Thousands of people every year dream of touching the board at the peak of the famous Mount Kilimanjaro.
Reaching Africa’s highest point – 5895 metres above sea level – is the culmination of months of intense training, sleepless nights and tireless endeavour.
For many it is the best moment of their lives.
But for one local politician who hopes to do just that in memory of his late brother, renowned chef Andrew Fairlie, it would be even more poignant.
Jim Fairlie, MSP for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, today (October 11) sets off on his journey up the world’s tallest free-standing mountain, following in the bootsteps of Andrew who reached the top in 2011.
After three days of altitude training in Tanzania, Jim and 21 others set off on their eight-day trek and have so far raised just over £83,000 – closing in on a £100,000 target – for two causes in dedication to the Perth-born two-Michelin star chef.
Andrew sadly died from a brain tumour in January 2019 at the age of just 55, and in his final days the brothers reminisced about their lives together.
And on the day Andrew died Jim decided to conquer the climb in his memory.
Speaking to the PA just before he left for Tanzania, Jim said: “There is a picture of Andrew at the Kilimanjaro summit touching that board.
“That is a very poignant thing for me because it just hit the nail on the head as far as my motivation for doing it – to retrace that for him.
“In 2011 we talked about it then and that I could maybe go with him but he made it clear he wanted to do it on his own.
“That was his own personal challenge.
“He had also stopped his own chemotherapy at the time to climb it.
“When he came back he said it was one of the hardest things to do but without doubt one of the best things he had done in his life.
“I remember when we had the initial conversation that I would do it myself one day.
“Then just before he died we spent a lot of time together and we talked about all the things he had done in his life and that he had no regrets.
“And of all the things he had achieved in his life, Kilimanjaro was one of them.
“Then the morning he died I decided: I am going to do it and do it in his memory.”
Andrew left Perth for London at the age of 17 and was the youngest and first to earn a Roux scholarship in 1984.
He went on to train under some of the best chefs in France and opened Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles in 2001.
In 2006 his restaurant became the only place in Scotland to be awarded two Michelin stars and he went on to cook for The Queen and world leaders at the G8 summit in 2005.
The Andrew Fairlie Scholarship was set up in his memory a month after he died, offering aspiring chefs a “career-changing” opportunity.
And the number of lives he touched is evident with Jim now leading a party of 22 family, friends and colleagues of Andrew’s to the summit.
The epic trip was put on hold after Jim was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2021 after the initial trek planned for October 2020 was postponed because of the Covid pandemic – when former farmer Jim first began his training.
“I was relatively fit as a farmer,” Jim explained.
“But it has been 18 months since I got elected and so I have had to do quite a bit of walking and training.
“We organised a few training days and went out on several Munros.
“Ben Vorlich in Perthshire was brutal, it was pouring with rain, it was blowing a gale, as was Ben Lawers.
“The hardest was probably at Glen Coe – it is just sheer rock and scree right the way to the top.
“It gave an indication of what we are in for on Mount Kilimanjaro.”
Jim was told– to put the climb into perspective – that the last leg will be the equivalent of hiking up Ben Nevis.
“It is eight days of solid climbing and the last day is the equivalent of climbing Ben Nevis with a head torch on because we leave at 12 at night to make the summit for sunrise the next morning,” Jim revealed.
“It is going to be a brutal climb.
“Someone said to me there are about 75,000 people a year who will climb Ben Nevis.
“There are 25,000 people a year who will attempt Kilimanjaro and I am not sure 25,000 are getting to the top.
“So we are going to dig very deep to make sure we are pulling each other along until we get to the top.
“It is a huge undertaking.”
One of the main obstacles isn’t just the physical demands of the climb itself but the risk of altitude sickness due to a lack of oxygen.
Symptoms, including headaches, nausea and vomiting, develop after reaching altitudes over 2500m above sea level – less than half that of Mount Kilimanjaro.
He said: “We are going to 5895 metres which is well above where altitude becomes an issue.
“We will be climbing for between five and seven hours a day.
“At points we will stop, have food or rest for a while, then climb for another two hours and then come back down to where we had food in a lower position than what we climbed to that day and that helps acclimatise us to the altitude.”
The £100,000 the team aim to raise will be split evenly between Cornhill Macmillan Centre in Perth, where Andrew spent his final days, and the Andrew Fairlie Scholarship.
“I am confident we are going to reach £100,000 with this last push,” Jim said.
“If we get over the £100,000 that’s even better because then we can do even more with it.
“I went to see them in the Cornhill hospice not long after Andrew had died and I would very much like to do something for the staff.
“Because the work they do and what they give to people, not just the patients but the families who are going through the absolute worst time in their lives, is selfless and absolutely remarkable.
“I also want to see about doing something with the garden area for them that allows families and people in the hospice to comfort each other.
“To do something in Andy’s name for them would be amazing but would need to be cleared with Cornhill themselves.”
He added: “There is a stream of talented people coming into the restaurant industry because of Andrew and if the scholarship can continue to produce that level of excellence, then we are very keen to see that progressing.”
Asked about what Andrew would have said to him about his expedition, Jim chuckled: “He would say ‘are you nuts it’s brutal!’
“But then I am pretty sure he would give me all the encouragement in the world.
“He would also let me find my own way and let me deal with what I needed to.
“Even when he had young folk working in his kitchen, he would set them on the right path but let them find their own way.
“Feel the pressure and do it and you will know you are doing it the right way.
“If he was going to say anything to me it would be something along those lines.
“Andrew will live on in the restaurant and the scholarship.
“We can’t escape the fact he died far too young.
“But we can make sure his memory lives on and make sure what he achieved is never forgotten.”
The group arrived in Tanzania on October 7 and were scheduled to begin the climb on October 11, taking eight days.
To donate to the JustGiving page go to www.justgiving.com/campaign/kilimanjaro22
