I've found a little background info on Kilimanjaro today in Trail magazine. There's a feature on climbing Kili in this month's issue, promoted on the front page as "Kilimanjaro Moyles did it. Could you?", which made me chuckle.

Anyway, apparently in 1929 Pastor Richard Reusch made the first of 40 summit climbs, along the way discovering a frozen leopard on the crater rim, which would give Ernest Hemingway inspiration for his book The Snows of Kilimanjaro. That was the second book I read in preparation for my own attempt on the summit,l after my great aunt's account. I also watched the 1952 film of the same name, starring Gregory Peck.

The Trail article also tells how in 1961 a tourch was placed on the summit of Kibo to symbolise the independence of Tanganyika. And the peak was renamed from Kaiser Wilhelm Peak to 'Uhuru', which means freedom in Swahili.

Aunt May and myself never made it to the top peak of Uhuru. There are actually two peaks on Kilimanjaro, as the mountain top is a crater. You first arrive at the top at a spot called Gillman's Point and then you walk around the crater rim to the highest point of the crater, called Uhuru. So Aunt May and myself both made it to Gilman's Point, but in 1941 this was considered good enough to qualify my aunt as having reached the top and when she returned to the bottom a very special presentation, which I shall talk more about in a later post. So if it was good enough for Aunt May it was good enough for me!

However, I want to make my second attempt in 2011 to try and make it to Uhuru, my great aunt had ambitions of returning to make a second attempt as well, as she describes in her writings, but unfortunately she never made it back there.

A brief background of Aunt May

Aunt May was born on May 1st 1903 in Fowey, Cornwall. She attended St Blazey Infant School and went into service after finishing school.

Apparently she saved all she could of her five shilling wages while in service, to equip herself for the Salvation Army training college. She had joined the St Blazey Corps of the Salvation Army in 1923 and I believe became an officer in 1926.

While in the Salvation Army at St Blazey she revelled in the open air meetings, sold the War Cry (the Salvation Army newspaper) in public houses and collected for the self-denial effort, in outlying villages.

After becoming an officer in 1926 she carried out slum work in Bath and had similar appointments in Portsea, Abbey Street and Shadwell. While at Shadwell I understand she was responsible for the 'penny kitchens', providing penny dinners for the homeless.

Not long after she was at Shadwell she went to East Africa where she undertook many wonderful adventures, some photos of which I will share with you in later posts.

She retired from the Salvation Army and Africa on October 1st 1960. She was working at the Hostel for the Ambulant Sick in Kampala, Uganda at the time.

While in Africa she used to broadcast on African Radio in Swahili, see the picture above.

Welcome...

... to The Making of a Mountaineer, a blog dedicated to my Great Aunt Rosalie May Trembeth, her incredible expedition and my attempt(s) to follow in her footsteps.

Aunt May, as she's known in the family, was a Brigadier in the Salvation Army and served in Africa for around 35 years. In June 1941 she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the tallest freestanding mountain in the world in her Salvation Army issue shoes and dress!

She wrote an account of her climb and took photos en-route. My family discovered a fully typed manuscript entitled "The Making of a Mountaineer" in my granddad's loft a few years ago, when he sadly passed away.

In 2001, shortly before my 30th birthday I made exactly the same trip my great aunt did, following in her footsteps as closely as I could, 60 years TO THE DAY after she made the ascent!

I will reproduce some of her account and photos, alongside my own account and photos in this blog.

In 2011 I hope to return to Kilimanjaro to make another attempt on the summit, 70 years after my great aunt and 10 years after my first attempt. I will also reproduce any news about the build up and the climb itself right here. So make sure you stay tuned.

There's lots to tell, so I do hope you come back for more.

One day I would like to get the whole story published, as a book. But until then, I hope you enjoy these excerpts as much as I've enjoyed writing them ... Happy reading!