K2010 - Updates

Updates

1 March 2011
A new website has been launched at www.trekraise.com and donations - and sponsorship for the 2011 trek to Peru - can be made at a new Virgin Money Giving page. [The JustGiving page has now expired].

5 December 2010
Since Kilimanjaro, I have also completed a Teenage Cancer Trust trek in the Himalayas - see the Sikkim Trek Report. You can support this - and my planned trek in Peru in 2011 - at my Virgin Money Giving page.

Please download the Photo-Journal of the Challenge (PDF file).

You may also like to read the Outtakes Report (also PDF).

18 August 2010
Just posted an outtakes report - some pctures and comments (quite lighthearted) that didn't make it into the main report.

8 August 2010
When I started out, the fundraising target I set myself seemed almost as daunting as the climb itself, but now I can say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has helped me to raise 7% more than that target. For anyone who has not yet made a donation - it's not too late: just click on the Just Giving "Sponsor Me" logo.
107 per cent raised

29 June 2010
Some photos below, starting with yours truly at the summit. For more details please do download the Photo-Journal of the Challenge (PDF file) which has more pictures and more information.

^ Exhilarated, exhausted and just generally delighted to have made it to the top.

^ Emerging from the rain forest on Day 2, on to the Shira Plateau.

^ The strange tree groundsel plants in front of the Barranco Wall.
steep rocky path

^ Starting the steep rocky climb of the Barranco Wall.
mount meru surrounded by cloud

^ Looking back to Mount Meru across the rocky volcanic terrain.

^ The icy summit of Kibo surrounded by cloud.

^ A lone porter making his way to our next camp..

^ Another briefing in the mess tent about another tough day ahead.

^ The rocky camp site at Barafu from which we left at midnight to make our assault on the summit.
inside the crater

^ After walking through the night in sub-zero temperatures, we finally reached Stella Point on the rim of Kibo, from which we had this view of the inside of the crater.
view of ice and cloud from the summit

^ One of the stunning views from the summit, of the ice fields and glacier leading apparently seamlessly to the clouds miles below.
leaving the national park

^ We descended about 2,000m on summit day, and then another 2,000m on the final day to leave the Kilimanjaro National Park.

27 June 2010
Made it to the summit! Just back from Tanzania, where a few days ago I was briefly the highest person in the whole of Africa, at the Uhuru Peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. An extraordinarily tough trek - a report and pictures coming soon.

16 June 2010
All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go.... well, nearly. The butterflies are all in my stomach now (not literally). Quite anxious about it all, but I've done more preparation than for any other trek, so fingers crossed. I'm really encouraged by the fact that I'm almost three-quarters of the way to my fund-raising target - thank you so much for your support. So now it's a case of watch this space...

13 June 2010
Since my trip to the Lakes, I've been trying to keep up regular long walks in the Chilterns and have done 3 days of 12-14 miles. And here are the butterflies to prove it - speckled wood, red admiral, small blue and large skipper.

29 May 2010
Spent a few days in the Lake District for some more strenuous training walks than I've been able to fit in so far. This was probably my only chance before the trek to do some serious walking on three consecutive days. I feel a bit more confident about Kilimanjaro now that I have done this without any problems (even my dodgy metatarsal-phalangeal (big toe) joint held up OK too).

Day 1 - High Street
high street ridge reflected
The High Street ridge peaks at 828m (2,718 feet) and the long flat summit area was part of a Roman Road.

Day 2 - Scafell Pike
scafell summit approach
Scafell Pike is the tallest mountain in England at 978m (3,209 feet) and quite a challenge. I have been up once before, but many years ago and I had forgotten how rocky the summit area is - and I seem to have chosen the longest rocky approach.

Day 3 - Helvellyn
helvellyn from a distance
at the helvellyn summit path down from Helvellyn
Well the route looked good on the map, and I'd heard of Striding Edge, so why not? The weather was poor - rain most of the time - and I hadn't realised that the last part of the ascent (top right picture above) to the 950m (3,117 feet) summit is a narrow path alongside a steep drop, followed by a scramble up rocks. The scramble came just as the cloud closed in. The weather cleared for a few minutes at the top, but with ominous thunder in the approaching next band of cloud. I chose a longer but safer descent, but was still hammered by a hail storm on an exposed ridge on the way down. So I do seem to have successfully recreated a genuine trekking experience (except that I returned to a warm shower in my guest house rather than a tent in a muddy field).

21 May 2010
E-mail received from the trek doctor. I'm glad there will be a doctor on the trip - I hadn't been sure there would be. But all this talk of injections, fitness, acute mountain sickness, rehydration, painkillers and a reminder not to underestimate how cold it will be at night - all makes it seem a bit real!

20 May 2010
Perhaps I should see if anyone wants to sponsor me by butterfly picture - four more from Kent, and from the Chilterns where I walked as hilly a route as I could find today starting from Bledlow. The butterflies are (I think): small copper, Adonis blue, one yet to be identified, and brimstone. Some say the brimstone is THE butter-coloured fly from which the word butterfly comes.

13 May 2010
Walked 14 miles along the Kent/Sussex border and the Eden valley. Some beautiful country, but a lot of agricultural land - and not really enough gradients for my current needs!
oast house tree and clouds
lamb group of deer

11 May 2010
Walked 16 miles yesterday, plus whatever distance I covered chasing these butterflies through beds of nettles with my camera (L to R: orange tip, dingy skipper, peacock, small tortoiseshell).

9 May 2010

Have now reached half of the fund-raising target I set myself. Thanks for your support. Please tell your family and friends about this site and the work of Teenage Cancer Trust - and help me with the other half!

5 May 2010
OK so the Chilterns are not Kilimanjaro (as one of my sponsors has pointed out!) but walking there is better than the urban plains of south London (including Ikea), and I am up to about 14 miles a day now. So few people on chilly weekdays, but lots of flora and fauna.
bluebells deer
pheasant rabbit

13 April 2010
Does three and a half hours walking round and round and round Ikea count as training?

12 April 2010
Having stopped full-time work for a while, at last there's time to do some proper walking. Today was a stunning 8 miles in the Chilterns, where spring hasn't quite won the battle with winter yet, but it looks as if the next few days will be decisive.
woodland path red kite
daffodils ruined church

23 February 2010
First two sponsors have woken the JustGiving page from its slumbers - thanks Chris and Jocelyn!
This website seems to be working fine (let me know at info@k2010.org if you find any glitches) and ready to launch on an unsuspecting world....

22 February 2010
OK - so under 4 months to go.
And am I fit? No.
And have I raised any money yet? No.
So a busy few weeks coming up. Testing out this website which I hope is going to encourage you all to donate! When it seems to be OK hopefully I can get out into the country rather than sitting in front of the computer!

20 February 2010
Been going through trekking photos for the website - were we really that close to a sheer drop in Malawi? And I'm letting myself in for all this again ..... trekking by a sheer drop