STAYNER - Clearview Township native Kevin McCort, the president of CARE Canada, a respected international humanitarian aid organization, will climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

McCort, joined by six others from Canada, will begin the trek up the 19,300-foot high Tanzanian mountain on Jan. 30.

He said they should reach the top, if all goes according to plan, on Feb. 6.

Their trip is dubbed the Climb for CARE.

Participants pay to go on the expedition and must also raise $5,000 for CARE.

The money raised goes towards The Springboard Project, which aims, through various programs, to reduce the socio-economic impacts of HIV/AIDS among women and youth in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.

People can help the CARE climbers reach their fundraising target by making donations at www.climbforcare.ca.

CARE Canada has run annual Kilimanjaro climbs now since 2005.

The trip is a special way to promote CARE while at the same time raising money for humanitarian work, McCort said.

The organization advertises the climb through its quarterly newsletter, the CARE website, social media sites and word-of-mouth.

McCort said he’s looking forward to the trip.

“I call this my Kilimanjaro mulligan because I didn’t make it all the way in 1991,” he said.

McCort said that while on holiday that year he climbed the mountain, making it to 15,000 feet, where he developed altitude sickness, which prevented him from going further.

“Altitude sickness – the most common thing with it is nausea and headaches. I had no nausea but I had a headache that was just brutal,” he said.

McCort said the climb is very much like going for a really long walk each day.

“It’s not technically difficult but a general level of fitness is required because you’re doing about six to seven hours of walking a day.”

McCort said he hasn’t trained for the expedition but he does try to live an active lifestyle, including playing pick-up hockey twice a week, so he hopes to be okay.

“But as you climb you do go through every climate zone you can imagine,” he said. “People describe it as walking from the Equator to the North Pole in a week.”

The climb starts in a rain forest climate, where the temperature is 30 to 35C, but as the trek progresses and altitude is gained the temperature drops.

“There will be -15C nights in some spots,” he said. “In some ways the whole experience is very enjoyable and in other ways it’s very difficult. You’ve got great scenery but as you gain altitude it becomes more challenging. It can get quite cold.”

McCort said the climbers will carry daypacks while porters carry the rest of the gear.

“They are locals and this is their profession,” he said. “They are guides.”

The porters will also be responsible for setting up the climbers’ tents each night, he added.

McCort said the climbers bring basic camping gear for the trip while the porters provide the tents.

“I’ve got new hiking boots and I’ve been wearing them around to break them in,” he said.

The trek down from the summit involves a shorter route and so it only takes about a day-and-a-half, McCort said.

But that doesn’t mean it’s easier.

“Some say that’s the hardest part because of the almost constant pressure on your knees and toes,” he said.

For more information about the climb or CARE Canada in general, call 613-228-5600.