Through my good friend Jonas Gustafsson I have been getting involved in Operation Freedom (Operation Frihet) that is a project aiming at putting 4 people using wheelchairs on the top of Kilimanjaro 2016.
Jonas lives with Friedreich’s Ataxia, a neurological disease that slowly kill your nerves, and decided that he would take control over his own life and decide his own possibilities. So after meeting Fredrik Sträng, Scandinavia’s greatest mountaineer, he decided that he would live his dream and become a mountaineer himself, starting with Mt Kilimanjaro.
Through Operation Freedom we want to help people feeling outside, helpless or hopeless, that they can take control over their own lives and live their own dreams.
I came in to the team as adviser and photographer, and the first kick-off was held in August this year at Idre Fjäll, a Swedish mountain resort. During one week we trained and the grand finale was climbing Mt Städjan, a 1131 masl peak.
For more information check out Operation Freedom’s webpage and like us on facebook
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Linnea, Jonas and Oscar, the core of the team!
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Great feeling when you reach the top
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First day hike to the top of the slope
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Small roots are great obstacles
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Oscar and Lina trying out different methods
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Jonas at the end of the line, Linnea focusing
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Afternoons was for building strength and team spirit
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Going through films from previous expeditions
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... sometimes you fall trying!
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With the right technique everything is possible
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Not a wheelchair made for the terrain
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100 meters per hour, not good enough.
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Reindeers are a common sight here
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Scouting the best way to get to the top
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Fredrik Sträng arrived Friday with new ideas
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Sometimes better techniques give same results
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Going through pros and cons with different techniques and wheelchairs
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Departure from parking lot - heading for the summit
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Lunch at basec amp after 4 hours walking
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Städjan, very Zen
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Starting the steep ascent
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PULL!!!
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To steep for the normal wheel chairs, Linnea decided to crawl...
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... as did Oscar
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Jonas had no choice but to keep using his wheel chair
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Finally after 11 hours of climbing, parts of the team reached the top.
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After a long walk in the dark we got back to basecamp, after 14 hours of walking
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Expedition breakfast is the best!
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Walking home in the misty rain - all weather is beautiful
More Links:
IDRE FJÄLL – www.idrefjall.se
Fredriks Strängs hemsida – www.strang.se
