Dizzy heights for Halesowen chemist (From Halesowen News)

Dizzy heights for Halesowen chemist

2:53pm Tuesday 5th February 2013 in News

INTREPID Halesowen chemist Dinesh Patel is set to scale new heights with a gruelling climb of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The 54-year-old pharmacist is in serious training for the six-day expedition to raise £2,000 for the charity Against Malaria.

The keen golfer was one of 14 who signed up to the challenge after a pharmaceutical buying group threw down the gauntlet, but is one of just six to honour the pledge.

The group will be accompanied by 18 porters and three guides on the four-day ascent to the summit, where temperatures can plummet to minus 30 degrees celsius, followed by a two-day descent.

“I’m quite fit so I don’t think the climb itself will be a problem, but my biggest fear is acclimatising to the altitude and sleeping on an incline.” he said, adding: “It will be one hell of a lifetime’s experience - it’s taking over my life, there’s not a time in the day when I’m not thinking about whether I have got everything I need.”

His training regime includes regular sessions at the gym and working the three-and-a-half miles from his Romsley home every other day to his business, the Hawne Chemist, Stourbridge Road.

Mr Patel will fly to Nairobi on February 16, ready to start the climb on February 18. Anyone wishing to sponsor him can do so at www.againstmalaria.com/dineshpatel