The idea started as a team building exercise to unite the rapidly growing global workforce at Gama Aviation (Booth V045). The result was a team of nearly a dozen employees and associates reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and the delivery of nearly $200,000 to install new water infrastructure at Kiomboi hospital in Tanzania.
At sunrise on February 22, the Gama Aviation team reached that summit following months of preparation and an arduous seven-day. As they reached that point, said climber Adam Neaves, who is a charter sales manager for Gama, the hospital had already begun work on the new infrastructure to provide clean water for newborns.
Duncan Daines, Gama Aviation group chief marketing officer, said the idea of the climb came out of the January 2015 merger between Hangar8 and Gama Aviation. “We wanted to find a platform by which we can bring the two company cultures together and invite the rest of our network, because the network has gotten a lot bigger over the past of three or four years,” Daines said. “We were losing a sense of our Gama family.”
The company looked for a smaller charity that was directly linked to the activity and discovered a critical need for water at the hospital. Gama executives found that the hospital had only enough water for one hour a day. “Because of the lack of water, heavily pregnant women have to collect dirty water from the unclean river to bring to the hospital to use for the birth of their own child. After they have given birth, they then have to walk back to the river to wash,” the company said in its fundraising efforts. “The mortality rate and severe infection rate is high.” Gama has been working with WaterAid to provide toilets, showers, baths, hand washing sinks and hygiene education.
Daines noted that the company fielded levels of interest from its 1,000 workers and affiliates worldwide. The key, he said, was to draw from nearly every department and have a wide geographic representation. The final team of 24 included a core from the U.K., along with others in Europe, the Middle East and America.
Gama helped offset the costs for some of the staff involved, but most climbers paid out of their own pockets. It also gathered corporate sponsors, launched fundraising efforts and drew donations from around the industry. All of that money was donated for the hospital infrastructure. The U.K. government pledged a matching donation.
The climb brought together an array of employees who networked to develop packing lists, conditioning regimens and other necessary plans. The packing lists were extensive, as many as 30 to 40 items, since they had to prepare from temperatures ranging from -25 degrees Celsius at night at the summit to +30 degrees Celsius during the day, particularly in the rain forest on the lower levels.
Most preparation was done on their own, but they did meet up to climb on Snowdon Mountain in Wales, which Neaves likened to a “hill” compared to the massive feat ahead of them.
That, said fellow climber Jess Guiver, a finance analyst for Gama, built excitement for what was ahead. But as the climb approached, Neaves conceded, a feeling of trepidation washed over them. “You get over the excitement of getting to a place [on the trip] then all of the sudden it’s the reality of the idea. When you think of climbing a mountain, you think of experienced mountaineers, and all of the sudden there’s a rowdy rabble of Gama employees from all over the shop to get together and go up.”
The climbers met up in Amsterdam and headed together to Africa. That was an amazing trip for many, most of whom, despite being well traveled, had never been to the African continent.
On February 16, the team started from the Lemosho entry point, beginning at about 2,500 feet and approaching the mountain from the west. “We did the longest and most scenic route to increase our chances of making it to the top,” Guiver said. The route enabled gradual acclimatization, to help build up the red blood cells necessary for the higher altitudes, the climbers explained. And it worked. At no point did any of the climbers require supplemental oxygen.
Flanked by local guides who helped carry their gear, the team made substantial progress the first day, reaching about 8,000 feet altitude, Neaves said. It was a gradual climb of only about four-and-a-half hours. But from there, the climb became more difficult.
The second day was a net 2,400-foot gain in altitude, but represented 3,000 feet climbed due to having both ascending and descending terrain. And it took more than seven hours. Neaves described the climb as “remote and spectacular, with dramatic views of west Kilimanjaro.”
Hydration was essential. Neaves said three liters daily was a requirement, but many were using four or five. The climb got harder and harder.
The last day involved a roughly 3,000-foot ascent. They left at 10:30 p.m. local time, launching on a grueling eight-hour hike by moonlight and headlamp. The terrain at those levels needed to be frozen to traverse, Neaves said, explaining the nighttime climb. “The night was so lucidly clear you could see by the moon and stars,” he said. The climb was slow, with team members stopping “literally every five minutes,” Neaves said, adding they concentrated on putting one foot in front of the last. “One of our guys was literally sleeping walking. It was kind of a strange thing watching someone walk with their eyes closed.”
Sickness set in for the first time with some of the members. Guiver said she was among them. But they arrived at dawn, roughly 6:30 a.m. “It was amazing, the euphoria,” Guiver said. “Everyone was crying with joy.”
Banners were unfurled to mark their presence at the top and to recognize their sponsors from around the industry. In all, 23 of the 24 made it, with one having to leave to attend to a medical condition. Neaves noted that this “smashed” the odds, since large groups tend to have only 50-60 percent of their members reach the top.
They were among hundreds who had summited from the various trails that day. Neaves had envisioned a person alone at the peak. Instead, “it was like being at a rock concert,” with cameras snapping and banners waving.
As the sun rose, time became of the essence, and they left shortly after for the descent. The temperature swung quickly from subzero to nearly 30C again. But the climb down took just a day.
At the bottom, they took some time to recuperate and celebrate, knowing that the money raised was already being put to use. With government matching aid, about $200,000 was raised to begin work on water infrastructure. “To hear that it began on the night we summited was quite special,” Neaves said.
Gama Aviation is planning to send a small delegation to the hospital in the future to see the progress. As for whether they would undertake such an effort again, Daines said that the desire is there to continue such team-building exercises and culture-building activities. Another activity could take place in 2017. “[But] I think we want to do something different. I don’t think we want to replicate that unique experience. There are plenty of other opportunities.”
