Day 7 on kili

Following our summit decline we ended up at a place called norombo - a further 10k from the base at kibo know wonder come end of our summit day we were absolutely knackered.
A lovely touch at the end of summit day was our cook baking a congratulatory cake and all the porters delivering it and singing and acting out a short story about our climb
Woke up refreshed after a 10 hour sleep - typical the day after I really needed it
Today's trek took us all the way to marangu gate a beautiful walk through tundra and forest. Saw colobus and blue monkey and many nests of safari ant.
Arrived at the gate at 3pm for our fairwells to the crew and the handing over of the obligatory tips- a sad moment!!!
back along the road to arusha we stopped for our congratulatory meal - quite a quiet affair - lots of reflecting going on
On that note this blog ends - too many thoughts to pen but hope you all enjoyed keeping up with Hoppys and Mitchys kili adventure

Day 5 on kili

Left third cave at 8am to begin our trek to school huts - base camp over 4700m
did a short acclimatisation climb to over 5000m before an early tea. Got an early night in preparation for our midnight ascent of kili - needless to say didn't sleep a wink

Day 6 on kili

This is it - 6 hours from midnight to scale gilmans point from base camp. Can honestly say was the most sole destroying miserable 6 hours of our lives. Got really cold around 4pm needed help with haversack and gloves from Isha (one of the guides) got to say the guides were fantastic. At 6am we scaled gilmons point - but confess that for nick and I slightly worse for ware. Nicks legs kept collapsing beneath him and I kept falling over. More help from guides needed. Hot drink (yes they carried up Ginger tea) they had to sort out what I was wearing (embarrassing) - seems my brain had also stopped working. Anyway one down jacket later we set of for uhuro peak a 3 hour round trip - the most stunning scenery but all a bit of a blur due to us not being fully functioning. Got to uhuro peak around 8 - and yes we unravelled our banner and kissed the sign ((but really on autopilot) - seemed that most people were
We made our way back at a fairly brisk pace with our lead guide concluding that nick needed to leave the top slightly quicker than the rest of us - the great news is that the whole group made it to the top and back down in one piece.
Was it one of the most challenging and stimulating days of our lives - yes
Will we do it again - not in a million years
Mitchy and Hoppy

Day 4 on kili

Great day today - traversed the saddle before dropping down into third cave - climb high sleep low.
Kicked our heels before our final dedicated acclimatisation climb - nice and steep over 600 m.
Meal tonight was a bit mixed dodgy beef stew that we think came from the carcass of a dead eland we saw back on the saddle (just a little joke cook) - pud was great - always a surprise.
The crew looking after us have been fantastic - nothing too much trouble - god hope tonights sleep is better than the last couple - feeling like shit in the mornings.
Time to turn in (8:00) - up at 6:00 every day.
Hoppy and mitchy

Day 2 on kili

20 k walk today. Up at 6 to be met with stunning clear views of Kiki and mawenzi looking down on us.
8 o'clock kick of to climb to second cave for lunchtime.
Getting on really well with group - good people enjoying the adventure as we both are. Stephe not feeling to good today - quite poorly. Few bits of wildlife about but not much. Saw a chameleon and various birds - mostly too cold for things to survive any sense - except the odd stupid humans. For motivation during the day I kept thinking about the porters who walked where we walked in twice the speed carrying twice as much. Got into camp around 5 for some r & r and great food - how do they do it. We are being so well looked after - hoppy and mitchy.

Day 3 on kili

Left kikilewa cave at 7 for a pretty dramatic mornings climb up to mawenzi tarn hut our base for that day an elevation of over 600 meters. A very tough climb - weighed day sack 23 kgs. Felt like 50kg. Spot of lunch and some relaxation time in preparation for our acclimatisation climb later in afternoon. After Lunch felt a little queezy and drowsy. Luckily seemed more about the food than anything more sinister so after a quick visit to the dunney all seemed much better.
Our acclimatisation climb took us another 600 m very steep very quick. Sat for half an hour to breathe the thinning air before descending.
Good food this evening - very cold in camp perhaps minis 5
Hoppy and mitchy

Day 2

ay 2
Kick off day for our climb - picked up 8.00am by food and crew (all 20 of them) foe our party of five - hello to owen, steph and Chris
Started climb after lunch - in woodland before breaking out into shrubland. Climbed until 6 before reaching camp to be met by stunning views of mawenzi and kili.
Lots of climbers in first camp before each group heads off their own way. Chef cooked up steak tonight - great food all that's missing is beer- sure we'll survive without it for a few days.