SS Oct13 58_61 Kilimanjaro
26/9/13
11:42
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CHARITY
In August, Paulo De Tarso and Ashley Palmer-Watts of Knightsbridge’s Mandarin Oriental hotel scaled the mighty Mount Kilimanjaro, raising huge sums for Africa in the process. But as Jamie Downham hears, reaching the summit was the hardest thing they had ever done...
Climbing TO CHANGE LIVES
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HIS SUMMER, two of the Mandarin Oriental’s biggest names swapped the luxury of the famous Knightsbridge hotel for the toughest task of their lives: climbing the fearsome Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Ashley Palmer-Watts, head chef at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, assembled a team including his good friend Paulo De Tarso, maître d’ at the hotel’s Bar Boulud, for a mission to scale Africa’s highest peak for charity. But even the hard-headed titans of London hospitality – dubbed “the chefs with altitude” – weren’t prepared for how challenging the trip
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would be. Towering 5,895 metres above sea level, the treacherous terrain and dizzyingly thin air defeats almost two-thirds of the people who attempt to reach the summit. However, with more than £50,000 in sponsorship for the charity Farm Africa’s Food for Good programme and the backing of friends, family and customers urging them on, the team made it to Uhuru peak on Wednesday, August 28. It has been an emotional journey all round. “What hit us the most was when we flew in,” says Paulo. “When you go from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro, the plane goes by the mountain, right next to it. It’s 60km by 41km – an absolute