A father and daughter from Upper Makefield took on a challenge, for togetherness and charity.
Upper Makefield teen Clare Roche made the climb up Africa’s tallest mountain, not only for the adventure, but also for the time. Seven days scaling Mount Kilimanjaro and through its five ecosystems was a week alone with the father she would eventually be leaving behind for college.
So, on Christmas Day, Roche and her father, Richard, set out for the mountain’s peak, but not before the father-daughter pilgrimage turned into something else.
The trip became a chance to shine a spotlight on Tanzania, a majestic country troubled by crises such as war and famine, and to do something to help.
Roche, with the encouragement of her mother, Gail, made the trip a fund-raising effort to benefit UNICEF. The pair set a goal of raising $2,500 with hopes of highlighting the plight of children.
“Jenna Bush came to our school and talked about her book and the money she raised for UNICEF, and that just helped seal it,” said Roche, 16, a junior at Council Rock High School North. “But we didn’t think it would get his big.”
“Big” is Roche’s soccer and field hockey teammates, friends and family handing her checks and contributing on her UNICEF Web site. By late last week, Roche was $600 short of her goal.
As pledges came in, Roche and her father boarded a plane Dec. 22. After 19 hours in the air, they landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania. The Roches went on their mountain tour with Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International, which leads hiking trips around world.
“For the ordinary guy who just does a little hiking, this is his Everest,” said Todd Burleson, company owner and president. “People say it’s something they wanted to do their whole lives. It stems from Hemingway. Who knows? It’s a romantic mountain.”
The 19,340-foot trek to the top of Kilimanjaro doesn’t necessarily offer the romance of completely roughing it. The Roches’ party of seven hikers included one guide and 50 porters who carried luggage, equipment and provisions, set up camp and prepared the food. Large tents were erected to serve as sleeping and dining areas.
“The food was amazing,” Clare Roche said. “Omelets, oatmeal, pasta, soup.”
“They’d feed us and we’d start climbing the mountain, and then they pass you on the way up and by the time you get to camp, the tent is up and they’re fixing lunch,” Richard Roche said.
Mount Kilimanjaro is called the world’s tallest free-standing mountain. From the bottom up, its terrain evolves from rain forest to moorland, alpine desert, and finally rocks and ice, Burleson said. Tours with Alpine Ascents cost about $4,000 per person, excluding airfare, and include a post-climb safari.
About 25,000 attempt to hike the mountain each year. The altitude, and becoming accustomed to the climate, have taken their toll on climbers, Burleson said. Several die annually.
The deaths are most always because people get sick and don’t turn around, Burleson said, and they don’t have skilled guides. “We carry oxygen and medication for nausea,” he said. The Roches’ party of seven included two lawyers, the owner of a public relations firm, and a music executive. Clare Roche was the youngest.
“I was extremely nervous – from when [her father] told me to when we arrived at the mountain,” Clare Roche said. “And I didn’t get excited until we got on the plane and it became a reality.”
Richard Roche, a skilled hiker who has hiked at Mount Everest, felt sure his daughter could handle the climb because of her training as an athlete. He watched her transition from what he calls an “Upper Makefield/MTV” existence to a “mountain-climbing head.”
“You’re dirty, you’re tired, and there’s no shower. You can’t wash your hair for a week,” said Richard Roche, 55. “She was as grungy as the rest of us.”
That mountain experience turned into a contemplative one.
“You get separated from what’s going on at home,” Clare Roche said. “You don’t matter on the mountain because you’re with the people who are doing what you’re doing. You can walk and just think.”
Roche and her father climbed with their group to 18,000 feet. They were just 1,340 feet from the top when they decided to stop. Clare Roche had been ill with a bad cold that she couldn’t shake, a condition aggravated by the altitude.
“I was disappointed, but there was nothing you could do,” Clare Roche said.
The rest of their party went on to the top. Then, it took just two days to descend the mountain. After that, a safari, and home.
As for the bonding, Clare Roche says she learned that her father won’t quit even when weary. Richard Roche said his daughter succeeded at something that he knew she could do, even if she wasn’t so sure.
“It brought me closer to my dad, and we raised money to help people,” Clare Roche said. “We accomplished both of those things, so I’d say it was a very successful trip.”
