Reaching the roof of the world for brother

A loving adventurer has reached ‘the roof of the world’ with a mountain climb in honour of his brother.

Tommy Warkcup’s tough climb of Mount Kilimanjaro, in aid of the Down’s Syndrome Association, has been featured on a documentary on Netflix which premiered in July.

Called ‘Aitch: ‘Don’t Be Afraid’, the documentary is presented by rapper Aitch, whose sister has Down’s Syndrome, and who also completed the ascent with reality star Freddie Powell of Love is Blind fame.

Tommy finished the climb last year in honour of his brother Chris, 25, who has Down’s Syndrome, from Horrabridge. The Netflix documentary has just reached the small screen and immediately hit its number three most popular viewing.

The climb up the highest mountain in Africa raised over £16,000 for the charity, of which Tommy and Chris’s dad Darren is the national treasurer.

Tommy said: “The documentary Don’t Be Afraid is doing really well on Netflix, thanks to Aitch who was really enthusiastic on the climb. We had a very good team to do the climb, everyone was really supportive of each other.

“In the end it was to raise awareness of Down’s Syndrome Association, which is a low key charity, and how it supports families. What motivated me to take part and keep going when it got hard was thinking of Chris who has Down’s Syndrome and how the charity has helped our family.”

The week’s expedition included a four-day climb and a descent of over a day: “It was on my bucket list of things to do. The hardest thing to cope with and which I couldn’t do anything about, was the altitude. On the second day of the climb I got ill with altitude sickness and felt very nauseous. It was hard to breath normally, especially during the walking and my legs and arms wouldn’t stop shaking. I was told I looked very pale.

“It was scary, but I was most worried I’d have to go back down and abandon the challenge. But people with more experience said I’d get acclimatised and feel better. Eventually I got through it with the support of my team and kept going.

“We walked for eight to ten hours in a day and walked through the night. We went through snow at a certain height on day three. I was euphoric getting to the top finally. There were great views most of the way, especially above the rainforest, where it was hot and muggy. We did see monkeys in the trees, which was entertaining. The slopes were all covered in a red sandy type of ash, which was quite hard and sapped your energy hour after hour.

“Most of the time we couldn’t look at the views because we were concentrating on walking and trying to avoid negative thoughts about not being able to make it. It was cloudy on day two and rained on day four.”

Tommy, 20, had to overcome background discomfort from a long-term cyst in his knee during the hike. But the climb did help him psychologically: “I struggled with self-confidence at school, but this climb has been a real boost to my confidence, also helped by supporting a cause close to my heart.”