An eight-year-old mountaineer from Cumbria said he felt “so proud” after completing an “emotional” expedition up the highest peak in north Africa with his mother.
Frankie McMillan has been regularly climbing mountains with his mother Basia, 40, since he was a toddler, and he became the youngest Briton to climb Mount Olympus in Greece last year.
Frankie has scaled more than 500 mountains and hills, including summiting Scafell Pike, the tallest peak in England, at the age of four, and completing all 214 Wainwrights in the Lake District.
Frankie and Basia, 40, set out to climb the highest peak in north Africa, Toubkal, with several other peaks, at the end of October.
However, Frankie became ill just before they were to climb Toubkal and was forced to return to the nearby village, where he rested and recuperated.
Ms McMillan explained: “After dinner, we packed our bags to go up Toubkal the next day in the morning, and Frankie was sick.
“I wasn’t ready to take him any further on the journey, as safety comes first, and it was a very hard decision to be made but sometimes you just have to put your foot on the brake.
“We decided that first thing in the morning, we’ll let the group go up to Toubkal and unfortunately we’ll just turn back and go back to the village. He needed food and he needed rest.
“In the morning, we got down to the normal altitude and to the village. Thankfully, Frank wasn’t sick any more, but he was tired. We rested that day in the village, sad and disappointed in a way.”
They had to temporarily abandon their dream of climbing Toubkal, before fate intervened and their flight was cancelled, giving them time to summit the mountain.
“We got a message on Saturday that our flights were delayed so we couldn’t fly on Sunday as scheduled any way. There was this feeling somewhere inside that told me that maybe it’s a sign.
“We just took this leap. We didn’t tell anyone what we were doing, except of course my husband.”
Mother and son climbed the 4,160m-high (13,500ft) Toubkal with a guide.
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” at the top of Toubkal, because he did not get the chance to say goodbye in person.
Ms McMillan said: “Frankie was very emotional actually. He asked me to help him with the words, so I said what we wanted to say, and he blew a kiss and waved.
“There was a bird and we were saying that maybe it’s grandad, or maybe it’s grandad sending a bird to us, to say that he’s listening.
“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.”
Frankie told the PA news agency: “I felt so proud of myself. I also thought the plane delay might be purposefully delayed itself so I could go.
“The conditions were fine, and I was feeling fine, so it was a sign that I had to do it. It just felt unbelievable.”
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.
They also climbed Adrar Tamalaroute and Buidoudan.
On what they learned from the experience, Ms McMillan said: “Just be patient and persevere, because the time will come.
“Never give up on your goals. Never give up on your dreams because when the time is right, it will happen.”
