Opening the tent, I am greeted by a smiling Tanzanian asking if I want tea or coffee……not really how I expected my first morning on the mountain to start! But tea in bed proves to be the only luxury granted to us, as life on the slopes of Kilimanjaro takes shape – it’s also at 5.45am which is certainly no laidback holiday lie-in time. But we have a huge task ahead of us and if we’re going to make it to the top of the World’s tallest freestanding mountain, then we need to follow the guide’s rules and be dressed, fed, packed and ready to go by 7am. Surprisingly for a group of almost 40, there’s not one straggler and this is partly due to the huge energy and motivation of this super group of Virgin Adventurers.

After our first day of navigating the rainforest torrential rain (a good way to discover just how waterproof our ‘waterproofs’ actually were!), we were treated to a beautiful clear sky and views of Mount Meru for Day Two. The views were breathtaking which made the 5.5 hours of uphill hiking much more palatable – as did the hot lunch of chicken and chips which greeted us on arrival at Shira Camp. Our entire group were in total awe of the stupefying strength and athleticism of the guides and porters who supported us on the mountain; most large loads were carried on their heads and yet they were still able to race up ahead to set up the tents, mess tent and have a hot meal waiting for us. Quite extraordinary! What was also so wonderful about these Tanzanian mountain men and women was their smiles, chanting and their SINGING! To hear 115 voices singing in Swahili was something never to be forgotten and certainly very motivating on the mountain.

Day 3 was a gruelling 5 hour hike up to Lava Tower at 4600m followed by a descent back down to Baranco Camp (3950m). Now that we were all beginning to understand the effects of climbing at such height without oxygen, this strategy of “hike high, sleep low” gave us all the best preparation to combat altitude sickness. Well, that and Diamox which along with giving us tingling fingers and toes, made us pee like donkeys – not so fun when it’s -5 outside and you have to put your boots on to go to the loo at night! Once we reached camp after a very long day’s hiking, we had another great treat in store for us. The chef had discovered that it was Martin’s birthday and had made a cake – yes, at 13,000’ with no oven and it was DELICIOUS! We never did quite work out how he did it, but the occasion gave the support team the perfect excuse for more singing, so the Happy Birthday song went on for at least half an hour. Certainly a birthday to remember!

Day 4 and the dawn of our so-called “easy” day – no uphill gain at all, just a traverse across the mountain to Karanga camp, also at 4,000m. What the guides had omitted from their morning briefing (perhaps on purpose?!) was that there would be PLENTY of ups and downs, just no overall gain! Also, we had to traverse along the Baranco wall which is also known as the “kissing wall” – at one stage, the only way to cross is to face inwards and leap to the other side, giving the rock a little kiss along the way! So, another tough day, but the summit was now within reach and we had the most beautiful sunset to keep us all going.

Day 5 and this is it, Summit day; this is what is all about and this is the moment when we discover if we have the mental strength to overcome our physical pain! We have a rare lie-in (6.45!) and short 3 hour hike to Base Camp, situated at 4600m. Our acclimatisation is going well, as we are less out of breath than at our high lunch stop a couple of days earlier, but even so, the most simplest of tasks leaves us all out of breath. The worst part is lying down, when you can feel your chest heaving, trying to find more oxygen, but to no avail. Unfortunately, this is exactly what we have to do all afternoon, as we are meeting at 10pm for dinner, ready for our Summit attempt at 11.30pm. We all struggled to sleep, but rested our bodies and tried not to worry too much about the night’s endeavours. After the best mashed potato and bean stew I’ve ever tasted (not that our taste buds perform at altitude, but it was the perfect fuel!), we all assembled with our headtorches on and wearing all our layers to combat the cold. We set off from Base camp, a long line of lights traversing up the mountain – and by up, I really mean up…..this was the steepest terrain we’d encountered so far. And it just kept on going……and going. I tried not to look up too much, as it was almost beyond belief that the torches I was seeing above me were on the track that I must climb myself – it seemed as though they were in the clouds! At no point did I ever feel that I was going to allow myself to stop, so I had no choice – it was just one foot in front of the other, one ‘zig’ and one ‘zag’, one chunk of the mountain at a time. The guides really came into their own on this night and were full of songs and motivational chants to keep us going – they also regularly checked up on us to make sure that we weren’t suffering from altitude sickness. It was a change for the, as for 5 days they’d been wondering how this group could still find things to chat about, but now we were mostly silent, conserving our energy for what lay ahead. There are moments from this night that will stay with me forever; the moon rising to help light our way; the twinkling of lights from the towns and villages in the valley; the stars in the sky shining so brightly with no light pollution to dim them; the endless line of headtorches snaking their way uphill and coming up from the valley. We were instructed to go “pole pole” (slow slow) and this was the only to go – it just seemed endless and we were really beginning to draw on our reserves. We only had 3 stops on this entire night, as the moment we stopped the cold set in, so it was best to just keep going. As we got higher, our water bottles turned to slush and frost could be seen shimmering on our packs. The dawn could not come a moment too soon and was such an incredibly beautiful and inspiring sight, beginning to take the edge of the chill and help us see that the end was almost in sight. So, after 7 hours of the most gruelling, intensive slog, made doubly so by the rarefied air, we made it to Stella Point, on the rim of the crater.