Yesterday was made up of two achievements, firstly Simon and my summit attempt which took 6 hours 36 minutes. Our guides told us later that they had slowed us down as we were on track to reach the summit in the dark. The second is the impressive achievement of Russ to reach Gilmans point. Those of you that have either climbed or attempted to climb Kilimanjaro will know how tough that is and those of you that know Russ will know that walking up very steep mountains is not what he's built to do, but he did it and it was a monumental achievement. The only thing I beat myself up over is that as I met Russ on my way down I should have put my foot down with the porter and turned round and gone back with him. It may have avoided Russ's complete physical exhaustion and AMS that he suffered, as throughout the whole trek I have been reminding him when to snack when to hydrate, when to take gel packs etc, still whats done is done and Russ is down safely. Mate I am immensely proud of your achievement.
To our amazement this morning having been stretchered the 9km from Kibo to the last camp, Russ is looking amazingly well much to our relief. The big concern is the final part of our trek to the Marangu Gate, its about 20k there is no way he will make that. Charles the guide has organised for the park rangers to collect him at around 15k, but still is 8 hours walking for him.
Once again a beautiful sunrise greets us, the camp is busy, as its the last day. There is a traditional tipping ceremony after breakfast. We are sang to, then the items that we have donated are handed out to the deserving porters, I left the KIM pillow, and then all 39 of the crew receive their tips. I had been nominated by everyone to make a speech and hand out the tips, interestingly when the crew knew I was the accountant as they call it, they became extra nice to me! It was great to be able to thank them for all their hard work as none of us would have been there without the Porters. They are an amazing bunch of men!
Out of our party of 11, 9 made the summit, 1 to Gilmans and 1 to 5,150m, so all in all not bad. Everyone had their own reasons for being there and their own demons to fight against on Summit day. Mine was altitude sickness as after Mont Blanc I was really worried. However thankfully I only suffered from a mild headache, which I know was sinusitus not AMS. Our summit day lasted only 8.5 hours, a breeze compared with the 18.5 on Mont Blanc.
We all left camp at the same time, but very quickly got separated. Simon and I stayed with Russ for the first hour, then we were told we had to leave him, to ensure we arrived at the gate at the same time. We were not happy about this, but our protests were turned down flat. I asked Russ if he was ok with it, and as usual he was, we just agreed whoever got down first got the beers in.
As has every morning been it was hot again, still different scenery to admire and general good company to pass the time with. Simon has again hurt his knee, but has developed a wonderful knack of using his walking pole as a cross between a splint and a walking stick. Put it this way he's going to be fine when he's 70 and needs a stick.
It takes us about 5 hours to cover the 20k's descending through the rainforest, we saw another Colobus Monkey on the way and many streams and the odd waterfall. We all then had to sign out of the park. However Russ wasn't back, so this gave us time to have a beer etc and look in the shop. Kilimanjaro national park really needs to get smarter commercially as there is nothing to buy as presents for kids and loved ones, not even a fridge magnet.
Russ arrives about an hour later. We are all very pleased to see him. He is back to his old self again and his wit has fully returned today. After a cold beer the one liners are pouring out of him.
We're back in the bus on the way to our hotel in Arusha. Russ is desperate to charge his iphone, hence he hasn't blogged for a while!
Back home on Monday a few days rest then training continues for the New York Marathon. 2 challenges completed 1 to go. I think Simon will rest for a week, but then get back into training. We both feel now that our goal is in sight as the first 2 challenges had lots of variables out of our control, like the weather, mountain sickness etc. Whereas the marathon is about staying fit and having the right mental strength. I think Simon and I have both proved we have the mental strength, we just need to stay fit!
Finally, it is so good to be able to say I've climbed Kili!
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