An eight-year-old has conquered the highest peak in north Africa – after already becoming the youngest Briton to climb Mount Olympus.
Intrepid Frankie McMillan and his mum Basia McMillan scaled 4,160m-high (13,500ft) Toubkal.
Frankie from Gosforth, Cumbria, has been known for his treks – such as climbing the 214 Wainwrights and Scafell Pike the tallest peak in England – at the age of 4.
His latest trek saw him reach the 9,573ft (2,918m) summit of Mount Olympus on the September 2, 2023, with his mum – and he became the youngest Brit to ever to do so.
Now Frankie and his mum Basia, 40, set out to climb the highest peak in Africa Toubkal in October.
However – despite making it to the top on November 5 – the journey was “a bit complicated”, explained Ms McMillan.
She said: “It was minus 20 degrees and quite late after dinner about 8’ o’clock Frankie was sick.
“It could be exhaustion, altitude, bad food and we knew we had to wake up at 5 am the next morning to climb Toubkal.
“But we always say that the most important thing is safety and if it is not enjoyable we don’t want to keep going.”
They had to put a break and not climb Toubkal – and so decided to go back to the refuge for the night.
Basia added: “Sometimes you have to make these decisions. We were part of a group and we thought we wouldn’t be able to do it because of the schedules.
“Even climbing mountains in the Lake District we always look at the weather conditions. And if we decided to go while he was sick he would not enjoy it and have bad memories.
“We chose to be proud of how far we had gone rather than feeling disappointed – we had already climbed one of the peaks which was a three day climb.”
They had to come down to the village and temporarily abandon their dream of climbing Toubkal.
However, after making their minds up that the summit would have to be reached some other time their flight got cancelled – giving them time to hike the mountain.
She said: “There was this feeling somewhere inside that told me that maybe it’s a sign.
“It was very tempting so we contacted the guide who took us to the previous mountain and we asked if we could arrange it.
“The weather looked good and we still wanted to do it. Frankie’s face just light up when he was told we could do it.
“He was so happy – he is always trying so hard to achieve his goals.”
Frankie added that being able to climb the mountain “felt like a surprise.” Mother and son climbed the 4,160m-high (13,500ft) Toubkal with a guide.
He said: “I felt astonished – my face just light up in excitement.
“It was quite difficult but at the same time it was easy. With all the practice it wasn’t that bad.”
Frankie and Ms McMillan set out near the anniversary of the death of his paternal grandfather, Andrew McMillan, and Frankie planned on “waving and blowing a kiss to my grandad”.
Mrs McMillan added: “His grandad would have been very proud.
“When we were going up Toubkal, there were loads of people coming up and down, and everyone was cheering and saying that Frankie is a hero, and they couldn’t believe that he was doing it.
“So many lessons to learn from it – with your perseverance you can achieve your goals, if the moment is right you will do it – don’t give up on your dreams.”
As part of their trip they also climbed Adrar Tamalaroute and Buidoudan.
Asking what mountain had been the hardest to climb so far, mum and son agreed on Toubka.
Ms McMillan said: “We actually had to use spikes and our feet were a bit heavy. But we got used to it.
Frankie and Ms McMillan, a mountain guide, are raising money for Anthony Nolan – a UK stem cell charity, in memory of grandad Andrew McMillan, who died of myeloma, a form of blood cancer.
Their next challenge is to climb all the 50 peaks in Europe.
To make a donation visit Frankie’s JustGiving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/frankie-mcmillan-toubkal?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1FGuW39jwcH27qo-rheLUT3norORPcxgNCANdL82X6rEAQXNw3RbPIhVo_aem_my63XZVrU091jkgs-1MQog
