CONTACT US  |  INDEX  |  A TO Z LISTINGS

Help for Heroes fundraising climbs past base camp.

'Wide as all the world, great, high, and unbelievably white in the sun.' Ernest Hemingway The Snows of Kilimanjaro

 

Graham Mitchell, The Wine Explorer, has recently returned from Tanzania where not only did he raise over £5,000 for the 'Help for Heroes' charity by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro but he may also have created a new world record for drinking a glass of fine red wine at altitude, to toast our brave wounded servicemen and women.

Only 40% of those who attempt to reach the summit actually achieve the feat but Graham was on a mission: to raise funds to the monetary value of the mountain’s height (5895 metres above sea level). To date, Graham’s climb has raised £5,527.00 so his fundraising effort has climbed well past base camp.

Graham’s climb also illustrates his highly individual quest for wines with altitude as well as attitude. The wine he tasted at the summit was from the Tempus Alba Vineyard, Mendoza, Argentina, itself some 1200 metres above sea level in the foothills of the Andes (on a par with Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest peak). The long, bright, sunny days and cool nights at this altitude enable the grapes to ripen more gradually, intensifying the flavours and creating the most incredible wine. After its arduous journey to Africa, the wine arrived tasting smooth and aromatic, in direct contrast to Graham after his climb.

Graham describes his adventure as one of the most challenging experiences he has ever faced. “We left for the final assault on the summit just before midnight on the 14th January. It was a beautifully bright, starlit clear night. We walked with head torches darting a stream of light into the quiet eerie darkness, ascending "pole-pole" (“slowly-slowly” in Swahili) in single file... The path became steeper and more shingly and my boots slipped sideways down the hill as we struggled up the mountain. As we neared Gilman's Point on the crater rim the route became very steep and rocky and we scrambled up on all fours. It was at this point with the temperature at minus 15 and feelings of nausea overcoming my body that I began to question whether I would make it… The sun was just beginning to rise as we walked along the crater rim and on past the glacier in all its memorable beauty. Eventually after another hour, I made it to Uhuru, the summit at 19,341 ft, and raised a glass of this exceedingly good Malbec to Help for Heroes. As an after dinner speaker specializing in stories about wine and a Liveryman of the Vintners' Company, I felt it would have been quite wrong to celebrate the climb, and the magnificent view, in any other way."

Family man Graham planted a photograph of his ten year old son Ned close to the summit for him to reclaim one day. If Ned joins the business he will be the fifth generation of the Mitchell family to toil in the wine industry.

 

 

 

©2010SPOT ON ENTERTAINMENT LTD | SPOT ON EVENTS DIRECT | 08451 662 594