Simon O’Reilly

The photo is of me at Baranco Camp underneath Kilmanjaro. Beautiful!

Thank you all again for your support it has meant a lot to me and the whole team.

Simon O’Reilly

Harry Farthing trains with the Italian team in the Alps from SATW Kilimanjaro 2010 on Vimeo.

So don’t foget to follow the Feeds to keep up to date with their progress. You can follow them on Twitter & Facebook.

3 weeks to go before Kilimanjaro 2010! from SATW Kilimanjaro 2010 on Vimeo.

It’s difficult to strike a good balance when talking about Kilimanjaro, especially from my point of view as the expedition Guide. On the one hand, I don’t want the team to be overwhelmed by the challenge that lies ahead, the fact we’ll be going to extreme altitude, climbing through the night on summit day and experiencing temperatures as low at -20c. Equally though, I want the team to all know that as an objective, Kilimanjaro is very achievable, all we need to do is keep on walking, stay healthy, and not have any silly accidents. There is no reason why we won’t all stand on the summit together, and we will certainly be going with the ambition to get a success rate 100%. Success for me has never been just about reaching the top, but re-defined as getting as high as possible, and returning safely without any injuries or frostbite, and the summit is the bonus. Obviously though, the sense of achievement for standing on the Roof of Africa will be amazing.

Day to day on the mountain the team will be expected to walk for up to 7 hours, carrying just light rucksacks with the essentials, like warmer clothes, suncream, and of course lunch. We’ll have a huge local crew of porters, cooks, cook boys and also local guides helping us. In total our crew will probably be in the region of 50 Tanzanians. Kilimanjaro is a major boost for the local economy, providing revenue for the country via it’s expensive permit system, and also allowing literally hundreds of locals to work on the mountain.

If all goes to plan, it will take seven days of walking to reach the top. On the night before the summit, we will have a camp at 4,600m above sea level, where the team will rest and hydrate before setting off upwards and into the night, leaving camp around Midnight. With steady progress and sticking together, we should be on the summit by 8am, enjoying an incredible sunrise as we climb. The last 100m around the summit crater rim will probably feel like the longest 100m of the team’s lives until we see the famous black sign with the large yellow letters reading “Congratulations you are now at Uhuru Peak Tanzania 5,895m AMSL, Africa’s highest point, World’s highest free standing mountain”. And at that moment all the effort will have been worthwhile, the training justified, the blisters worth it, and we can stop and take photos with flags and momentos from loved ones.

But it’s not over until we’re back at the hotel, which is a further 2 days walking, a punishing descent, brutal on the knees, with everyone following their noses back to the call of the hotel bar, the swimming pool and the hot showers waiting for us just 36 hours away. That first drink will be the sweetest, the first shower will be the longest, and the bed will be the most comfortable.

And before we all know it, it will all be over, and we’ll have stories, photos and memories from what is sure to be an incredible adventure.

Simon, Liz and Will from the London office were to meet me there on a bright and sunny Saturday morning. Sadly, Will had car trouble which left him near Winchester, and the three of us set off from the car park at 10:30am. We walked at a steady pace throughout the day, starting by skirting around a large hill and through a caravan park, which was the most unpleasant part of the walk. After that though we got further from the main car park and stretched our legs, with the number of other walkers diminishing as we walked further West.

The route was a simple rectangle shape, starting at the sea, heading inland a bit then walking parallel to the beach for about 5miles, then turning left and left again and walking back East along the clifftops. The sun didn’t dip it’s head behind the clouds at all, and we were rewarded for our efforts with cracking views of Portland and the English Channel, stopping to take plenty of photos. The walk was more than just a bit of exercise though, as it gave Simon and Liz the chance to ask me anything about the trip, and discuss any issues in some depth, to put their minds at rest and give them some useful tips. We rocketed along the clifftops, taking even the biggest hills in our stride, the heat made it particularly realistic training for Kili, but there was just enough breeze to keep us cool and blow us up the rises. In what felt like no time at all we were back at the car park and 4 hours had flown by, and we ‘d covered about 10miles and had a few rests to drink and eat.

I had a quick look over Simon’s kit that he’d brought to show me, in particular his impressive selection of Icebreaker baselayers! He had all the right kit, as I expected seeing as he’s a veteran of an Everest Base Camp trek in 2006 when Harry Farthing and I were on Everest. We went our separate ways, hopefully Simon and Liz felt as though I’d answered their questions, and I dashed home to get ready for a wedding reception.

All in all, it was a great day.

There they will test to see if you are susceptible to altitude sickness (Hypoxia).  This would be a brilliant excuse not to go on the expedition (not really, only kidding!).  The test only involves breathing a reduced level of oxygen, simulating the conditions at both 5,000 mtrs and 3,000 mtrs.  The test results showed an average tolerance to hypoxia and therefore still given a clean bill of health to go……they even convinced Liz to go and train in their gym whilst being at 5,000 mtrs – sounds too like the real thing…….