Chelsea and The Pensioner – by Sheila

I went to London again recently to visit Jae at Exodus, where she is the Marketing Director.  Everyone who works for Exodus, whether they are office-bound or not, has the chance to go on an *educational*.  How cool is that?  Jae was doing her educational when we went to the Amalfi coast in March (see Jae’s blog post about it here).   I hasten to add that taking along your Ma is not a freebie: I paid for myself, although I got a little bit of a discount.

The reason for me visiting her office was to see her presentation of our holiday.  That is the downside of an educational: you have to present a slide show of your holiday to your colleagues, so they can all learn and note anything that could be done better in future.  A pretty good way of doing things, now I think of it.  I used to feel sometimes as a children’s lawyer that some of the people involved in court proceedings had no idea what it must feel like for children to learn that they may be removed from their parents.  It wasn’t possible to give that a trial run or learn much about what it must feel like from colleagues – but anyone can have a shot at an adventure holiday!

Jae’s presentation was on a Thursday after work: they have one every week.  One friendly guy I was talking to, Imran, told me he had worked there for ten years, and must have heard about five hundred such presentations.  Despite that, he seemed to enjoy Jae’s – she managed to inject some humour and unusual photographs into her talk – and there was some entertaining heckling from the audience of about sixty people!

Needless to say, it all ended up afterwards in a trip to a pub – and that is where I feel I got the best run down yet on what climbing Kilimanjaro might be like for me!  I have talked to several superfit people who have done it and lots of other such climbs too, but talking to a young girl, Chelsea Dorey – who was also visiting Exodus, and had been good enough to bring her own photos of her trip to the pub – was for me, the most enlightening yet.  Chelsea seems just a normal person like me, who decided to do the climb for charity.  At the last minute her friend, who was to do it too, fell ill – so Chelsea’s sister, Natalie, stepped into the breach at two weeks’ notice without any training at all – and they both got to the top!  Chelsea was the first person to tell me that it would be cold all the time from the first night onwards.  I had imagined that starting on the equator, it would be really hot for the first few days and nights, and then gradually get colder as we near the top.  Not so!  We will need layers of clothes and our down sleeping bags from the first night onwards – really useful to know when planning our clothing.

The sisters on Kili
The sisters on Kili

Chelsea said that both she and her sister had taken a drug used for altitude sickness from the beginning of the climb, and that they were the only people in their group who did not have headaches and/or sickness.  I had decided not to use such medication – but that did give me pause for thought.  She said that others were actually vomiting and found it almost impossible to eat, which meant they had no strength.  NHS websites and my GP are against it – but many other fairly reliable sources, particularly American ones (or is that a contradiction of terms?), favour it.  The jury is still out, as far as I am concerned: any advice welcome.

Chelsea & Natalie's group
Chelsea & Natalie’s group

Chelsea also said that most of the time, the walking is not arduous.  You just have to keep going slowly on – the incline is generally gentle.  The only really difficult bit, where you have to scramble, is the Barranco Wall.  She had some great photographs of it, and it is clear that we will have to climb up a steep rock face and over huge boulders.  A foot wrongly placed could result in disaster.  However, what no-one else had told me was that it would be all over in about an hour and a half.  I think I can do that!  I like a bit of variety, and so long as I keep my concentration and take it slowly, I will make it.

The Barranco Wall (the toughest bit of the climb other than summit night)
The Barranco Wall (the toughest bit of the climb other than summit night)

After that, what we will have to worry about is the last night.  We have a very early night and get woken before midnight for the assault on the peak.  We will be climbing in the dark for about seven hours, to be on top at dawn.  Exodus say they get 95% of people to the top on the route we are taking, but if I end up in the other 5%, so be it.  I will do my best, but none of us have any idea how we will feel at such a high altitude: that is truly in the lap of the Gods!

The best thing that Chelsea said was that it was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life – but she would agree to do it again in the blink of an eye, if she got the chance!

They made it!
They made it!