Lactic – Member
No gonefishin, I haven’t been to that sort of altitude, that’s rather my point. I don’t underestimate the challenges of altitude but a trip climbing Kili would still be a dream holiday for many of us outdoorsy types, as would Hawaii for those less energetic.

But isn’t that the point of them doing it? ie it is outside of there comfort zone and hard for them plus not something that they would normally dream of doing.

jesus, they’ll show any old sh1t on the telly these days.

FFS – it’s a bloody charity tv show. If you don’t like it, switch it off.

They raise money for kids who otherwise stand little chance of living for much longer. Get a grip.

If you don’t like it, switch it off.
I did. HTH.

They raise money for kids who otherwise stand little chance of living for much longer. Get a grip.
Jolly good. I didn’t criticise this. It was still shit TV. HTH.

It’s all kind of self fullfilling. They choose celebs rather than plebs for these things ‘cos they know they’ll get more free publicity which equals more cash…. Moyles barely managed 5 minutes without mentioning it for weeks before hand. But then they have to make sure the celebs make it up and that it looks suitably challenging otherwise all the people who chipped in will feel cheated.

What’s depressing is that it takes crap like this to induce people to give to charity. If you want to help kids there is nothing to stop you donating your money to any number of charities at any time of the year….

Owen you might have a point if it had been a party of Moyles, Johnny Vegas, Jo Brand and Rik Waller. I reckon most people watching would love the opportunity to travel to Africa and climb a mountain, rather than seeing it as some sort of chore to be endured.

Chris, totally agree that the fact we need a celebrity lovefest in order to get people to give to charity is depressing. I know sending non-celebs wouldn’t get much publicity, I just think the celebs should have come up with a different money making scheme to simply being filmed going on holiday.

“Fair play to them I say. They’ve raised more money than anyone on here“

Seriously, arrange with my boss for me to take off all the time necessary for the training etc. with no loss of income. Organise all the publicity I need. Fly me over there first class. Arrange a load of porters to carry my stuff up the mountain and I’ll be there. Oh, a week or so recovery would be nice too.

“What’s depressing is that it takes crap like this to induce people to give to charity. If you want to help kids there is nothing to stop you donating your money to any number of charities at any time of the year….“

Agreed.

Good effort. It’s not easy to do and for all of them to get to the top in 7 days was remarkable. I have been to that altitude and it’s not easy. To carry on climbing when you’ve had vomit coming out of your nose is a pretty good effort for a wee lassie.

Particularly impressed by the fat bloke actually.

It was probably -20 but no way was it 75mph. You can barely stand up in that and at those temperatures exposed flesh would freeze in minutes.

I have been up to point Lenana on mount kenya (4985m)and 4500m in the himalayas so can confidently say good effort to all of them well done. But would agree about temp and wind speed. You also don’t feel great every day just because you are around fantastic scenery so moaning a bit comes with the territory.

scruff – Member
Im dead fit but found it hard to smoke a fag without wheezing on the Klein Matterhorn, its only about 3400m.

I hope you put the butt in your pocket. I used to live in Zermatt and the number of fag butts littered under the lifts is astounding/disgusting once the snow has melted.

As for ‘celebs’ hiking up a mountain, considering 2 of them are worth ten times the money they raised, it feels rather wrong that they’re off having fun in Africa and then asking us to cough up a couple of quid. I’m quite happy to give to charity though.

the thing is, yes people ‘should’ give to charity without needing entertainment in return, but they don’t.

Hugh Dennis was on R5 this morning, according to him all the red nose days have raised over half a billion pounds.

Now lots of that money would not have been raised without Dawn French snogging Hugh Grant, Lenny Henry and his ‘wacky’ suits and famous people doing things like going up big mountains.

Like it or not, half a billion pounds isn’t bad from voluntary donations focused on 1 day every 2 years…if that means cheryl cole and fatty moyles get a trip to kenya so be it, a dad of 2 with a bad back from Pembroke just isn’t going to generate the same level of interest!

You call watching a child die in a hospital and vomiting through your nose fun?

What makes you think they didn’t put their hands in their pockets anyway. I can guarantee they all did.

sponging – if you do a charity bike ride, say, isn’t the idea to get people to sponsor you to do it? I didn’t reailse that you also had to put a % of your hard earned in there too.

Quite a few people on here need to get a grip. frankly, I don’t really care what they do, the fact is they raised a shed load of money, and, probably going to save peoples lives as a result. I put my fiver into it quite happily. was good to see cole in outdoors mode too, and cotton really did look in a bad way at times, so fair play to them all.

To be honest Donald I’d be more worried about how the child was feeling than the Celeb. If they want to make documentaries to demonstrate suffering in Africa, fantastic. Why not sponsor them to stay on and help in the hospital for a week rather than bogging off up a mountain?

Id hardly call projectile vomiting and the shits “having fun in Africa” , or is that the latest STW fetish/niche.

As as for the “us outdoorsy types would love to do that” whats your point?
-People run marathons for charity, but theres thousands of people in the world who would probably do that in 4 hours on a sunday mornign with no training.

-There’s people with red hair, but we still paid our boss for coming in with his hair sprayed.

-I’m sure some wierdo’s would love to take a bath in custard/beans but i’d still chuck in a couple of quid to see someone do it.

Having just done this a couple of months ago I enjoyed watching it as it brought back the memories. For a reasonably fit person its not a fitness challenge at all, its about how your body copes with the altitude, which you cannot predict. I had terrible headaches and remember well the regular 2 hour stops for painkillers and food on the final summit day, forcing myself to eat chocolate (a rare experience!)as I knew I needed the energy. One of our group had to be carried down off the mountain, and another was throwing up every 15 minutes at one point. It is definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and compared to what some people ask me for charity money for (just wait until Run For Life time, 5km walk/run…) I think its a more worthy bit of effort.

I was very miffed to see the girls loo though…. they didn’t have that on my trip! It was the same company that I did the walk with, I recognised some of the porters and the guide helping Ferne was our Guide leader Naiman.

To be honest Donald I’d be more worried about how the child was feeling than the Celeb.

As would I. But I wouldn’t class either as “fun”.

Why not sponsor them to stay on and help in the hospital for a week rather than bogging off up a mountain?

OK Here’s how it works. The people who are good at saving babies work in the hospitals. The people who are good at raising money raise money. Making documentaries to demonstrate the suffering in Africa is very worthy but how much money will it raise? Chris Moyles can do ten times more good by climbing a hill than he can by working in a hospital.

Donald, I couldn’t have put it better myself.

I am doing a sponsored bike ride this summer and, yes, I will be contributing towards the sponsorship money, but your point is well received.

It’s great that so much money can be raised for charity by whatever means. I don’t think this whole climb for charity thing was bad, but I feel uncomfortable with multi-millionaires telling me to dig-deep. I would like to think that they contributed towards their total. Donald, how exactly can you guarantee that they did? Because Heat magazine says they’re all bloody good blokes?

As for watching children die in hospital, of course it’s not fun but I don’t need Bono to fly around the world to Zambia in his private jet to tell me it’s happening. However, I appreciate that the large majority of our population do.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/how-do-you-get-nine-celebrities-up-kilimanjaro-with-difficulty-1643962.html

Donald, how exactly can you guarantee that they did?

Do you honestly think they didn’t? How could you be involved in something like that and having a few spare quid in your pocket not chip in. If they were the type of person to do that then they wouldn’t be there in the first place. Of course if they state the fact that they give to charity then someone will rip into them for advertising their selflessness.

Thanks for letting me know how it works Donald, there was me thinking that Moyles could be a brain surgeon. He could however have a go as a porter or help with maintenance. With a full TV crew and support staff they could raise money from the viewing public, who love reality hospital shows, and actually improve the hospital.
I have no objection to celeb hospital visits if that’s what it takes, although who thinks that a dying child is not sufficiently compelling viewing without a breakfast DJ in attendance is beyond me. But you can’t say that the fact they raised money from their hiking trip is a justification, I think people recognise a good cause and give despite the celebrity’s mountain jolly.

He seemed the least affected by the altitude.

Ability to cope with altitude is random – right fat lazy b*stards can have the gift, and hardcore mountaineers might not. It’s a bit like having a high VO2 max. I’d like to find out if I have the gift or not – went up to about 3,400m when I was younger – didn’t notice any difference apart from being pretty knackered in general but then that’s not that high.

Apparently you can ride to the top of Kilimanjaro – can’t you?

it just didn’t make very good TV

I’ll give them some credit for doing it, but I would have given them a lot more if they’d have carried their own kit, funded it themselves and not been so pampered

Brakes – my thoughts exactly, I could not beleive how much they got helped up the hill. All they literraly appeared to be carrying was a little water in a camlebak, and when it got a little steeper even that came off! Most people carry their own tent & ALL gear!

I dont believe that was 75mph winds either, at that kind of speed they would struggle to keep so upright and the camera man/woman would definately be struggling to hold the camera steady.

Fair play to them though in terms of reaching the top, I’v only ever been up to 4200m, and that was uncomfortable.

Maybe it was 75mph winds when the cameras weren’t rolling. Or it got edited out.

Some special crap spouted in this thread.

For a start you can’t stand up in sustained 75mph wind, and that sort of windspeed at -20C is deadly without very specialist kit.

Secondly, that pic of a helicopter is not over everest (some ‘copters can go very high, but most can’t get anywhere near the summit of kili).

i found some weather forecasts if anyone really wants to know – looks like it could have possibly -20 with wind chill, but 75mph winds are unlikely.
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Kilimanjaro/6day/top
wind chill chart
http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/arb/durc/windchill.html

i think anyone who raises money for a half decent charity (nothing that involves cats counts!) deserves some credit.

There are some miserable feckers on here.

It raised £1.4m before it was shown. That is 280,000 mosquito nets worth. 280,000 people who may not end up dead as a result. On top of that how many of the millions of people that watched it will dip their hands into there pockets? Quite a few with a bit of luck.

I’ll give them some credit for doing it

Well that’s mighty big of you. What are you going to do to raise over a million?

Good TV – Not especially
Minor celebs – Certainly
Loads of cash raised – Definitely

Some people on here need to get a grip.

Lactic – Member
Thanks for letting me know how it works Donald, there was me thinking that Moyles could be a brain surgeon. He could however have a go as a porter or help with maintenance.

What make you think that working in maintenace is any eaiser than being a brain surgeon? It takes years of training and skill to be able to do it i wouldn’t want any celeb near my hospital and the machines here.

http://www.greatoutdoors.com/video/helicopter-lands-on-everest

I didn’t say a helicopter didn’t ‘land’ on everest, just that that picture wasn’t of everest.

fauxbyfour – Member
Next year I am carrying my bike up and riding down

Thats a terrible statement, how very dare you indeed.

I intend to ride up it (without dabbing) and then ride down it on a Chipper, IN A DAY, next year in the bleak of winter wearing only a mankini.
(With no water and eating only half a tic tac)

and after “like road clean wit tongue”

Its for “charuty mate!”

If they’d have organised the trip themselves, paid for it out of their own extortionate wages and carried and cooked their own way to the top, with a couple of guides, a doctor and a hand held camera to recored their adventures . . .

. . . . that would be worth supporting and would be a lot more interesting!

Fearne Cotton went? My least-like Radio 1 DJ… It’s a close thing between her and Moyles, so a lot of good could have been done by leaving them both at the summit.

I’d have doubled their money if they’d have hiked up and thrown Jo Whiley off the top 😈

could you chuck off chappers and scott mills whilst your at it

. . . . that would be worth supporting and would be a lot more interesting!

So it wasn’t worth support? In your eyes this was a worthless venture because they didn’t carry their own kit? FFS.

It was a charity stunt to raise money. Grow up.

I’m probably going to regret saying this!! But what annoys me is every year all this money we raise and put towards the bottomless pit of Africa when there are millions of causes/charities we could be supporting and problems we could be fixing in the UK but we don’t!

Oh well I gave Comic Relief my £1 this morning to get the man in the bear costume to leave me alone!!!

Boring TV programme though. All whinged having done “6 months” training! But fair play it was for charity. Enough said.

So it wasn’t worth support? In your eyes this was a worthless venture?

This venture hasn’t anyway in the slightest persuaded me to dig into my oft bare pockets, no!

In fact it’s had quite the opposite effect, maybe something I see tonight will have the desired effect!

So worthy of my support, no. Worthy of support in general, obviously to some yes!

maybe something I see tonight will have the desired effect!

Better drop Richard Curtis a line and tell him to do something extra special tonight for your 50p.

If you don’t want to give money to charity then fair enough, but don’t pass judgement on those that do want to raise some cash because they were too famous to carry their own pack or they took the easy route up. Surely the important thing is that they did it at all and as a result somebodies shit life may just get a little better.