Our decision to climb Kilimanjaro was somewhat spur of the moment - at the beginning of the year we'd both had the desire to 'climb a mountain'. Which mountain, how high it was, where it was, none of these really mattered, I think we just wanted a sense of achievement (any maybe a few panoramic photos!). Our decision to go to Africa was based on the availability of three elements - a safari for photo opportunities, a huge mountain to climb, and an idyllic island in the Indian ocean to relax on afterwards. The safari was over, now it was time for the hard part! We transferred to Moshi from Nairobi, a fairly uneventful days drive, arriving at Mountain Inn around 4pm. We booked our climb through LetsGoTravel in Nairobi, but the actual climb company was Shah Tours, a well known and prominent company specialising in Kili climbs. They owned the hotel too, so you knew that everyone there was also either about to climb, or had just done so! We had a very nice meal in the evening, then got an early night in preparation for the start of the climb. In the event, the first day of the climb didn't involve much climbing. We met our guide James at the hotel, and then collected the remainder of our team (six people in total) while enroute to our starting point, the village of Nale Moru (1950m) on the north side of the mountain. The roads up to the Marangu gate were perfectly good tarmac, but thereafter they deteriorated rapidly to extremely dusty and difficult conditions - we made good use of our four wheel drive. At one point another vehicle drove just ahead of us and we were forced to stop for a few minutes to wait for the dust to clear before we could see again! Upon arrival we signed in, then put on our rucksacks and headed up the trail. We were off! The web is full of route descriptions, so I won't repeat them here, but I would recommend "Kilimanjaro - A trekking guide to Africa's highest mountain" by Henry Stedman - it's a wonderfully written book. It covers all the routes, is fantastically witty, and overall was our bible during the climb. For those that have read it, we were both 'friend A'!!! We climbed for about three hours to reach First Cave (2600m), where our porters pitched our tents, cooked our supper and generally looked after our every whim. Day Two brought an early start, leaving camp by 7am. The weather started hot with a clear blue sky, but by afternoon it was replaced by rain, hail (!), and the temperature dropping to below freezing. We climbed steadily for about seven hours with a quick break for lunch, reaching the Third Cave (3900m) around 2pm. This was to be our base camp for two nights, as the third day was an acclimatisation day. As usual our porters had overtaken us during the day so when we arrived our tent was already pitched and ready for us to take shelter in. Quite how they managed to erect the tent in the hail and on a rocky surface I don't know. From here we got our first clear views of the summit which didn't look too bad.....For our acclimatisation day we simply climbed for a few hours with our assistant guide Benson, then walked back down to Third Cave. This increase in altitude and the extra day simply increase your chances of reaching the summit while minimising the effects of altitude sickness. In a now familiar pattern, the morning started with blue skies but, despite only walking for three hours, we spent most of that day walking on snow. Day four was a fairly arduous trek, starting at 8am and finally reaching Kibo Huts (4700m) around 2pm. The climb was considerably steeper than previous days, and the terrain much rockier. With less scenery to look at, we tended to spend a lot of time looking at our feet and just plodding ever upwards! This was the first day which felt really taxing, and that worried us slightly - the book's description of the summit ascent was "makes any previous days look like a walk in the park". Oh-oh. We had an early evening meal around 6pm at Kibo Huts, then tried to get some sleep in preparation for the attempt on the summit. Standard practice is to start climbing at midnight, as this ensures the snow is still frozen and safer to walk on, plus it means you should get back down before the weather closes in after midday. It also promises the spectacle of seeing sunrise from the summit, a truly memorably sight that almost makes it worth the effort! Of course after seven hours walking you really want a good nights sleep, but that wasn't to be. We were awoken at 11pm to have some lovely soup, biscuits, and to prepare our equipment. Head torches are order of the day (or night) as the majority of the climb is in the dark, and this made the various climbing groups apparent. After climbing for a few hours, looking back down the mountain revealed 'caterpillars' of headtorches making their way up the slopes, weaving back and forth on the path. The valleys of Kenya could be seen by the moonlight - it was a fantastic sight. This is the hardest part of the whole climb without doubt - the slope is 16 degrees from the vertical - ie very, very steep. The path weaves in a zig zag, so spends a lot of time traversing the slope rather than going up. The result is a feeling that you\'re not making any progress for hours on end! The coldest time is apparently around 4am, although our water had frozen within an hour of leaving Kibo. We reached Gilmans Point (5681m) by 6am, just before sunrise, and were glad we'd made it that far. The summit was another hour and a half further, but the walk was much easier in comparison. We reached Uhuru Point, the summit (5896m), about 7:30am. The sense of achievement was great, and the view was spectacular too!
