We did it!  All 10 of us made it to the top of Africa in record time. We started out at midnight in a blustery wind storm and climbed for 6hours listening to our guides singing away. We didn’t talk much, each climber in their own little world marching one step at a time their headlights lighting up the mountain in a snake like pattern. Everyone had their moment with headaches and nausea – pepto and advil were in high demand.  It was a LONG HARD day rewarded with Kilimanjaro beers at Millenium, our last camp site. We walk out tomorrow and then onto the much anticipated safari.

We’re at sitting at high camp at 16,000ft. It’s windy and, now that the sun has set, it’s getting cold. We’re ready. We’ll set out at midnight tonight and hopefully be waving the Canadian flag on the top of Africa around about 6am. Nerves are good and there are plenty around. We just need to channel them upwards and outwards. We”ll touch base again in 24 hours.

Doug, Karen, Ken, Teresa, Blaine, Irene, Paul, Nora, Alison and Angus – we all send our LOVE.

The ‘almost’ full moon is shining down on Karanga Valley,  our campsite destination at 13,255ft. Our superheroes have conquered the Barranco Wall, eaten platters of banana fritters, had a visit from the ‘summit man’  and now recharge in preparation for tomorrow’s night ascent. The night is cold. Our water bottles, full of hot water, now lie at the bottom of our sleeping bags.

“Life’s a pretty precious and wonderful thing. You can’t sit down and let it lap around you … you have to plunge into it; you have to dive through it! And you can’t save it, you can’t store it up; you can’t horde it in a vault. You’ve got to taste it; you’ve got to use it. The more you use the more you have … that’s the miracle of it!
Lyle Samuel Crichton

Greetings to everyone and Jambo to Ms.Keswani’s 4K class!
We’re sitting on a plateau at 13000 ft after a dinner of soup, mashed potatoes, curried beans, and vegetable stirfry. We’ve  taken our Malarone (to protect against malaria) and our Diamox to aid in acclimatization. We’ve had literally a day of up and down walking up to 14,700 only to come back down to sleep at 13,000ft. It started to snow but being from Canada it was no big deal. Everyone is groovy – no headaches, no nausea, no fatigue. Sort of strange but then we are a group of 4 couples (+ Angus and me) so perhaps the strength of love is coming through!!! We’ve spotted the southern cross so I guess that means it’s time for bed.

I will leave you with the quote from the yogi teabag:”empty yourself and let the universe fill you.”

Another great day on the mountain!  We climbed from 10,000 feet to 12,600 feet today, we’re getting high. All the group is doing well, we had some good scrambling today where we had to stow our poles. Ken and Teresa are trying to unstick the dining tent zipper and say hello to Emily and Adam. Tomorrow we head up to Lava Tower through a lunar landscape before descending to Barranco, our 3rd campsite.

We ended the day by sharing our hopes and fears. You gotta love Blaine’s hope: “I hope people will finally recognize Blaine as a superhero!” Need I say anymore.

La la salma (goodnight in Swahili)

Hi Emily, Adam, Kate, Will and everyone else!
The stars are gorgeous at 10,000ft! It’s 10pm and everyone’s just getting ready for bed. Our team of 30 porters are chatting and laughing away – it’s now their time to kick back and relax. Everyone is doing great having climbed for 6 hours through the cloud forest to our 1st campsite, the Machame Huts. Besides a headache, there’s been no complaints. Everyone is very laid back and just glad to be here finally climbing their Kilimanjaro.

Greetings to all our friends and family! It’s Monday evening – we start our mountain climb tomorrow. Bags are packed, water bottles are ready and everyone is surprisingly relaxed. Five bags are missing. It appears that they never got on the plane in Calgary but Angus is at the airport as I write hopefully picking up the lost luggage.

We had a fun day at the Amani Children’s Home where we not only handed over our cheque for $81,000 but celebrated Doug’s 50th birthday in grand style. The children took the day off  - they performed skipping and acrobatic miracles, sang Happy Birthday as a gigantic cake was carried in (big enough to feed 100+ people) and ran around with us all throwing balls up and down, and back and forth.

Later in the afternoon, we came back to our mountain lodge to complete our packing. Theresa won the prize for having the most organized pack (everything from a “summit” pack labeled with duck tape to having a weigh scale). Karen was a close second with a snack bag that was the envy of all (particularly Angus). So … to bed and to the mountain. Keep well!

The count down has begun: 10 days to go until our next blast off to Kilimanjaro. We leave on Jan.31/2012 with a group out of Alberta. There are 4 wonderful couples, all friends, seizing this opportunity to celebrate life. Angus and I are looking forward to showing them Kilimanjaro, the Amani Home and the Ngorongora Crater. Meanwhile, we have bags to pack, snacks to buy, and funds to raise. The ”bone chilling” temperatures in Calgary have put our climbers through the test. At -32F, they’ll be acclimatized for life.  Can’t wait to meet up with them all at the airport!

Well, all good things must come to an end. Again, we are all so happy that our group of 10, the “coolest group on the mountain,” was able to climb to the Roof of Africa and look east to the Indian Ocean. It was a beautiful sunrise over Mawenzi (one of the secondary peaks of Kibo.) Today we do a long descent, from 12,500 to 5,300 feet, to finish at Mweka Gate. It is a beautiful walk through rain forest, we hope to see monkeys! We are all looking forward to a shower at Kilemakyaro Lodge.

Thank you again to family and friends for your support.