Two days ago we arrived at 82ºN 115ºW  to our own 4km² ice pan that we now call home. Still can’t quite get my head round the fact that we are living on the ocean and not on land, but a floating ice pan is our garden, truly a stunning garden at that. We had the most perfect weather for our arrival, stunning blue skies and next to no wind. After a 5 hour journey via twin otter (2hrs to Isachsen, a 40 min re-fuel and the final 2hr 20min flight) we were down and got straight to preparing the run way for the second aircraft. The second aircraft was due an hour later loaded with our fuel. As for the cold, the flight was pretty nippy, and I was head to toe in everything I possessed, which left me a little apprehensive to how i would cope as we flew ever more north. Miraculously from the moment I left the plane I was snug as a bug as we worked away erecting tents, filling fuel containers, laying the tarpaulin floor etc. Before we knew it, it was 8.30pm, time for supper and bed, but it was only a few hours later that for the first time that day the misery that I had expected on stepping off the plane, finally hit. Laid in our sleeping bags, only an hour or so after the stove and heater flickered out we were hit with the perishing arctic cold. The following morning I was selfishly relieved to find, that whilst I had suffered silently all night shivering and shacking in my bag, Charlie and Tark’s had been equally as cold and not one of us had gained a wink of sleep. Tark’s then drew the short straw and braved the darkness and the bitter winds that had picked up to re- fill the kerosene heater lamp, within 30 minutes, life, blood flow and even a smile had returned to us all. The day was spent continuing with camp…everything takes a very long time up here and so I think it will be the best bit of a week before everything is organised properly and we have settled into a routine. The priority for the day yesterday was the toilet, as we all wanted to avoid frostbite where possible, and so we are now proud owners of an ice-loo. Camp currently consists of 2 tents, the mess tent and the dorm tent. Both are adequate in space and height, we would even say they feel quite homely if it wasn’t for the problem that is turning camp into ‘the dungeon of the North’. When we come in from working outside we need to put on the heater lamps to defrost and general prevent us from becoming a permanent ice block. The tents are too large for the 3 of us to create any form of heat just through our presence. The lamps however, just on their lowest setting are causing a serious amount of black soot to line the tents and prevent the small amount of day light there is, in. Not to mention the bigger concern, that we are breathing in all these fumes and soot and are slightly worried about our health to say the least! Other than have a soar throat from the fumes and being black from head to toe I am in high spirits. Poor Tark’s however, picked up some rash the day before we left Resolute Bay and it has festered nicely in to a hell of a scabby mess all over his face and just to add insult to injury his eyes have swollen up quite a lot!

As for the Ice Team, we know very little on their progress, other than the small bar of ‘Hotel Chocolate’ I bought Pen for his birthday, thinking I was being very thoughtful and organised to plan for such things back in England, has today caused him to chip his tooth…opps!!

Day 4

With it being low season on the mountain and Katie picking an exceptionally beautiful and less frequently used route we have not, until now, seen a single other person on our entire journey. Yesterday evening we were joined at camp by another team compromised primarily of French people. Sebastien turned out to be a water purification engineer in Dar Es Salaam and I have arranged to try and meet up with him as I cycle through.

This morning we left camp at 07:15 just in time to see the other team emerge from their tents, only to be overtaken 2 hours later as they came almost running past us. It was no real surprise given their excessive speed that when we finally arrived at Kibo Hut they were all tent bound with splitting headaches! Unfortunately Sadie has lost her appetite this evening and has a bad headache, not a good sign considering we are making our summit attempt in a few hours! We are due to get up at 23:00 this evening and walk through the night so we have had an early dinner and we are trying to get a few hours rest before the walk.

Day 5

After a few measly hours dozing we woke up at 23:00 to find the landscape blanketed white with a thick carpet of snow. It was still snowing heavily at 23:30 as we set out after our cup of hot sugary tea and a few biscuits. Sadie’s headache has got considerably worse and after 40mins of walking she informed me that she had vomited prior to departure. She insisted on carrying on for a short while but at 5200m she began suffering from ataxia and extreme fatigue. If your read any high altitude medical book the primary symptoms of AMS are usually described as:

Headache, Loss of appetite, Extreme fatigue and Ataxia

It was very sad that she had to turn back but given her condition she made an excellent decision to turn back and in my opinion it takes a very strong person to accept the situation and make the right decision. Gerrit, John and I continued on after Sadie and Antonio (Our latest addition to the team and assistant guide) returned to BC and by 06:00 we had reached Gilmonds Point marking the end of the steep climb. After watching a spectacular sunrise we continued along the crater rim to reach Uhuru Peak (I believe this is loosely translated as Freedom Peak from Swahili) at 07:30. After a succession of photos and some filming I called Katie to let her now we had safely reached the top before turning round and heading back down. As is always the case with mountains the elation of reaching the summit if quickly overcast by the fact that you are only half way and you still have to get back down.

On the way down I spotted a man staggering around and after a short discussion with him it was blindingly evident that he was in no fit state to be were he was. It turned out that his guide was incredibly inexperienced and believed that people were paying him to take them to the summit no matter what. We finally arrived back to camp at 11:15 after almost 12 hours of walking and found Sadie curled up in her tent feeling very despondent but safe. I has also very relieved when the man whom I had spotted staggering around poked his head through the tent door to thank me. We had a few hours rest and a big hearty lunch before packing up camp and heading down the mountain again.

I have had a fantastic time on the mountain, and having spotted a few other additional challenges that the mountain holds, I am excited about the prospect of coming back with Katie. Kilimanjaro is one of the few extraordinarily beautiful places that is at the same time a great challenge, but also achievable for anybody (from a physical point of view). Whether you are looking for a first time challenge or the next one on the list then it is well worth the time. The only advice that I can give you is to pick your guide and company wisely!!! Easier said than done I know, but a good guide will make your trip whilst a bad one will not only break your trip but may put you at considerable risk at the same time.

Well Herbert is quietly calling me again and my journey must continue. I had almost forgotten that this climb was a break from the exhaustion of cycling. I will take a day to get back to Arusha now and sort out my equipment before getting back in the saddle and heading off on the road once again.

Cycling past the roof of Africa was too much of a temptation to simply bypass. It is also a welcome break from the saddle and the road. It’s not quite the same without Katie and it would have been a fantastic next step in her mountaineering experience. However, now I have first hand experience I will know what to expect when I bring her here. There are three of us in our group, in fact there seems to be only three of us on the whole mountain!!! We have yet to meet or see anybody else. In addition to Sadie, Gerrit and myself we have John, our guide and 6 porters come cooks.

Day 1

We met John (our Guide) in Arusha and after a succession of stops between there and the mountain we slowly accumulated all the members of our team. I think it was very much a case of picking up friends and colleagues with whom he has worked before. Once the Land Rover was uncomfortably overloaded (11 people in a car designed for 7) we merrily made our way to the main Kilimanjaro National Park entrance to sign in before heading to our star point. I wish I could say that this was all as smooth as the guide book in the pouch on the back of the seat in front described it:

‘The Rongai Route:

On the first day clients usually sign in at the main gate between 8 and 10 in the morning before continuing along the scenic route around the mountain to the Rongai Forest were the trek begins. Beginning shortly after lunch there is a short leisurely walk through the pine forests to first camp.’

If I had to write a description for a guide book based on our experience it would go something a little like this:

‘The Rongai Route:

On the first day you will be due to be picked up at 08:00am but all things being African, it will be closer to 08:45am. After a little delay at the main office, the journey to the main national park gates will take approximately 3 hours (allowing an extra hour for detours). After signing in the real adventure begins… You will spend almost 6 hours digging out various vehicles (including your own) from mud up to your knees in the poring rain (Incidentally Alex, our driver, was an exceptionally good driver). Arriving a few minutes before sun set means you will delay the short walk through the pine forest until the following day.’

Despite the slightly unorthodox procedures it was actually remarkably enjoyable. Our team is a fantastically eclectic mix of characters each with a slightly quirky twist to their story. In any case we get on very well with everybody. Having had to camp at the base of the route means we are camping at 1950m.

Day 2

Provisions are very tight as the logistics was carefully (or possibly not) choreographed so that we have the right number of porters and food to last us the 6 days we will be on the mountain. In light of this we have to make up the ground that we lost yesterday and have to walk all the way through to camp 2. The walk is only around 12km but we need to climb from 1950m to 3500m, so we will spend most of the day walking very very slowly, or as the locals say ‘poly poly’. As you would imagine the scenery made a dramatic change as we ascended, going through the pine forest we were meant to do yesterday, before crossing into the indigenous tropical forest, then in into the shrub land and finally into a relatively sparse grassland.

The team of cooks have managed to produce some pretty spectacular meals given the rudimentary utensils and equipment they have. For breakfast every morning they are proving us with porridge, fresh fruit, sausages, eggs and vegetable omelet. For lunch we get a small goody bag with all sorts in it and in the evening we get another fully garnished meal including soup, chips, vegetable stew, meat and a fruit salad for desert. The walking was relatively easy going and we took regular breaks filled mostly with a lot of drinking. For those of you unfamiliar with altitude one of the most important things to remember is to stay hydrated. I’m glad to say that the temperature has also dropped sufficiently and I slept like a baby (The first time since I was at 4200m with Katie back in Ethiopia).

Day 3

The other great rule of altitude is ‘get used to doing nothing!’ 90% of all your time at altitude is spent doing absolutely nothing. To be more specific you are actually acclimatising but in order to do that efficiently, you need to do as little physical excursion as possible. In a bid to keep to this theory we have covered an enormous 4km today and since arriving at 4200m we are sitting around in our tents doing very little. I have spent much of the morning filming and typing up this post, whilst Sadie and Gerrit are doing… errr not entirely sure but they are in their tent.

Every morning the weather is absolutely beautiful with crystal clear skies as we look out over the top of the clouds covering the Amboseli National Park down below. I try to do as much filming as possible at this time of day because by mid morning the clouds start to role in and a thick fog prevents you from seeing very much. In fact yesterday afternoon we heard a light aircraft flying incredibly close to us and this morning we heard via phone that it was on the news that a light aircraft carrying 4 passengers crashed into Kilimanjaro at about 16:00 yesterday afternoon because of the cloud.

We are due to make our summit attempt tomorrow night and I’ll write a short post from the top.