The Summit

Kibo, the final base camp, lies at a dizzying 4700 metres above sea level. The air is thin and it's extremely cold. We went to bed at 6pm already dressed for the summit. I was wearing thermals, plus 3 pairs of trousers and 8 layers on top. I blame this for my decidedly chunky appearance on the summit photos, although the Swahili omelet and the daily chocolate bars for energy may also have played a small part too!
At 10pm, we had to wrench ourselves out of bed in order to prepare ourselves for the most challenging and frightening part of the climb so far. We drank a final cup of Milo (I had developed quite a habit by this point), wrapped water bottles in socks to prevent the water freezing and practised blowing water back into the camel packs. By 11pm, we were ready to head off into the cold, starry night.
Looking back now, it is all a bit of a blur and hard to believe that we climbed for a massive 7 hours before daylight. Fortunately, it was a full moon that night which allowed us to walk without using our head torches. We set off, single file, into the night and towards a distant summit, 1200 metres above us. To put that into perspective, Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK, is 1344 metres. Also, from here on, the path is entirely made up of scree, rocks and snow. The guides had said they would be very strict with us, and only allow us to break once an hour. The beginning was manageable, putting one foot in front of the other, concentrating on breathing. After the second break, the water in my camel pack was frozen solid and I was struggling to find the energy to take the bottle out of my bag. I tried eating my snacks, but this was also a massive effort and I had no appetite. I'm not sure what point the group started to separate out, but I do remember becoming totally overwhelmed at one point. We had been advised not to look up or down, but this is easier said than done. I glanced down and saw the lights of Moshi town, roughly 5000 metres below. Above, only stars and snow. My knees started to shake and I felt dizzy. I'm not the best with heights, so I told myself that it was just fear that was making me shake and nothing more serious. The guides were amazing, listening to me ranting and providing constant reassurance. When I felt to weak,  my guide Alfred took my bag and even found my snacks and water for me. I got myself together and continued to put one foot in front of the other.

Just after Gilman's Point - I couldn't bring myself to smile!

Sunrise over the mountain

Glaciers - an icy world!

This is Africa!

On the rooftop of Africa!

I have no idea of the timescale of events throughout the evening, but as the first summit, Gilman's Point loomed into view I was close to two of my colleagues. They were equally tired and shaky, but sheer willpower forced us all through. We clambered over the boulders and got there in the end. At Gilman's Point, I heard a guide saying 'you have to go down'. I thought it was all over for me, but he was actually talking to one of the students. He insisted that I would get to the summit. The mental struggle far outweighs the physical and I pushed myself on, but had slowed down significantly by this point, temporarily losing sight of my friends. The sun started to rise as I passed the glaciers and walked along the ridge towards the summit. My emotions were all over the place, I cried a lot and nearly gave up a hundred times. When I thought I was still an hour away from the Uhuru Summit I passed a friend who was on her way back. The news that I was only ten minutes away turned everything around. A few minutes later I was at the summit! I bloody-well did it!!
The summit should be some sort of amazing, earth shattering experience. The views were out of this world and the sense of achievement was incredible. This is real life though and not everything was so ethereal. Still light-headed and emotional, I was now also desperate for a wee! Not only was I desperate, but I managed to announce this fact very loudly on the video my friend was filming for the school assembly. I had envisioned taking hundreds of photos, but I was so cold and tired that I could just about point the camera somewhere into space and press the button. I didn't give a dam that half the images were blurry from my hand shaking from the cold either!
Now coming down the mountain was another story. Descending has never been my strong point! First, I tried tobogganing down, as I was wearing ski-trousers, it wouldn't be a problem. This worked well until I smashed my wrist against a boulder when I picked up a little too much velocity! Then I tried going down very gingerly, which resulted in my already sore wrists getting even more sore. My third tactic was just going for it and trying to race down the scree - it was slightly more effective, but I did fall on my bum an awful lot. Three quarters of the way down, a rescue committee had come out to help me and an equally doddery friend. They ripped off about 3 layers of our clothing, as the sun was now hot. They brought us lemon squash and frog-marched us down to the camp at break-neck speed.

Eleven out of sixteen of our team made it to the Uhuru Summit. A couple more also made it to Gilman's Point. I think it is important to mention that making it to the final summit or not should not be a case of success or failure. Nobody knows what can happen to their body at that altitude and the most important thing is to take care of your health. A couple of the kids were ready to collapse from sheer exhaustion and I think it was actually quite brave of them to turn around and say they would go back, rather than stubbornly carrying on and putting themselves in danger. Everyone of us got up into the middle of the night and bravely started the long walk ahead. The real achievement is in the mental and physical strength it took us all to keep putting one foot in front of another day after day. I could not have asked for a more supportive or strong team and the kids' energy pushed us all through.

We took the Marangu or Coca-cola  route and used Kilitreks & Safaris. I highly recommend them! Unfortunately, our highly inspirational, cheer-leading students can not be hired as they are all too busy studying for their iGCSEs or IB diplomas to have time to climb Kili again