He will be having Christmas dinner with friends on Christmas Day at their advanced camp just below the summit. Subject to the conditions, he also hopes to dine on the summit, at over 19,300 ft, on Boxing Day.
He hopes to raise £5,000 for the charity.
This is not the first time Tom has enjoyed a high altitude meal. In May 2004, together with nine friends, they set a Guinness World Record by having a formal dinner party on Everest, at 22,300 ft, beating a previous record set by an Australian team in 1989. He also cycled solo almost 3,000 miles from Iceland to Africa to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Tom will carry a custom made table and chairs together with candelabra, cutlery and white silk tablecloth. He will dress formally for both dinners and enjoy meals which will include smoked turkey, brussel sprouts, Christmas cake, cheese and port.
Brian Curran, Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Fundraiser, in West Yorkshire said, “It never ceases to amaze me the lengths Tom will go to support the charity. And, while he is enjoying dinner on Kilimanjaro, he will be helping our nurses care for people living with cancer over Christmas”.
Tom said, “I feel very passionately about the work the Marie Curie Cancer Care nurses carry out. This will be another truly amazing adventure but the really amazing thing is the support I receive from people who share the same desire to help to pay for them.
“After 37 Christmases in the warmth of a family home it will be a strange experience to be under the stars 18,000 ft up a mountain in Africa. However, it will certainly be a Christmas to remember and one, I hope, I might feel very proud of.
“Christmas is a time when we should be thinking of others and this seemed to me to be a good way to do it.”
To support Tom you can donate here.
December 2006
