Altitude Centre

So, on Friday, i visited the Altitude Centre in London. I wasn't sure to expect, but my expectations weren't massive, after all, how many people want to go somewhere where they simulate altitude! Well, we turned up at the Altitude Centre and were greeted by the consultant Matt. Matt showed me and Karl through to the office which cseemed to comprice one office with 3 desks, a sofa, chair and some equipment.

Matt was incredibly nice, as was the receptionist and i was reliably informed by Karl that the Marketing girl was top notch and also really nice!

Matt sat us down and explained what Altitude sickness was, the varying levels, the ifferences between mild, medium and accute were. They key piece of advise i took away here was the need to keep hydrated, this is not really my strong point, so i will need to get into the habit of drinking plenty of water over the coming months!

Matt then went on to do a blood pressure test and i apparently had low blood pressure and very low heart rate, bordering on dead i think, but Matt likened it to Lawrence Armstrong (Nice chap Mattt!).

We then moved on to the lung capacity test, this was a couple of tests, we had to blow into what seemed to me like one of the breathlizers that the cops use, deep breath, blow into the tube as hard as you can and as for long as you can, Karl won this test! We then went on to hold our breat, i felt like i was a little kid again, i hadn't held my breath for ages, Karl made it 43 seconds and i made it to 45!

The final bit of the consultation was to put a mask over your face which was attached to a machine, this essentially reduced the oxygen flowing into the mask and thus simulted altitude. We had a couple of goes, 1 at 3000m and one at 5000m, it wa odd, sat there doing nothing, I found myself needing to breat deeply, the trick was to breath in and out through your nose.

All in all, the overall results were positive and our bodies reaction to the reduced oxygen was spot on and was not alarming. There was no need for us to worry about future consultations and we were well placed to face the altitude on Kili!

Next, we were off to Action Challenge to pay the guys and gals there a visit. After being confronted by some bloke when we were leaving the altitude centre, we jumped in the car and were on our way. Sat Nav said 30 mins, London traffic saw us take 2 hours to travel 15 miles.... incredible!

Finally we arrived at Action Challenge and i can only describe the place as bloody marvellous. We were greeted by the owner Julian and he was a thoroughly nice chap with no airs and graces, genuine nice chap who clearly cared about people and also the adventures! A complete contract to the grumpy owner at the altitude centre who had no interest in hs and didn't even have the grace to say hello!

At the altitude, we talked, drank tea, had a laugh, did some interviews and filming and taled some more. There were about 15 people there, all really in to challenges nad adventure and the place had a great vibe about it. I left Action Challenge really pleased with my choice of organiser and with complete confidence in them and their ability to get me up Kili!

After that, 2 and 3/4 hours to get home, a journey that by alrights should have taken no more than 1.4 hours.

Saturday, ore me and Karl meeting 12 hours after we parted to go and pay Helen and Douglas House a visit. We spent a good 2 hours there, meeting a couple of the residents and talking to Jennifer Hudson and taking some footae of facilities in Douglas house, as always, i was blown away by the people and the work that they do at HDH, reminds me wha ti am raising money for!

Soo,all in all, a really great couple of days, next stop Ben Nevis in 2 weeks!

All the best

Paul