Summit Day!

We were ready! Thermal merino wool leggings under our walking trousers, thermal long sleeved tops under our walking tops, complete with a fleece on top, merino wool gloves, and woolly hats. Down jackets and windbreakers in our daypacks ready for the coldest part of the night at around 4:00am.

At 00:31am, head torches on, we set off to head up the the final stretch of the highest mountain in Africa, and the highest freestanding mountain in the world!

There was a group ahead in the distance, and we could see them progressing as the little line of headtorches illuminated their path. The going was slow and one hour in, we dropped to a group of 9 after altitude sickness took it’s toll on one of the group and they had to turn back.

The group continued on, but as we all had our own pace, by hour 3 we’d spread out and I was bringing up the rear with the lead guide , Emmanuel, and the marvellous porter Michael, who was carrying my daypack for me. The further we went, the harder it got, and soon we were walking on shale and volcanic ash, so every step forward was an effort as the footing tried it’s best to slide underfoot. It was so much colder now too, and we had to stop to change into our down jackets and our thick thermal gloves, and mentally you felt you should be sweltering, but you most certainly were not!

It felt like time had stood still and that daybreak would never arrive and I began to think I would not be able to continue. There was a different path down, which we would meet at the halfway point, and I decided I would turn around when we reached that point. Emmanuel told me it was no more than an hour away, so I continued up that big hill on the lookout for the descending pathway.

The hour was never ending, and when I finally asked Emmanuel how much further, he announced that we’d passed the halfway point ages ago, and that the lights ahead were people at the summit! At this very moment, there was a glint on the horizon, and the sun was about to break through the darkness – dawn had arrived!

There was nothing else for it now, the only way was forward and up! The encouragement of both Emmanuel and Michael was incredible and I can honestly say I would not have been able to face the next stretch without them by my side. In our briefing we’d been told last 2 hours up to the crater were the toughest, even for the guides, and they were not wrong! We were now walking on nothing but ash and hidden lumps of lava and igneous rock – imagine walking up a never ending sand dune with giant hidden pebbles! Our water bottles had frozen, but advanced planning meant we still had one each that was drinkable – thermal socks have so many uses!

At 07:30am, 7 hours after leaving our base camp, I stood on top of Kilimanjaro at Stella Point. A dream I had from the age of 12, that took 38 years to accomplish, but accomplish it I did!

The sky was bright blue, we were looking down on the clouds and it was -17C! After a brief stop for hot ginger tea that someone was passing round, and the obligatory photographic evidence, we had the task to turn around and head back down to base camp.

The downhill was hard going. The ash and shale was over 6 inches deep and with each step you slid. I wondered if anyone had sledged down, and if not, why not? It didn’t get any easier, and the legs started to get more wobbly, while the toes got more and more crushed at the front of your boots. Base Camp came into sight and though it was so good to see, it was still over 2 hours away. As we reached a plateau where shale and ash gave way to rock, a group of our porters were waiting for us with juice, biscuits and hugs of congratulations! They scrambled to help and took everything off you that you didn’t need so you were just looking after yourself. They walked the remaining way to base camp alongside with multiple ‘pole pole’ mentions, and even when you finally reached your tent they were trying to take off your boots for you. These guys really are fabulous in every way!

We had a brief rest and then the group met in the mess tent to decide which camp we would head to for the night. We also heard that one of the group had hurt their knee on the mountain and was slowly making their way down to Base Camp as they were too high for a helicopter to reach them. While we waited for further news, as a group we decided that we would descend to High Camp, which was another 3 hours downhill. The other option was 6 hours and non of us could honestly say we’d make it that far! So at 3:00pm we set off once again aiming for High Camp at 3950m.

We reached camp at 6:00pm and were once again back within the moorland vegetation zone. Dinner and a tent had never been so welcoming and we were soon tucked up ready for the final descent tomorrow.