IAIN Fryatt achieved something he never thought would be possible – reaching the top of Mt Kilimanjaro in a wheelchair!
Iain, 27, completed the climb using his Mountain Trike – a unqiue all-terrain wheelchair, made in Nantwich, Cheshire
Iain has Friedreich’s Ataxia, which was diagnosed at the age of nine.
“This affects my balance, speech, swallowing and my spine,” said Iain. “It often leads to heart muscle disease and diabetes.”
But despite his disability Iain was determined to get to the top of Africa’s highest mountain to raise funds for research into a possible new treatment, which may stop the condition progressing and may even turn it around.
Together with his dad, his partner Karen, two brothers Callum, Craig, cousin Billy and team medic Nick, Iain followed the Rongai Route, taking eight days to climb the mountain and two days to descend.
Iain said: “Although there was a variety of landscapes the trike went through, they all had one thing in common – rocks!
“At times these sorely tested the mettle of the Mountain Trike, at other times they meant that I had to be pulled, pushed or lifted to get round them. But despite these obstacles the trike survived the trek, having only sustained a broken steering cable.
“Without the Mountain Trike it would not have been possible for me to take part in this adventure which only a few years ago I couldn’t even dream of doing.”
Tim Morgan, managing director and inventor of the Mountain Trike, said: “It is an amazing achievement for Iain to have made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro. The Mountain Trike has been used to ascend mountains in the UK such as Snowden and Ben Nevis but has never been used before to climb the extremely challenging mountain of Mt Kilimanjaro.”
Mountain Trike Company, tel: 01270 842616
PICTURED: Iain with his brother Callum and dad, Graham
