Llullaillaco Volcano. (You-yay-yako)

 

I'm going to attempt to climb the volcano Llullaillaco as way of raising money for a charity that's very important to me and many other people I know. I hope to raise money for the charity Ovarian cancer action, check out www.ovarian.org.uk for more info. A lot of you will already know my reason for this but for those who don't it is because my amazing girlfriend Kate lost her life because of ovarian cancer on 11th February 2012. She was first diagnosed July 2011 with advanced ovarian cancer at the age of 28, the only symptoms she had that led her to see a doctor was a bloated feeling in her stomach. After diagnosis she then began to attend the Christie hospital, Manchester (the staff there are amazing) where she started a strong course of chemotherapy. This sometimes involved 12 hour long appointments whilst she had a poison put into her system which left her with very little energy, caused her to be sick and to lose her hair plus having to contend with the fact she had cancer. She just got on with events with a matter of fact attitude, any time that was spent worry was about other people in her life. We were together for over 7 years so I knew her personality more than a little well but the strength she displayed once she became ill was incredible. When she received any news that wasn't positive it was 'just another hurdle to get over'. Ultimately it was a combination of the cancer and the chemotherapy that Kate succumb to, with the cancer being an advanced form the treatment needed to aggressive to have a chance of helping. Kate was, and always will be an amazing, kind, sensitive and beautiful girl, whom I, and many others loved very much.

 

So the climb is something I plan to undertake on a solo status, the volcano Llullaillaco pronounced (You-yay-yako, doesn't exactly roll off the tongue), is set in a remote area of the Atacama desert in Chile. It is one of the highest volcanos in the world at 6739m or a bit over 4 miles into the sky if metres doesn't do it for you. The temperature regularly drops to -20 at the summit and the terrain is composed of moraine, basically like walking up a pile of gravel. I will need to carry all my water as it's in the driest region on the planet and also an extra tank of fuel (I'm getting there by motorbike), as the volcano is quite isolated. The actual climb should take between 4-5 days, depends on if I pull my finger out! It will involve camping at 4200m and 5900m, then from there a dash for the summit. Apologies on the short notice, I've known that I have wanted to do this for more than 6 months but until I arrived to the region I didn't know if it was possible. I hope to reach the summit on the 8th november (Kate's birthday) starting the climb on the 4th. This gives me enough time to get acclimatised and also try another mountain or 2 before hand to get in some last minute training.

 

A lot of money has already been raised for various charities by the friends and family of Kate and myself, all of whom did brilliantly. Please help me to raise money in memory of Kate, and help contribute to finding a cure to stop this disease from needlessly taking and destroying peoples lives.

 

I'll keep updates on the how my training goes.

 

Thanks

 

Steve