Local man raises funds and awareness for ALS by summiting Mount Kilimanjaro

Edmonton man climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro A local man is home after taking on Mt. Kilimanjaro following his father’s death. Marek Tkach explains.

A Sherwood Park man recently climbed one of the world's most famous mountains to raise funds to support research into a disease that impacted his family.

Two years ago, Chris Clarke's father was diagnosed with ALS, a disease that progressively affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and ultimately causes muscle control loss.

"Typically, patients with ALS will lose their ability to walk, their ability to speak and their ability to swallow and breathe," Clarke explained. "Watching my dad, someone I love, go through that process, to be honest, was just heartbreaking."

A month before his father's death, Clarke said he set his eyes on conquering Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and the world's largest free-standing mountain rise.

He completed the climb over five days, alongside three of his high school friends, to raise funds for the ALS Society of Alberta. To date, he's gathered $24,000.

"We had two guides, a chef and then with that essentially 14 porters," Clarke said. "So it was crazy the amount of people that helped support this, and they were just some of the nicest people you could imagine."

"You start out going through rain forest on the first day, so it's probably about 30 degrees Celsius," he recalled. "Then you move up into the desert, so probably down to plus five.

"On the summit day, it was about minus 15, and the wind was kind of blowing around."

Clarke described the top of the mountain as looking like the surface of the moon.

"The sun was rising over Tanzania," he added. "It was really, really spectacular."

He dedicates the whole journey to his dad, who had to overcome significant adversity.

"It just felt really amazing, and I'm sure the lack of oxygen also made it a bit more emotional," Clarke said.

To support Clarke's journey and fundraiser, visit his online page.