-standing mountain. On a clear day, it is visible from 200 kilometres away. Though just 340 kilometres from the equator, its crown is sheathed in snow and ice, now melting at an alarming rate.

Since it was first climbed in 1889, Kilimanjaro has become Everyman's Everest. Though the ascent is demanding -- some describe it as more painful than childbirth -- it does not require great technical skill.

As a result, about 15,000 attempt the climb every year. Only about 40 per cent succeed, largely because the air above 15,000 feet holds only half as much oxygen as at sea level. A few even die in the attempt.

This month, six Ottawa-area women -- all in their 50s or 60s and none with climbing experience -- journeyed to Kilimanjaro to fulfill a dream and do some good.

The dream was Gisele Mansfield's. A financial analyst at the National Arts Centre, Mrs. Mansfield yearned to celebrate her 55th birthday on Kilimanjaro's summit. But her greater purpose was to do some good by raising money for the millions of African grandmothers struggling to raise children orphaned by HIV/AIDs.

Eventually, five other women signed on as well. The first was Liza Badham, a feisty West Carleton great-grandmother. Then came Trudy Stephen, retired from her job with the former city of Nepean. Parishioners at her church, St. Stephen's Anglican, pledged $19,340 -- one dollar for every Kilimanjaro foot.

Next to join was Tina Cuerrier, a 52-year-old registered practical nurse, followed by Barbara Carriere, a businesswoman nearing 60 with five grandchildren. Her cousin-in-law, Janet Carriere, completed the set.

By the time the six departed for Africa, they had raised nearly $70,000 for the Stephen Lewis Foundation's Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign, which has funnelled more than $1 million to African grandmothers and boasts more than 170 fundraising groups in Canada.

Mrs. Mansfield's group arrived in Moshi, Tanzania on Oct. 5. The next day, five would begin the climb. (Though she came to Africa with the others, Janet Carriere missed the climb because Tusker, their guiding company, only had enough guides for a party of five.)

A week later, drained and gasping for breath, the five watched the African sun drop below the horizon from Uhuru Peak, Kilimanjaro's summit on Kibo crater, and unfurled a banner they had carried from Canada. "No mountain too high," it read. "The Grandmothers of Africa need our help!"

"It felt a little bit surreal," Mrs. Mansfield said this week, hours after her return to Canada.

"You work so hard to get to a certain moment and then it's there and you're trying to get through every second of that moment, making sure it's embedded in your memory."

© The Ottawa Citizen 2007

Click here for the full article.
Mrs. Mansfield's blog - http://www.gigiclimbskili.com/