I met Paul ten years ago, My mother passed me the local newspaper and told me to read the story about the local man who was going to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, reading through It then transpired that Paul Nicol was Visually Impaired and raising money for Charity. The Newspaper mentioned he was going to do a live interview at BBC Radio Oxford so I met Paul at the station, Introduced myself and we were on our way.

We trained for months together, I got to know Paul pretty well over this time and having travelled the country with him to climb the biggest peaks the UK had to offer.

Paul was diagnosed with Pigmentosa Retinitis in his early teenage years and lost his sight completely a number of years later.

Paul is one of the most inspirational people I have ever met, always staying on the positive even when the tied is against you and very uplifting to be around.

The climb was difficult, for both of us! I had underestimated the weight of my filming equipment and Paul was trying to walk on constantly changing terrain…..It was not easy!

After a tough five days, we had reached summit day…or night…We climbed all day and were told to rest as much as we could because in a few hours we’ll be packing up again and attempting to summit at midnight – leaving at this time in theory gets you to the peak for sunrise.

The summit night is, without doubt, the hardest thing any of us have ever had to do, its exhausting, air is extremely thin, walking in pitch black with just a number of head torches to keep you going and the night never seems to end….until it does too much relief and we successfully reached the peak of Mt Kilimanjaro.

Paul went on from iCan Experiences, a company that would go onto help nearly 3500 disabled people realize their dreams with experiences that would have otherwise been out of reach.

More info: youtu.be | icanexperiences.co.uk

When Paul reached the Summit!

Image taken from documentary interview.

Training; Climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland, UK

First night in the tent, Kilimanjaro

Camp two days before the Summit

Paul recorded a Night time diary every evening

Climbing through the cold conditions and difficult terrain

Reaching the Summit

The peak of Mt Kilimanjaro

The Ascent – Paul Nicol

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