No turning back now…

Posted on August 29, 2010

The rest of the team arrived safely last night and for some this was the first time they had met. Everyone was tired – either from a long days Safari or all day travelling from the UK, so after a cheeky beer everyone turned in.

So today is build up day. All the guys have had the morning free to go an explore Moshi, wander around the markets, embrace the African culture and sort out any other last minute things.

At 12 we met up again at the hotel and began the first of the afternoon’s briefings – Kit. Kilimanjaro can be a very cold mountain, especially on summit day the temperatures can drop below -15 degrees + wind chill. So I checked out everyone’s warm kit – down jackets, gloves etc and made sure everyone had enough layers to keep warm. [When you are at high altitude you move very very slowly and because of this your body doesn’t generate much heat so it’s really important everyone has enough clothes to keep warm.]

After kit was sorted we headed to my favourite cafe in Moshi ‘Kilimanjaro Coffee Lounge’ and enjoyed a lite lunch. It was clear the team were beginning to get excited (everyone who does climbing/trekking loves kit!)…for some of them Kilimanjaro has been in the pipeline for almost a year and now it was only 1 day way!

During the afternoon I briefed the team on a whole host of subjects including, the daily routine, what to expect, my team of locals (porters, cooks, guides), all things food, the importance of hydration and hygiene etc etc. A few questions later and we managed to iron out any misconceptions and worries and 9 very excited trekkers went off to pack their bags ready for tomorrow…

So – 6 day expedition, 100km of trekking and over 4500m of accent and descent lies ahead for the team J

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