Amputee-Adventures Home Page

Kilimanjaro Trek
in aid of the Limbless Association

September
2010

Toubkal 2012

In late January 2012 an intrepid group of individuals will attempt an ascent of Mount Toubkal in the Moroccan High Atlas Mountains. Nothing particularly unusual about that you may say, but on closer inspection you may decide to reconsider… In September 2010 this same group completed an ascent of Kilimanjaro. Again, nothing unusual? This group, however, was composed of civilian amputees, prosthetists, physiotherapists and friends who attempted to scale Africa’s highest mountain to raise funds for the Limbless Association.

Far from overcoming the challenges of Kili and returning to normal lives, a core of the group have developed a continuing thirst for adventure. We decided to increase the technicality of our next challenge and intend to tackle Mount Toubkal in the winter conditions found in February. The snow and ice present at this time of year will demand the use of crampons and an ice axe – items that none of the amputees taking part have used before.

View Toubkal in a larger map

In order to stand the highest chance of safely reaching the 4167m summit of Toubkal, we have engaged the services of a professional guide. He met the group training on the North Downs in June (not very snowy!) and believes we are capable of making the ascent. We will also be completing a winter skills training weekend with our guide in early January in Scotland - the first opportunity that the majority of us will have to find our snow feet. In the case of a group of amputees, this can be taken both figuratively and literally! Our trip into the High Atlas Mountains will last five days, including the approach day, further winter skills training on day two, an ascent of a smaller peak on day three, the ascent of Toubkal on day four and our walk-off. Each of these days will once again present the amputees with the unique challenge of both the conditions and ascent whilst overcoming limitations imposed by prosthetics limbs including the need for maintenance of the prosthetics themselves and the vulnerable prosthetic/human interface.

Each of the amputee participants of our challenge has their own unique difficulties to overcome, imposed by injuries sustained and the largely custom made prosthetics used to function. Setting the routine daily challenge of the life of an amputee in the adventurous setting of a snowy mountain serves to highlight the pioneering nature of our species and epitomises the drive to overcome obstacles both small and significantly larger!