MOUNT KENYA

Reaching new heights in aid of Standing Voice

By Standing Voice

December 20^th, 2018

In early June, Standing Voice co-founder Anton Bilton set out with a group of friends to the summit of Mount Kenya to fundraise for Standing Voice. The group of 17 summited at dawn on International Albinism Awareness Day, gazing out over stunning Kenyan scenery as the lives of people with albinism were being celebrated across the world.

Towering above the clouds at a staggering 5,199m, Mt. Kenya is the second highest mountain in Africa.

"Raw beauty, powerful nature, super humbling. It was simply mind-blowing and very emotional." Anton Bilton (Standing Voice Founder)

Battling with the symptoms of altitude sickness, the group climbed to the summit through the darkness of early morning. Disoriented, cold and short of breath, Anton and his team found motivation in the plight of Standing Voice’s beneficiaries and the knowledge that their fundraising would directly transform lives.

"On the summit morning we were woken at 2am to leave camp so had very little sleep. The first two and a half hours was a hard, slow trudge in darkness up steep scree edges and then as the first glimmer of sunlight shone its orange glow onto the mountain, we moved into a much steeper rock face which we had to climb with our hands. We then entered the snowline and carefully traversed the steep edges (this was my most frightening bit as I felt that one slip would have led to calamity), all the time looking down the perilous cliffs and crevices to the valleys below. As the sun emerged on the skyline, we could see the summit ahead of us and we carefully scrambled the last 300m along the top of a steep ridge and then through ice to reach the final rocks where we climbed up on top of Point Leanna of 4,985m, at 6:40am." Anton Bilton

"There were lots of tears, hugs, nervous laughter, photos and then an overwhelming fear of how to get down those steep areas we had climbed up, without slipping. I panicked for a few moments and had to be coaxed off the pinnacle by our wonderful guides, Rhys and Noah, and then we started the slow and tough journey back to base camp which involved a further 10 hours of walking downhill through ice, snow, scree, bog and eventually forest; losing my big toe toenail on my right foot in the process!" Anton Bilton

The determination, compassion and strength of Anton and his fellow climbers is an example to us all. We feel a depth of gratitude that is hard to express.