A Hammersmith optician has passed one of the greatest physical tests known to man by reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Shak Hirani, who works at Specsavers in King Street, Hammersmith, defied chronic altitude sickness and temperatures of minus 20 degrees to scale the famous peak, raising £5,000 for eye care in Africa in the process.
"We began training for the climb some six months before the departure date to ensure we were all in peak physical condition," said Shak, who was joined on the expedition by two friends.
"But nothing could have prepared us for what we faced, including freezing temperatures, unbearable altitude sickness and an extraordinarily challenging climb.
"Despite all of this I think it was also the most exhilarating experience of my life."
The trek to the summit took five days and a further two days to get back down. The intrepid three were supported by porters who provided them with food and carried their oxygen chambers, but no amount of help prepared them for the altitude sickness, which was so famously suffered by TV presenter Fearne Cotton in her own Kilimanjaro climb.
"Most people will be familiar with the reaction Fearne had to altitude sickness and I had it early on but it passed. However, my friend Tasneem had to be escorted back down before the top because it got so bad."
The last section of the epic challenge took place in pitch black and took seven hours before the group finally reached Stella Point, at 5,900ft above sea-level.
"My drinking water was frozen, I was shattered and the oxygen was becoming thinner as every minute passed. Yet it was the most exhilarating, amazing moment in my life. I was just speechless."
The money raised by Shak will go to Vision Aid Overseas which provides eye care to people in the developing world.
