Day 7 – Horombo Camp to Marangu Park Gate to Hotel

We were woken at 6.35am with our usual bowls of water to wash. After breakfast the porters and guides gathered to sing the Kilimanjaro Song to us (amazing experience) and we sang 3 verses from 3 songs (not so amazing!). On behalf of the group I then thanked the porters/guides and we gave them $570 as a gesture of thanks.

Day 6 (part 2) – Kibo Huts to Horombo Camp

What goes up must come down! After we’d returned to Gilmans we then had the task of taking our tired bodies back down the mountain. We hadn’t expected the shale that had been hard work when walking up the mountain to be a huge benefit when coming down.

Day 6 – Summit Night (Kibo to Gilmans Point to Uhuru Peak)

This is it – the time has arrived. The Porters gave us a gentle wake-up call at 10.30 pm (Tuesday). Getting dressed was made easy by the fact that we’d gone to bed wearing most of our summit gear. After we’d had a warm drink and filled our water bottles it was time to depart. As we stood around for those final few moments before we set off I began to wonder, with some nervousness, what we were about to encounter.

Day 5 – Mawenzi Tarn to Kibo Huts (Kili base camp)

Today is Summit Eve! Our goal is to get from Mawenzi Tarn campsite to Kibo Huts which are classed Kilimanjaro Base Camp. We set off from Mawenzi Tarn at 8.30 am for aand then embarked on a 5 hour walk across the Saddle to Kibo Hut at the base of Kili.

Day 4 – Kikelewa Camp to Mawenzi Tarn Camp

Really hard day today. A constant climb with no flat bits. Oxygen is getting thin so breathing is difficult – but don’t worry because we’re all taking Diamox to help. Everyone is having this problem but it’s normal.

Day 3 – Simba Camp to Kikelewa Camp

We’re doing well, the pace is very slow but the oxygen is getting a lot thinner so breathing is harder. We’ve walked for 4 hours so far and in the distance we can see snow on top of our challenge, Mount Kilimanjaro. So far we’ve reached 3,000 metres.

Day 2 – The African Experience

Our flight went well in particular the fact that the flight wasn’t full so we were able to move seats and get more space. We arrived at Nairobi Airport just after 6.00 a.m. To be greeted by a rather grumpy passport control guy.

Day 1 – Time to leave

15 months of planning, training and watching what we eat the time has finally arrived. I have to admit the butterflies hit me big style when the alarm went off. Hilary and I met up with our fellow climbers at Meca Services. There was an excited tension around the group. The ice was broken when [...]

The Day It All Started!

The day it all started – Tuesday 27th October 2009! Several of us from Exeter attended the Referrals for Life Conference in Bristol and over lunch I was chatting to Nicole Rolfe (regional Fundraiser for Sparks). The conversation turned to treks…

Express & Echo article: Inspiration for our challenge

WHEN Exeter’s David Thomas rushed his young son to hospital with suspected meningitis, he was experiencing every parent’s nightmare. But the worst was yet to come. Doctors asked him to hold five-year-old Christopher in the foetal position so they could perform a vital lumber puncture.

15 quick Kilimanjaro facts

For a bit of fun I’ve put together 15 facts on Mount Kilimanjaro: 1. Kilimanjaro at 19,351 is the highest freestanding mountain in the world 2. It’s the 4th highest member of the Seven Summits 3. The ice at the top of Kilimanjaro is 11,700 years old 4. There are 3 volcanic peaks with 2 [...]

Our Itinerary for the challenge

….It’s finally arrived! We walk for a total of 16 hours starting soon after midnight. Our goal is to reach Gilman’s Point (5680m) after 6 hours of walking and then a further 2 hours trekking to Uhuru Peak (5895m). The remaining 8 hours is spent descending to Horombo Huts (2200m).

If the timings work out we should reach Gilman’s Point at approx….

Saying thank you

The task for Hilary and I was to raise £7,500 which is daunting given that the recession had taken hold of everyone at the time we made our decision. We knew that our family and close friends would chip in but that wouldn’t really make a dent to the overall total needed. Would we achieve the target….

“Do you regret your decision?”

Only 21 days to go before the group sets off on our trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. Where does the time go? It was a little over a year ago when I made the decision to climb Kili and recently someone asked me “….do you regret your decision?”.

A word from our fundraiser

Hello guys! My name is Lauryn and I am helping David and Hilary raise money for their climb in 2011. I have lots of fundraising activities planned for the up and coming months. After having spent a significant amount of time looking into the climb for David and Hilary, I have also decided to take [...]

Bag packing at Tesco

On the 28th August 2010, myself and seven of my fellow Kili team members bag packed at Tesco, Exeter. We fundraised for a total of 6 hours and raised a fantastic £550 which was split 5 ways. It proved to be a really fun day and a great opportunity to raise both awareness and money [...]

The Fairfield Horseshoe

After a few short(ish) walks over the past few days it was time to test ourselves with longer and challenging.  We selected what’s called ‘The Fairfield Horseshoe’ which is a demanding 11 mile walk that eventually reaches a height of 2,800 feet when you reach Fairfield peak. The walk started off from Ambleside with a [...]

Charity knows no bounds…

Another of our challenges set by the kids was for me to wear a bra for a day and Hilary with wear knickers on the outside of her trousers for a day.  This would earn us £40 for our Kili charity fund.  In preparation for the challenge we’d gone to Asda were Laura and Katie [...]

Bad hair day!

One of the challenges set by our children was to colour my hair blue for a day and in return they’d give £10 to our Kili fund.  How difficult could it be!  Well, the blue colouring was in fact blue gel and I had to use a full tube of the stuff!!!  After spending 15 [...]

No rest for the wicked!

Lake Windermere Our 8 mile walk on Sunday wasn’t in our schedule as Sunday was supposed to be a rest day so today’s walk was changed to be a gentle one of only 4.5 miles!  The only real testing part of the walk was the end but more of that later. Despite having walked 11 [...]