The Kilimanjaro Challenge

 

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Challenge Accepted, Challenge Conquered! The Kilimanjaro Challenge aimed to celebrate our remarkable Old Andrean community, ignite healthy House spirit, and raise funds for our school—and continues to do so. This challenge went beyond House pride—it was an opportunity to support our beloved school by sharing your story while celebrating and inspiring our exceptional Old Andrean community.

Our heartfelt gratitude goes to the audacious Old Andreans who initiated this challenge and to all those who participated and rallied behind College to help meet it.

While the challenge has been conquered, we still want to hear from you, as we will continue to tally submissions and update this webpage. If you have summited Kilimanjaro, share your story and flaunt your House spirit. Please participate by sending your details, including photos or other documentation of your climb, to foundation@sacschool.com.

The Origin of the Challenge

The challenge originated in October 2024 when three intrepid Old Andreans from Upper House simultaneously reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak (Uhuru 5,895 m/19,341 ft), achieving a monumental feat. These adventurous Upper OAs staked their claim that Upper House had the most OAs to have summited Mount Kilimanjaro. In celebration of this feat, they pledged $50,000 to College.

However, they upped the stakes by throwing down the gauntlet: they were willing to double their gift to $100,000 if another House could prove that
more than three OAs from their House have summited Africa’s highest peak, either together in one expedition or over time.

The gifted funds have served as a significant seed donation to the upcoming fundraising campaign in celebration of College’s 175th anniversary in 2030 (watch this space!).

Summit Stories: Old Andreans on Mount Kilimanjaro

Below is a selection of content generously shared by Old Andreans who have summited Mt Kilimanjaro. Please note that the content displayed does not reflect the official tally for each House. For the most accurate figures, refer to the table provided further below.

ARMSTRONGESPINGRAHAMMERRIMANMULLINSUPPER

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Hugh Duncan-Brown (Armstrong) – “I climbed Kilimanjaro in 1992, I think the year was. There was still snow and ice on the top.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Alexandre (Espin 1984) – “I climbed in 2005 with Graham Gooden.”
Bruce Van Niekerk (Espin 1996) – “I hiked Kilimanjaro with Patrick Boddam-Whetham of Merriman 1972 in February of 2003 with a whole bunch of folks working for Wilderness Safaris at the time. Go Espin!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Delaney, James (Graham 1989) – “I found some pics of us on the summit of Kili in ‘95. I didn’t know other people then who’d climbed it and the numbers of climbers were way smaller than they are now. Accommodation conditions on the mountain were pretty rudimentary too! After summitting we ran down the mountain to catch the local bus to get us to the coast at Dar Es Salaam, which only went twice a week so we couldn’t miss it.”
David Hayes (Graham 1989) at Uhuru Peak.

 

 
Father-son duo, David Hayes (Graham 1989) and Jared Hayes (Graham 2023), proudly displaying the Graham House flag at Stella Point.
Jared Hayes (Graham 2023) and his father, David Hayes (Graham 1989), bumped into Peter Kroon (Upper 2014) and Ben Dovey (Upper 2014) on their way up the mountain. Left to Right: David Hayes (Graham 1989), Ben Dovey (Upper 2014), Jared Hayes (Graham 2023) and Peter Kroon (Upper 2014).
Colin Frost (Graham 1977) – “I summited in August 2012 with my family.”
Jono Gibbs (Graham 2013) – Jono summited Mt Kilimanjaro along with other WPPS alum on January 12, 2011 (Source: https://bit.ly/3VC7iNh)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Anderson (Merriman 1965) – “I also got to Everest Base Camp in January 2001. I did this with my son Peter, who was in Merriman House from 1996-2000. I would be interested if any other father/son combos have done either peak.”
Patrick Boddam-Whetham (Merriman 1972) – Climbed alongside Bruce Van Niekerk (Espin 1996) in 2003.
Miles Fraser-Jones (Merriman 1982) – “I climbed Kilimanjaro in the early 2000’s – not entirely sure when, but I think around 2003/4”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Richard Arderne (Mullins 1975) – “I climbed Kili in 1994”
Doc Caldwell (Mullins 1962) – “Climbed Kili. Summit 24 Dec 2004.”
Norman Hardie (Mullins 1955) – “Though it was 15 years ago that I climbed Kili I would like to be counted as a member of Mullins who summited. I raised over C$30 000 for Alzheimer’s research at that time. Attached is my trip report on the climb.” A Note from the Foundation Office: Norman summited Mt Kilimanjaro at the age of 72 – a truly remarkable achievement! READ NORMAN’S TRIP REPORT BY CLICKING ON HIS IMAGE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Broster (Upper 1967)
Ben Dovey (Upper 2014) and Peter Kroon (Upper 2014) – “Ben Dovey and I summitted Kilimanjaro in May 2022. It was actually fairly interesting as we bumped into an OA and his dad as they were on their way down.” Note from the Foundation Office: The young Andrean, now Old Andrean, Jared Hayes (Graham 2023) and his father, David Hayes (Graham 1989) were the two OAs Peter and Ben had bumped into. They had the Graham House flag with them on the climb and proudly flew it at Stella Point! Jared began his descent from Stella Point, while David made it to Uhuru Peak.
Left to Right: David Hayes (Graham 1989), Ben Dovey (Upper 2014), Jared Hayes (Graham 2023) and Peter Kroon (Upper 2014)
Andrew Girdwood (Upper 1964) – ” … in September 1994 [I] climbed Kilimanjaro. I was invited by a colleague of mine, Dr Joe Tyrell, who was leading the party. Joe is a cardiologist insisted that I have my heart ‘fixed’ before going. I had a congenital heart lesion called a Woolf-Parkinson White syndrome and was susceptible to tackyarrythmias (palpitations) which had troubled me from my Prep days playing rugby but not unduly and I did get my colours at College. The problem is that at altitude an arrhythmia can be a problem. So I went for an angiogram and the aberrant pathway causing the arrhythmia was identified and ablated. This was fairly new treatment at the time and two months later I summited Kili with no problem and have had no problems since then. We were a party of eleven mostly medics and we went up the Arrow Glacier route which has been stopped because it is too dangerous but fortunately we climbed up the precipitous crater at night with headlamps following the climber in front so were not aware of the horrific exposure. The last bit going up Uhuru peak which stood out like Lions head from the crater rim was hectic going but nine of us made it. Two of our party Jack Ingles and Charles Haw sensibly bailed out at 16000 feet and skirted around the mountain and joined us for the decent. These two both in their seventies had in fact been the incentive for our trip. They were together in Moshi in Tanganyika during the war and looked out of their tent to the mighty Kilimanjaro and said we must climb that one day. They returned to SA after the war and started the well known civil engineering firm of Haw and Ingles. Climbing Kili stands out as one of the highlights of my life but one of our party Joan Louwrens, Charles Haw’s daughter in law, has subsequently written a book called ‘A Wilder Life. Journey of an Adventuring Doctor’ where she describes all the different places she has worked in and adventured in including Tristan da Cunha, St Helena, Marion, Gough, South Georgia, Antarctica, the Arctic and cycled the Silk Route. Our epic trip doesn’t even get a mention in her book so it is all relative I suppose.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE TALLY

SurnamePreferred nameSchool house - Latest/FlagQualification - Grd 12/Class ofQualification - Post Matric/Class of
GirdwoodAndrewUpper19631963
AlexandreChrisEspin19840
AndersonTimothyMerriman19650
ArderneRichardMullins19750
Boddam-WhethamPatrickMerriman19720
BrosterJohnUpper19670
CaldwellDocMullins19611961
DelaneyJamesGraham19890
Duncan-BrownHughArmstrong19621962
Fraser-JonesMilesMerriman19820
FrostColinGraham19770
HardieNormanMullins19541954
HayesDavidGraham19890
HendersonMikeUpper19860
HodgsonNeilGraham19811981
HudsonRickMerriman19640
HyslopDaveUpper19881988
LeverPeterMullins19661966
MacLartyIanArmstrong19650
MullinsMattMullins19750
PattersonMarkUpper19690
ScottRobMerriman19850
SherryRichardEspin19650
WhiteTommyUpper20040
StreeterMikeMullins19530
SturrockPeter (Rocky)Mullins19670
TindallMarkArmstrong19890
WostenholmJeremyMullins19670
WynneColinArmstrong19531953
HeitzUliGraham19940
HorwoodRusselGraham19940
MaydonEdMerriman19940
MortonRichardGraham19940
StravinoPaoloGraham19940
van NiekerkBruceEspin19960
ElliottMelArmstrong19980
SindleColinGraham19960
FryMatthewMerriman20020
O'DonovanPatrickGraham20020
SeagersToastMerriman19970
SykesAbdulwahidEspin20020
LuttigJustusUpper20090
van HoekFransUpper20130
GibbsJonoGraham20130
StopforthStuartUpper20130
DoveyBenUpper20140
KroonPeterUpper20140
KirkpatrickJamesArmstrong20160




 We will post updates on this challenge to social media, sharing your stories and announcing the winning House!