See below for an account of days four and five of the Kilimanjaro Climb. The lead up to the summit and finally, summit night and sunrise at the top of the mountain.
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Day Four – We are now climbing on scree – grey, loose, ankle twisting scree through alpine desert, no plants and a loose surface that sends you one step forward two steps back. Breathing is now hard and to make it even tougher we traverse Barrenco wall. It takes about an hour and a half of climbing and although it isn’t a difficult climb, lifting one leg in front of the other and coordinating arms as well is a challenge in low oxygen. A plateau at the top is a welcome break before pushing on to camp at 4600m. It is cold now with a fluttering of sleet and the climb tomorrow (or rather at midnight tonight) is playing on my mind. We get changed into our summit clothes to sleep in – thermals, base layer, mid layer, fleece – only leaving off the down jacket and waterproofs until we are ready to go. We all know we have to climb but I suspect none of us really want to. We are all climbing for charities so there really is now backing out now.
11pm that same night:
We head out after only four hours sleep in temperatures below freezing with only head torches to light the way. As we walk, the lights from the climbers up ahead highlight false summit after false summit. The first rays of daylight bring the reality that the top is still a very long way off. Breathing is hard. We do as the guides say ‘pole pole’ (slowly slowly) but it is excruciating. We see people being taken back down with Altitude Sickness. Finally we find ourselves at Stella Point about 8am – but that’s not the top! Uruhu is another hours walk! Keith determinedly sets off for the last stretch, I follow after him, albeit reluctantly… Keith summits first but I make it too only around 5 minutes behind him – the view from the summit is simply stunning and a welcome reward for our efforts. We are only to spend around fifteen minutes at Uhuru Peak before the porters rush us back down to a safer altitude. We are all utterly shattered but so proud that we made it! .
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#gardendesign #charity #fundraising #kilimanjaro #climbforcharity
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