It will be just as tough and requires just as much commitment as earlier climbs, while potential danger is ever present and the pitfalls countless - but the fourth group to attempt the climb of the highest peak in Africa has been assembled with ease and has started training.

Once again, the goal behind the challenge is the financing, through the funds raised, of two clinics in the Mandura area of Ethiopia. One of the clinics is mobile and they will serve 14 villages, with 27,000 people standing to benefit.

Throughout the three past climbs, 50 volunteers took on the mighty Kilimanjaro in north-eastern Tanzania with a remarkable degree of success, raising Lm90,000.

"The climbers slogged up 20,000 feet of jungle, uncompromising rocky slopes, energy-sapping scree, biting cold and hurricane winds. However, there lay a much deeper form of triumph - the knowledge that 200 children would be given a fair shot at life," said group leader Keith Marshall.

And more are about to do the same.