At 11.45pm in the pitch black on Sunday 10th October, I set off from Kibo Huts on Kilimanjaro to begin the final ascent to the Kilimanjaro summit. The days of trekking up to this point had been pleasant. 'This isn't as bad as people made out', I thought as I went to bed at 6pm for some final rest before being woken at 11.15pm for a porridge breakfast.

Clad in layers of thermal and with my head torch clamped on, we slowly followed the guide up the mountain. Within 5 minutes things started unravelling. I suddenly felt totally dehydrated but couldn't get any water out of my camelbak. It was too early for it to freeze and I started panicking and expended vital energy in the process. This extra action left me panting and I lost momentum. But the guides kept pushing us on so we didn't get too cold.

A short time later, altitude sickness set in. If we vomited 3 times or more, the guides would send us back down. I avoided making it to 3 by taking an anti-nausea pill from the guide and continued the painful climb up a vertical slope which looked like a diamond black ski run.

On making it to Gillmans point, I bumped into one of my fellow trekkers heading back down saying he had no energy to continue. I persuaded him to keep going with me. 15 minutes later, he asked, 'Who are you?’ I forgot I was unrecognisable in my balaclava. He described me as an over-bundled child that had been wrapped in too many layers by its parents.

I made it to the summit, Uhuru peak, as the sun came up at 7am. It was the hardest physical challenge of my life but an incredible, surreal moment, standing there weak and dizzy from altitude sickness.

I came off lightly. 2 of our party couldn't attempt the summit due to sickness. Another started but blacked out at 5100m and had to be carried off the mountain. Another 2 took about 15 hours to make it to the summit and back down but then had to be stretchered off the mountain. Another twisted his knee on the day after summit and was ambulanced down.

The HOPE Centre (operated by the Norwood Charity) is an amazing facility that provides services for children and young people with a wide range of learning disabilities and special educational needs. It's a non-denominational service that helps young people without regard to race, gender or religion.  Using the unique methodology devised by Professor Reuven Feuerstein, tuition is either on a one-to-one basis or in small groups. Services offered include dynamic assessment, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy.  You can learn more about HOPE at this website:

It has been well worth it as I did the climb to raise money for the HOPE Centre in London.

http://www.hope-centre-search.org.uk/stories.php 

You can donate online at this site or send me a cheque in favour of The Hope Charity. If you have any difficulty donating, please contact JustGiving directly at help@justgiving.net.

If you are a UK taxpayer, please remember to select "gift aid" which will enable the Charity to reclaim basic rate tax and you will also be able to reclaim any higher rate tax.

If you are a US taxpayer, please visit my other page at http://www.firstgiving.com/finlynch

Thanks so much for your generosity

Fionnuala