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Travelling.    So we have arrived in arusha, after a pretty epic journey! Having said some emotional goodbyes, we set off to heathrow. I dont mind saying that while climbing kili has been an ambition of mine for a number of years, the last few weeks as the date has drawn nearer have been nerve racking. Its finally here and my nerves have gone! We all met at heathrow where our guide brian jackson had our tickets waiting. One of the major advantages of a private group of 9 is that we have a uk tour leader join our party, in conjunction with the local tour party. After plenty of hanging around, we departed with kenyan air to nairobi. The fact that we had to wear all of our kit on the plane was only made worse by the hottest flight ever. After a short transfer we boarded the smallest twin prop plane i have ever seen for our hop to kili. Now this plane can only climb to 17000ft and actually has to go around the peak as its too high to pass over! The views we had were amazing!

To finish the day we had briefings from brian on what this trip is going to be like and what to expect. Basically we are all going to get sick, and have to push ourselves beyond anything we have ever done before for up to have a chance of being succesful. After a large dinner and a hot shower, we are having a final check on our kit before the last sleep in a bed for 8 days. An early call awaits tomorrow before a 5 hour drive and a 3-4 hour hike to first camp. Despite the apprehension, i cannot wait to get going....

Welcome!!

Welcome to my Blog!

Well - here we go! I've never done this before so bear with me as I endeavor to write back to you, updating our progress as we head off to Tanzania in an attempt to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Mt Kilimanjaro

Below is an introduction to our trip - please use the links to find out more!

In late 2011, I had the opportunity to apply to join an expedition to summit Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, the highest free standing mounting in the world. Having done so, the team agreed that whist realising our own ambitions and dreams in attempting such an feat – we should endeavor to raise awareness and funding for charity at the same time.

So, for the last 12 months we have held many events to fundraise for our chosen charity – MNDA (http://www.mndassociation.org/). Several of the team I am climbing with, play and coach football for a local side and are involved in the Youth teams. We were aware of two children in the youth teams whose father had recently not been well – his name – Alistair Banks. He had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and knew that it was killing him with no known cure. Alistair became the face of MNDA after his diagnosis and described himself as an ‘Incurable Optimist’ to help and inspire others with the disease to beat MND. You can find out more about Alistair at http://alistairtheoptimist.org/

Once we discussed out intentions with him – he endorsed our efforts to raise awareness of MND and our fundraising to help towards finding a cure for this horrendous condition. Unfortunately Alistair was unable to revel in our intended success, as 2 years after his diagnosis he passed away in January 2013.

In his memory we are determined to smash though our fundraising target for MNDA of £28,700 and raise in excess of £35,000.

I will be leaving on Saturday 1^st of June to climb 19,341ft (just under 6km) straight up. The final days climb starts at 11pm and lasts 16 hours as we climb through the night to reach the summit at sunrise around 7am. After just 15mins (at this altitude there is only 40% of the oxygen available to that at sea level and acute altitude sickness is a real danger) we will descend around 8000ft to our final camp. It will be bizarre knowing that stood on the summit, I will be higher than many of the short haul planes that travel across Europe daily!

I hope that you are able to help support myself and this fantastic charity for this expedition, because while I will be attempting something amazing  - MNDA will be able to use the funds to enhance the lives of so many people, not just now but also in the future.

To find out more or donate – please go to :http://wwwjustgiving.com/june2013-kilimanjaroformnda

You can also find us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/June2013-KilimanjaroforMNDA/274441369322695?fref=ts