Martin Ford and his Kilimanjaro climb for Great Ormond Street Hospital
Martin Ford is one of our sponsors, who climbed Kilimanjaro last month to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. In addition to his achievement of reaching the summit, Martin broke a world record along the way!
Kilimanjaro Climb
Martin joined a group of 19 people for the climb and together raised about £70,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital. Donate here > It took the group about six days to climb Kilimanjaro; starting their journey on October 10, with the climb starting the following day. They reached the summit on October 17. As a Colchester First Responder and lead heart instructor, Martin taught guides a heart start course, for World Restart a Heart Day. As a result, teaching 12 mountains guides at 4,720m high, has entered Martin in for a world record, for the highest restart a heart session. They reached the top peak at 5,895m at 7.10am but then had to face the treacherous descent.
“It was the worst snow they had seen in 20 years. Trying to get down the mountain was a real problem, it was treacherous." Martin Ford.
Fortunately, Martin had a SPOT Gen3 tracker with him, which provided peace of mind in case the worse did happen on the way back down the mountain!
SPOT Gen3 Tracker
We previously supported Martin on his 'practice' climb in Morocco with his son, Sam, in April 2019.“Kilimanjaro was the second mountain I have climbed and Morocco was actually harder to climb. It was just the weather conditions, but you can’t choose what you are going to get.” Martin Ford.
The SPOT Gen3 tracker accompanied him as he trekked Kilimanjaro, which enabled his friends and family to follow his progress! The Gen3 satellite communicator offers messaging capabilities as well an SOS function, as the push of a button. It is proven to be one of the best value for money lifesaving device, which can even be used when travelling in remote areas!
