We made it to the top !!

6 hard days, 16 hours of hell but 1 huge lifetime achievement . We all felt really proud.

We hope that our struggle will inspire you to help us raise cash for Haiti. Read below to hear more.

Our Experience

All four of our team made it to the top !! I can only speak for myself when i say it was the hardest thing i have ever done ; emotionally, physically and mentally. I know the others found it very challenging too.

I suffered from altitude sickness from the first day, a constant feeling of nausea, dizziness and of being so short of breath that i felt as though i had run a marathon!! With our guides constantly telling us 'pole pole', 'slowly, slowly' in Swahili, i tried my best to go slow, take deep breaths and to enjoy the amazing surroundings and not to focus on the constant uncomfortable feeling.

Day one took us through rain forest and day two took us up into moorland and above the clouds. Having spent the first two days climbing, day three was spent resting in order to help with acclimatization. By this point even bending down to tie my laces felt epic, i was so short of breath and soooo tired. I begun to fear that the altitude would stop me getting to the top.

Luckily for me by the beginning of day four my body had managed to adjust to the altitude and i felt less sick and able to breath more normally. 'Pole pole' we continued on what turned out to be a long and hot walk above the clouds. We burnt our faces, hands and lips in the dusty Alpine desert and as we slowly rose higher, the peak of Kilimanjaro coming into sight, the altitude begun to hit us all. We all developed headaches, extreme fatigue and shortness of breath. Each step became a real effort. The weather begun to turn and as we reached Kibo , our final camp before attempting the final ascent, it was snowing, freezing and i was already in tears i felt so sick and helpless. I wanted my body to do more but there was nothing i could do to make it move any faster. It was like walking through thick treacle and i felt like an elderly woman.

The Final Stretch

At Kibo we all felt very sick. The altitude was hitting us all badly but in addition I hadn't been able to eat for two days. I had caught a bug or eaten something bad and whilst my guides assured me it wasn't the altitude that was making me so sick and that it was safe to continue if i was able to i was feeling very very weak.

We tried to rest before waking up at 11.30pm to climb through the freezing night to reach the peak for sunrise. I can only describe the next 16 hours of my life as hellish. I had no energy, i was freezing and felt sick constantly. I was sooo tired i feel asleep standing up multiple times. I begun to feel worse and worse and ended up vomiting four times on the mountain side. The climb was slow, steep and relentless.

I cried. Our guides sang to encourage us. Finally our group had to separate as myself and one other person in our group were feeling very weak and tired. We were determined to make it to the top but it was clear it was going to take us a long time and the slow pace was making the rest of the group dangerously cold. We managed to find a pace that suited us and walked 15 steps at a time before resting and sipping water with added re-hydration salts, literally this was the only thing i had been surviving on - Dioralyte and walking poles got me to the top !!! When we finally reached the top we had been walking painfully slowly for 8 hours, trying to control our shaking limbs we both pretty much collapsed on arrival .

I decided to try and make it to the highest peak but collapsed at Stella point - technically Gilmans point is at the top of the mountain (this is where one of our group stopped) but there is another 30 mins walk to Stella point and an hour to Uhuru, Uhuru being the highest point on the top !

It wasn't sensible to push myself any further and had to be assisted down the mountain as my fatigue was so extreme.

When we finally all re-grouped we had an hours rest before having to walk another 4 hours back to a lower camp. all of us had reached the top , 2 got to Uhuru, i got to Stella point and one of us got to Gilmans.

The next day we slowly descended the rest of the mountain. The epic adventure was finished.