Monthly Archives: September 2025

Climbing Kilimanjaro: A Birthday Adventure to Remember

In July, we took on one of the biggest challenges of our lives: climbing Mount Kilimanjaro via the Machame route. What started as a birthday idea—my 40th and my Tessa's 50th—turned into an unforgettable journey with a group of 13 amazing people, all brought together by Life Changing Challenges.

Why Kilimanjaro?

We wanted to mark our milestone birthdays with something extraordinary. No fancy dinners or spa weekends—this was about pushing limits, embracing nature, and doing something that would stay with us forever.

The Machame Route: Beauty and Brutality

Known as the "Whiskey Route," Machame is scenic but tough. Each day brought new terrain, from lush rainforest to alpine desert. The altitude was relentless, and the cold crept in fast. But the camaraderie, the porters’ support, and the sheer beauty of the mountain kept us going.

Training & Altitude

Training beforehand is essential—you need a good level of fitness to take on the daily hikes and elevation gain. But no matter how fit you are, altitude changes everything. It affects your breathing and can make you feel unfit even when you're not. That’s where the guides came in—they were incredible, constantly checking our oxygen levels and keeping our spirits high.

Top Tip: Hire a Toilet Porter

Trust me on this—hire the toilet porter. It’s a game-changer for comfort and dignity, especially when nature calls in the middle of the night or during long treks.

Day 4: The Barranco Wall

This was the day that stole the show. The Barranco Wall, often dubbed the “Breakfast Wall,” was a thrilling scramble up a near-vertical rock face. It looked intimidating, but climbing it was exhilarating. Reaching the top felt like standing on the edge of the world.

Summit Night: The Final Push

Summit night began with a rude and freezing midnight awakening to start the final ascent. It was pitch black and bitterly cold, and every step felt heavier than the last. But as the sun began to rise, so did our spirits. The light brought warmth, hope, and a renewed sense of determination.

The climb to Stella Point was brutal—hours of slow, steep trekking through scree and ice. But reaching it felt like a victory in itself. From there, we pushed on to the Uhuru Peak, the summit of Kilimanjaro. The relief was overwhelming, and the views were absolutely breathtaking. We did it—all 13 of us successfully summited. A moment I’ll never forget.

The Support Team

The porters were superheroes—carrying gear, setting up camp, and always smiling. The food was surprisingly delicious and nourishing, giving us the energy we needed. The guides were the glue that held us together, watching over us and making sure we were safe, healthy, and motivated.

The Highs and Lows

It was the hardest thing we've ever done—mentally, physically, emotionally. But it was also the most rewarding. Every step tested us, but every sunrise, every laugh around camp, every shared struggle made it worth it.

Would We Do It Again?

Not a chance... or at least, that’s what we thought at the time.

The exhaustion, the altitude, the cold—it was brutal. But now, looking back, we have the best memories. We laughed, cried, climbed, and conquered. We made incredible friends, shared unforgettable moments, and proved to ourselves what we are capable of. Kilimanjaro changed us in ways we didn’t expect.  Kilimanjaro taught us resilience, gratitude, and the power of shared goals. If you're thinking about it—do it. Just prepare well, respect the mountain, and don’t forget the toilet porter!

Guest blogger - Lisa Oddy

My Mom taught me many things. Among them; not to bite my nails, how to operate a
washing machine, and that you don’t have to run a 5K to be proud you’ve finished it. The
most topical of these lessons is the value of pushing yourself to do things you never thought
you could, and the importance of doing those things to help others. She introduced me to
fundraising and we completed our first 5K for Cancer Research UK together back in 2013.

Ten years later, my Mom lost her own battle with cancer.

In her name, I promised myself to keep up the work we had been doing together. The run we
should’ve completed as a family in 2023 became a bittersweet affair, but alongside my sister
and some of Mom’s closest friends, we raised over £2,100. I knew how proud of us she
would’ve been. I also knew that the yearly fundraising tradition was not something she would
have us give up.

Over time, things escalated slightly from fun runs to full on bucket-list items. Having tackled
a skydive alongside The Katherine Allport Foundation, I thought the logical next step was
wing walking. I have Life Changing Challenges to thank for facilitating this when they
advertised a wing walk for St Giles Hospice, a charity who’d played an integral role in
supporting my Mom since her diagnosis. It was perfect. A suitable sequel to our previous
fundraiser? Check. Doable as a duo? Check. Slightly insane? Check.

My sister and I rolled up to AeroSuperBatics’ base in April 2024, and though my fear of
planes made no attempt to hide itself, at least the skydive gave me the opportunity to exit it
quite swiftly... Being strapped to a plane was quite literally what we’d signed up for, but
acknowledging that did nothing to soothe the nerves. Thankfully, the team were immensely
friendly, and we received so much support and encouragement from both St Giles and Life
Changing Challenges. The experience was unlike anything else, and the both of us felt so
proud to not only have faced a fear, but to have raised £1,775 while doing it. I could picture
Mom so clearly then, with the biggest grin you could imagine, and arms open wide to greet
us on the ground. We got the sense that in that moment, we had done something truly good.
In the aftermath, we were given the opportunity to share our family’s story, and that’s
something I am endlessly grateful for.

Our return to Life Changing Challenges in 2025 is testament to how much we’d enjoyed
ourselves, and this time we chose to give the ‘Highland Swing’ a go. On the 16 th of August,
we made the pilgrimage to Killiecrankie and got harnessed up. ‘It’ll be fine!’, ‘You’ve got this’,
‘Just think – after this you can have a drink’ are phrases that made up most of our
conversations as my sister, my Mom’s best friend, and I stood waiting for our turn on the
bridge. After stepping onto the platform with the legs of a newborn foal, hearing ‘countdown
or surprise?’ was enough to send my heart into overdrive. A ‘3,2,1’, the clink of a releasing
carabiner, and down you go. The rush of freefall, the sinking sensation in your stomach that
seems to last a lifetime, and – at last – the relief of the swing catching you at the bottom and
carrying you over the River Garry. It was exhilarating. Entirely worth every moment of fear
we experienced in the lead up.

We can’t thank our friends, family, and supporters enough for helping us raise £1,350 (and
counting!) for St Giles this year. Through Life Changing Challenges, we’ve found new,
exciting, and often terrifying ways to raise money in memory of our Mom. In doing these
fundraisers, it really feels like we keep a huge part of her alive. Her courage in the face of
adversity was always something I’d admired, and to have the opportunity to display even half
of that spirit is my greatest privilege.

So, I suppose of all the lessons my Mom taught me, the one I now value most is to always
be brave and to reach for the sky – even if you’re falling from it.

Guest blogger - Katie Phillips