Thursday 1st March - Summit Day

It was midnight, it was snowing but we were determined to just get our heads down and get on with it. We had been advised to wear plenty of clothing as it would be very cold. Starting at the bottom; one pair of very thick socks or a thin pair and a medium thickness pair - I had opted for the latter. I had on my running tights rather than thermals as they wick better, some fleecy lined trekking trousers and waterproofs over the top. I also put on the gaiters my Mum had lent me, as there is a lot of scree on the summit and you particularly don't want your boots filling with stones on the way down. I then had on a long sleeve wicking top, a long sleeve merano wool thermal, a lightweight fleece, and heavier weight fleece, down jacket - all topped of with a gortex jacket (just). And then there was a wooly hat and gloves. My rucksack contained 3 ltrs of water, snacks, first aid kit, camera x 2 and some spare warm clothing - as if I was going to actually be able to get any more layers on anyway!

When we'd arrived in camp in the early afternoon the day before, I'd take 1/2 a diamox tablet (from Mary!) as nearly everyone had been taking diamox from quite early on in the trip to help them deal with altitude sickness. I hadn't really had any problems but I wanted to maximise my chances of making it to the top. After taking the first small dose, I hadn't really felt any of the side affects Diamox causes as I'd just been relaxing in camp and slept - so I took another 1/2 a tablet before we left just to ensure that I would be OK. Diamox doesn't cure altitude sickness but it helps by dealing with the adjustment of the PH in your blood. It does have side effects though - pins and needles in your face, hands and feet. I didn't get any of this sensation in my feet - but boy did I get it in my face and arms as we climbed. I almost wish I hadn't taken the tablets, but equally I can't be sure to what extent they helped me that night either.

Just as we left camp, the guide Julius came to find me and asked to take my bag straight away. He'd remembered our conversation. I clearly wasn't going to let him take my bag from the start, so thanked him and told him I would see how I felt at the next rest stop. There were 3 distinct stopping points on the 1200m climb up and the guides told us that they would assess us all at each of these points and decide whether any of us would need to go down. We were already a guide short because one had gone down with Sophie, and our chief guide never materialised on the trip due to a family issue, so one of the others had stepped up to take his place. As a result, 2 porters became "climbing porters" and came with us on the summit attempt.

The next 6 hours were just a long slog of constantly putting one foot in front of the other, again and again and again! This was interspersed with the guides singing and calling out to each other in the darkness, stopping for a few sips of water and sucking boiled sweets. We had a fantastic pace and the whole group stayed together all the way. Julius again asked me for my bag and about 1/3rd of the way up and putting pride to one side, I let him take it. I was only planning on being here once and simply didn't want to fail. Many of the other guides were also starting to take bags too - but generally everyone was in good order.

And then, a crimson glow started to appear in the sky behind Mawenzi Peak - dawn was coming.....

With the sunrise came more energy - I have absolutely no idea from where exactly, but Julius had been by my side the whole way, giving me water whenever he felt I needed it, reminding me to blow back into my Camelbak so that the water didn't freeze in the hose. We were all covered in a light frost - it must have been the condensation from our bodies freezing. And then it wasn't too much longer before we all reached Gillmans Point - the first and lowest of the 3 official summits on Kilimanjaro at 5695m. It was from here that we could see into the crater and across to the weird glaciers that sit on top of the mountain. I was absolutely over the moon to have made it to this point. My colleague at work had told me that if I made it to this point, that the true summit was totally achievable. Whilst it was still two hours away, it was relatively level and he said that whatever I did, I must dig deep and keep going. We could see the route around the crater rim in the stunning but icy cold sunshine - I was adamant I was going to make it. And after the porters handed out hot tea, leaving 3 of our number behind who had already achieved so much more than they thought possible - 10 of us started walking....again!

Porters - still singing and dancing!

And we walked and we walked. It was really hard going but the views went a long way towards taking our minds of just how tired we were. Our route took us via Stella Point, where lots of other groups summit from the other side. Our guides simply did not let us stop here, instead keeping us walking. Having spoken to another group afterwards who did the same route as us, their one complaint was that they had waited too long at Stella and found it almost impossible to get going again. We had to cross snowfields and some difficult terrain which was made all the more complicated in that our brains were not working quite as they should now. On the summit of Kili, there is 50% less oxygen in the air than at sea level. But, at around 9am - our entire group made it - and there was just a few minutes between the first person and the last. This has been a massive team effort. The views were amazing and we stopped to take the summit photo's. Those sharp eyed amongst you will notice that the summit sign looks very different to the battered wooden signs in most other Kili pictures. They'd clearly been replaced in very recent months.

We were to only be allowed 5 minutes on the summit as the guides want to get you down as quickly as possible. I took a moment to get out the card that John had given me. It was in about 3 different envelopes. Joyce sat next to me and Amanda, her tent mate took my camera to take some shots. As I worked through the envelopes, you can just imagine my total shock and surprise when I opened the final one to see a card saying "Congratulations on your Engagement!" He was asking me to marry him!! I hadn't been at all emotional at this point, but I was just totally overwhelmed and burst into tears. I don't cry very much but when the waterworks come - they pretty much don't stop for me. Amanda told Joyce afterwards that I was crying so much that she stopped taking photo's as she thought it might be bad news!

Me - having opened the card!

Me - and the card!

Me and the card - again!

OK - so for those that haven't seen my photo's yet - yes I did eventually put my card back down. We just had a few minutes for photo's and I wanted to try and share the moment with John somehow. I then put it safely back in my bag, took a few photo's, recorded a video message for John - and then we were being rushed into packing our bags and getting ready to leave.

So - the hard work was done? Absolutely not!! What followed was one of the toughest days I've had in a very, very long time. We retraced our steps back to Gillmans point before descending the scree slopes and switchbacks to Kibo camp. Apparently the reason for climbing Kili at night is because the scree is frozen so it's easier to walk on - this was definitely the case. I spent most of the rest of the day walking with Mary - and I was so fortunate she was there, as at times I honestly didn't think I was going to make it. I was pretty tired and hadn't been eating enough of my snacks. I'd been drinking a good amount of water and had carried extra too - which I'd managed to keep unfrozen. But there were others worse than me and the guides took the last of my water and some of snacks to give to someone else. My knees and legs weren't up to scree running, so it was a long and painful plod down the switchbacks and scree. I wasn't quite the last into camp - but was pretty much at a state of collapse by the time we reached our camp at Kibo. Mary held my arm as we walked as with the slightest slip, my legs went from under me. After a while two of the guides walked me into camp for the last half an hour. We were met by my good friend George who had been down for a while after descending direct from Gillmans. She quickly ran off and invested in some Coke for me and Mary - just what the Dr ordered. I collapsed into the tent for 20 minutes or so whilst I drank my Coke and stretched my legs. It was already after 1pm. It had taken another 5 hours to descend the mountain. George also told me the wonderful news that after we'd all gone on to the main summit, that Paul had proposed to her. I was over the moon - and cried again. Both of us had been talking about this trip for years, having met on a similar trip to South America and followed it up a few years later with another trek to Nepal. We'd committed to doing this trip as we were both turning 40 - and we were finishing it being engaged!

But that wasn't the day over - not by a long way! We were allowed to rest for a little while longer before we were given a hot lunch - and then had to finish packing up our kit and start a further 4.5hr walk to our camp for the evening. For some reason - we had it in our heads that it was only a couple of hours down to the lower camp. We couldn't have been more wrong - it was a very long, hard and tedious slog - and the weather was starting to change.

However, before we left camp - I went and found Julius. I needed to thank him for his help in getting me to the summit. My work colleague had told me that he had hired a summit porter to carry his bag on his summit attempt and the negotiated rate was $50. In the big scheme of things - it's a very, very small price to pay to get to the summit. I shook his hand, gave him the money and disappeared as it was time to leave.

I will confess to spending the next few hours chuntering. I was feeling much better than I had been on the final bit of the descent from the summit and was carrying my own bag, but my legs were very tired and I had quite a lot of pain in my right big toe. The descent had trashed my big toenail and it was already swollen, black and blue. I'd made sure it was cut short before we traveled as I've experienced this problem before on long descents - which is why I have no toenail at all on my left foot as it's unfortunately been permanently removed after an identical incident  - it looks like I'm going to have a matching pair! For the last 30 minutes of our walk into camp - it starting raining - and we were soaked. We reached our final camp at Horombo Huts at 18.30pm. We had been walking for over 18hrs, had ascended nearly 1200m and then descended over 2100m. We were shattered. We sorted our kit out and then dashed for the mess tent for some food.

The wind was picking up and it was raining hard. Some of the group just didn't leave their tents and come to dinner. A few of the group did - and we'd heard that Andy and Johnny had managed to secure the last vacant hut in the campsite - for $20 a bed. They told us that there were 4 empty bunks and we could join them. I wasn't going to bottle it at the last minute - I have a gortex bivvy bag and can sleep anywhere, but Mary had no problem in taking up their offer. We dashed back to our tent for her to pack her bag - but on seeing the river that was starting to make its way through the tent and it almost totally flatten in the winds - she talked me round and I packed my bag too and we legged it with our bags back to the mess tent to meet the guys to show us where their hut was in the maze of buildings further up the hill. We were met by a scene of utter chaos and devastation. The mess tent was about to be ripped from the mountain and the guys and some of the guides were hanging on to it for dear life. We were soaked through and getting battered by the wind. It was clear that the tent wasn't going to survive - as Mary was very clearly trying to get through to the guides. After half an hour, enough was enough. The guides brought some porters to carry our bags up the hill to the hut - we told them they didn't have too but they insisted. They disappeared into the darkness (they didn't have torches) and Mary and I (with head torches) tried to run after them.We made it half way up the hill until it very quickly became clear that we were still at over 3700m and our lungs and hearts were about to burst out of our chests. We stopped in a toilet hut half way up the hill as we had no idea where the porters had gone. We were exhausted, soaked, couldn't breath and were in total darkness in a toilet hut. Just not where you wanted to be having climbed the highest free standing mountain in Africa!!! Mary decided to use the facilities whilst we were there - but one of the guides came and found me and said he'd take me to the hut. I told him to come back for Mary (this is me making up for leaving her..!) We ran (still not a good idea) to the hut and I was greeted by a little piece of heaven. A perfect little alpine hut with 6 bunks, all with a mattress and pillow - and no wind or rain noise too. I quickly took off all my wet gear and stood with my torch at the tent door looking out for Mary. The camp was large and complicated and in the darkness everything looked the same. I was feeling very, very guilty. After about 15 minutes Mary arrived - I was so relieved!! After some faffing, we were all tucked into our sleeping bags - me, Mary, Andy, Johnny and Henry had joined us too. We slept so well that night - never has a bed felt so good!

There ended an epic day on so many levels. I also managed to get a text message to John from camp to say "yes please"!! Unfortunately the signal was too intermittent to allow a phone call....what a day!