Sunday 20th September, Machame Camp

We were transported from the hotel by bus to Machame Gate, at 1800m, by our local guides and completed the formalities of signing in with the National Park. We have to wait here for our guides to select the team of porters that will carry our kit and supplies up the mountain. The loads carried by the porters and our permits also need to be checked before we can start. This process can take a few hours to complete and we amused ourselves by watching the monkeys in the tree’s near the gate.

Eventually we set off with a support crew of 84 people for our first day’s trekking. Today the trek follows a good well prepared track and is almost completely in the rain forest until we reach camp. The track followed the line of a ridge and within the forest the flora and fauna are abundant. The local plant Impatiens kilimanjari is seen growing all along the side of the trial.

After about 5 hours walking the forest thins dramatically and gives way to giant heathers and scrub before we finally arrived at our campsite at Machame Hut, at 3000m. It was a clear evening when we arrived and we had a good view of the mountain from our tents.

Saturday 19th September, Arrival in Moshi

Having arrived safely in Kilimanjaro Airport complete with all of the groups luggage we transferred to our hotel in Moshi to recover and make our final preparations before starting our trek on Sunday morning up the Machame route to the summit of the mountain.

We used the time to meet with the local guides, sort out equipment and transport arrangements before finally briefing the clients on the details of the coming week.

The group were also treated to the first glimpses of the mountain from the hotel balcony as the clouds began to lift late in the afternoon. From here it looks an easy walk to the top!!

Friday 18th September,

Today was spent travelling to Heathrow to meet the group and the rest of the DA team before we caught an overnight flight to Nairobi and our onward connection to Kilimanjaro International Airport.

Thursday 18th Sept, Expedition to Kilimanjaro

I am working for discover adventure this week with a group of 25 people who are raising monies for the Altzheimers society. I am flying out to Kilimanjaro for the next 10 days to help them with their challenge. Also working with me on this trip are Alice (Team Doctor) and Simon.

Hopefully we will have some good weather. I will update the blog when I get back with news and pictures of our trip.

The pictures below were taken on a previous trip and show Kili from the air as we approach our destination. The picture on the right is taken from Stella Point looking over the crater rim to Uhuru Peak just as sun was begining to rise.

Sunday 14th Sept, Snowdon Horse by Crib Goch Ridge

On Sunday I took two clients, Colin and Steve, over Crib Goch, a lovely exposed grade 1 scramble on Snowdonia. We set off in near perfect conditions with the remains of an inversion in the valleys. Our plan was to start early and avoid the crowds enjoying the nice weather. There are many lose rocks on the route and avoiding other groups above you is very adviseable.

The ridge crossing was quite and Colin and Steve were able to "enjoy it" without any pressures from other groups. Part way across they were fortunate to see their first brocken spectres in coire below.

No walker will ever forget their first experience of seeing a Spectre. I know a number of people who have yet to see one in many years of walking the hills, but Spectres are surprisingly common if you know the conditions in which they occur and can make your own luck.
Brocken Spectres often appear from mountain ridges when the ridge is clear and the corrie below you is filled with mist, or when the sun suddenly breaks through the mist. Your shadow is cast onto the mist, always around the anti-solar point, exactly opposite the sun. Narrow ridges with deep corries like Crib Goch offer great opportunities on autumn and winter days with bright sunlight and lingering clouds.

After completing the ridge without meeting many others we made our way up to the summit of Snowdon which by now was busy with walkers heading up the main paths. After a quick photo stop we headed down the east ridge towards our next hill, Y Lliwedd. It also has a rocky ridge and we enjoyed some easy scrambles to reach its summit. Our return route brought us down the ridge to join up with the miners track and a easy walk back to the cars.

Saturday 13th Sept, Snowdonia, North Wales

I was back in Snowdonia with Mel and John H. working for discover adventure with a group from the charity Macmillan.org.uk who are all heading out to climb Kilimanjaro in January and February 2009.

We spent Saturday enjoying perfect weather conditions on a sunny Moel Siabod, acending the NE ridge and helping the group practice moving over rocky terrain. We found many small rocky steps on the ridge and had fun teaching everyone to move confidently on rock. This was a new experience for many of group and should help prepare them for the ascent of Barrenco Wall during their trips to Kili. The picture on the left is Sarah, the charity rep, who joined us for the weekend.

As we approach the summit we met Mel and her group who were enjoying the views and lunch by the cairn. After a brief stop for a team photo of both groups we headed down.

Our descent route was down the steep rocky ridge running SE down to a small lochan at Llyn-n-Foel.

We passed through the old mine workings which looked very interesting before heading back down to the track to the valley and YH at Capel Curig.

Sunday 7th September, Snowdon, North Wales

Today is day 2 of the Discover Adventure training course in North Wales, fortunately the hostel had a good drying room and most of the kit except boots were dried overnight The ladies put their hairdryers to good use in an attempt to dry their boots.

Our plan for today is to ascend Snowdon via the Miners track and return on the Pyg track. The weather had also made a remarkable improvement overnight, the rain was now vertical instead of horizontal.






We set off from Pen-y-Pass and very soon met a herd of wild goats grazing by the path who kindly posed for a few pictures. We carried on to the Causeway to find that it was partially under water and we had to go paddling again to continue our trek.







This route has been much improved in recent years and made for easy walking up to the ruins at Glaslyn. For here we climbed steeply up the side of the cwm to the junction of the track and the railway from Llanberis. A short walk uphill brought us to the summit of Snowdon.





After a quick team photo we headed off back down the hill to the cafe for a warm cup of coffee.











The sun threatened to come out as we walked down and the rain even stopped long enough for us to get changed in the car park.

Saturday 6th September, Y Garn, North Wales

Today I am working for Discover Adventure with Bex's on a two day expedition training course for team members leaving for Chile, Everest Base Camp, New Zealand and Kilimanjaro later this year.


With extensive flooding across the UK and many folks having difficulties travelling to our venue in north Wales this was going to be a testing weekend for clients and kit. The wet weather however did provide the perfect conditions for me to test a new waterproof camera I had just bought a few days earlier.


Our original plan for day 1 was to ascend Y Garn by its eastern ridge from the car park in the Ogwen valley and make a traverse of the Glyders, however we also have developed plans B, C, D and E in case conditions were even worse than expect.

We set off towards the ridge through wind and horizontal rain, the low cloud gave poor visibility and its was not possible to see our route up the mountain. When we reached the plateau at the top of the ridge the wind speed was well over 45mph and walking was difficult for most members of the team. Although we were less than 10m below the summit we decided that it was too dangerous to continue and retreated down the ridge.











The windy picture was courtesey of Joy, who was being held firmly down by another team member whilst she took the picture.

Since by now we were all soaking wet the group made a circuit of Llyn Idwal to get a few more miles into their legs. A number of the streams in Devils Kitchen area were interesting to cross and the teams had the opportunity to practice river crossings and scrambling up waterfalls.








Despite the weather we all had lots of fun and the clients gained a good understanding about the performance of their kit and personal fitness in poor conditions. Hopefully lthe weather on expedition will be much kinder.