Kasia And Alicia Put It On The Line For Soi Dog...
An ascent of Mount Kinabalu
Kasia, aged 9 and Alicia Sambrook, aged 6 will be attempting a guided ascent of Mount Kinabalu in Borneo on behalf of the Soi Dog Foundation.
Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea and the climb will start at 1,800m on 14 July reaching the summit of 4,095.2m on 15 July.
The girls are keen to raise funds for the Soi Dog Foundation and are asking you to help. For each meter the girls climb they are asking for donations of either:
- 10 US cents per meter, totaling $230 (7,500 Thai Baht) for a complete ascent
- or 5 US cents per meter, totaling $115 (3,800 Thai Baht) for a complete ascent
- or 1 US cent per meter totaling $23 (750 Thai Baht) for a complete ascent
Please make a pledge to sponsor the girls by emailing your pledge to: homeschoolphuket@yahoo.co.uk.
Congratualtions To The Girls
We are delighted to let you know that, at 5.30am on Thursday 15 July, Kasia and Alicia reached an elevation of 3,560 metres. The summit was "only" 535.2 metres higher and 1.5 km further away but some of the rope ascents proved too much. The girls were the only children out of 174 climbers attempting to reach the summit at the same time and of those 20% didn't make it either, with some giving up on Day 1.
Kasia and Alicia set off on Day 1 from Timpohon Gate at 8.30am on 14 July. The summit trail was a steep climb of rough uneven steps and, just to give you an idea, imagine climbing a steep staircase with diminishing air for over 8 hours! The girls reached the overnight stop, Laban Rata, at 5pm showing symptoms of altitude sickness, headaches and nausea but improved after a hot meal.
An early night followed as they had to get up for a 2.30am start on Day 2. Progress on this part was slow and had they reached the summit we would not have had time to get off the mountain before sunset.
As the girls made their way we kept meeting people coming back down who had given up at the sight of the first rope ascent. Undeterred, the girls carried on and succeeded with the first 3 rope ascents although the 3rd one was an approx 20 metre near vertical ascent with only their head torches for visibility! On the Guide's advice we decided to finish the ascent at this point and returned to Laban Rata for a well deserved breakfast. We subsequently learned that, in addition to climbers not even attempting the rope ascents, the Guides have to deal with returning climbers who burst into tears when they see the ropes in daylight.
At 9am the girls started their descent and finally reached Timpohon Gate at 4pm. Alicia was first down and still had enough energy to run up the final steps to the Gate! Kasia was not far behind and both girls looked incredibly well considering their exhausting adventure. At times over the 2 days, when one of them started to tire the other would keep them going by shouting "Think of the puppies!"
Ania and I are so proud to have shared this trip with them and to have witnessed their amazing achievement.
Warm regards,
Frank
Many Thanks To All The Sponsors!
The girls send a HUGE Thanks to the following individuals who have made pledges towards the climb so far:
- Rob Costello
- Sonja and Aaron Holappa
- Denise Bertrand
- Claude Sauter, General Manager of The Cape Panwa Hotel, in Phuket, Thailand.
- Clare Sambrook
- JW Marriott and Marriott Vacation Club Resorts
- Chloe Thwaites
- Kathy Roche
- Philip, Yvette and Pearl Anderson
- Alan and Sue Johnson-Hill
- Don, Karen , Kaya, Raina, Freeman
