You know those things that you do in your life, the ones that really challenge every part of you and once you’re through them you feel as though you have really proved something to yourself? Take that multiply it by 100 and that’s how you feel when you are sitting on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

I have done many things in my life that have pushed me physically, mentally and emotionally’ but nothing prepared me for this climb. I completely underestimated it and while I trained and prepared a lot, it wasn’t enough. The lack of oxygen hits you harder than you can imagine. Thankfully no-one in our group was affected by AMS (Acute mountain sickness), but we all suffered with the altitude to some extent.

When you start climbing at 10pm in the pitch dark with a freezing wind to keep you company you know it’s going to be tough. And then you just keep going…up and up and up. You have to focus on putting one foot in front of the other and remind yourself constantly that every step is one step closer to the top. I had headphones in and these helped greatly, especially one song by Tree 63 which goes “I’m just so glad, that what I can’t You can and where I end is where You begin”. There was no way I would be able to do this climb through my own strength.

After about three quarters of that night’s climb we stopped at Stella Point, where we were treated to hot ginger tea by our guides. We didn’t stop for long as we were already freezing, but the short rest was greatly needed.

We had been advised that our bodies would resist going forward, but our minds were strong and we were not going to stop when we were so close.  And then the sun started to come up…hope!

By the time we reached the top we had the moon setting on the one side of the peak and the sun rising on the other. It was 6:15am and it was stunning! My sister was the only one who still had working fingers, thanks to her mittens, so she was official photographer for us.

I have never felt such extreme misery (frozen, exhaustion, no oxygen, really sore eyes) and extreme happiness (we had made it and it was over) at one moment.

I would need a very good reason to do this again, but to know that I conquered the mountain and was able to push myself through to the top, is the most phenomenal feeling. It really is something to cross off of your life’s bucket list!

To see the photo’s go to www.kilimanjaro2010.co.za and feel free to send me an email if you have any questions about taking on this challenge.