We set off at first light at 6.30am. Excited and daunted – and still couldn’t eat anything to fuel the day. I started to be sick just a short way in and this carried for the entire climb. My body’s way of trying to deal with the altitude. So all of my water just came straight back up. But there was no way this would stop me climbing.

The start was steep – up scree – and we zig-zagged and our way up for hours.The weather was clear – Whitey’s decision to summit during the day was spot on of course, we have our ‘weather window’ and it help. The views up were breathtaking. I mostly walked in comparable silence or in single file – not talking as this required too much effort. Whitey mostly decided the order we would walk to settle us all together as we would. Martin was suffering so badly with the altitude, I have no idea how he got out of his tent to start the ascent – super-human effort.

No-one can prepare you for how tough this climb is. Or how long it takes. The views are stunning and you have to get in the zone to just keep going. We talked to a group at the lodge who had taken 9 hours to summit – and we thought “that’s a really long time”! It took us – keeping all together – 10.75 hours! And then we had to go all the way down. I ate nothing for the previous 24 hours – except 2 ginger biscuits – and today I threw up all of my water. I’ve amazed myself of what I I can do under pressure – what all of us can do. Especially Martin – he has my total hero award. Mike and Christine, our UK guides, also suffered really badly. Everyone suffered in some way – headaches, nausea, dizzeyness – and Thibault was my vomit buddy! Chema was affected the least – with a headache but otherwise felt fine and impressed us all greatly with his fitness and capacity to eat! But also deliberately going at the back. He was my saviour on the summit descent when I had ran out of water but was feeling really dehydrated – like a really really bad hangover! And he let me drink out of his pack bladder. That’s a bit of a personal thing – and he kept coming and finding me and making me drink.  My pack had frozen and I’d drunk (and vomited) all of my bottles.

The summit itself – you reach Gilman’s Point and you think you are nearly there. We were all so elated to have made it – and together – it was an incredibly emotional moment. Keris, Sonja and I just sat and cried our eyes out. Keris, who on day 1 with Clare and Hils, seriously doubted her ability to do day 2 never mind summit – it was just a bit too much. The views were amazing, but it was still a long way to Uhuru Peak, the highest point. This last bit took much longer than I had expected but was utterly beautiful. Now in deep snow, we were forced to walk in single file around the rim , looking down onto glaciers and a total winter wonderland. The weather held and so we got the views that we had hoped for. Thank you Whitey! I had absolutely no idea of time here – and did not even think about it. If you’d asked me I would have said early afternoon – it was actually 5.15, I was told afterwards. Totally exhausted, we took our group pictures with the banner that Chema had heroically carried up for us – and set off back down. It was only when the light in my sunglasses started to change that I realised the sun was going down – and that we were going to have to do much of the descent in the dark. My legs held and I hung onto my backpack for the water – but after being sick so much, the porters insisted in removing the contents of my backpack – I didn’t argue. With head torches on, we stumbled down the mountain. And I mean stumbled. All spread out at this time – as some just wanted to get down as fast as possible – and some literally couldn’t due to fatigue.

Chema, Joe, Simon and Hubertus practically ran down. I stumbled down mid-way passing a struggling Mike, and then Jan – they were being properly helped so all I could do was disperse Jelly Babies and then carry on at my own pace. I then found Thibault being seriously sick and with his legs going. We stumbled down together like a couple of drunk buddies on our way home after a night out of way too much to drink. With our porters to help who kept us topped with water and helped with the torch light. I’d stopped being sick by this point but Thibault had not. We arrived back at camp at about 8pm. 13.5 hours after we had set off.

Exhausted, some of us sat like zombies in the tent having a hot drink – I think only Chema could eat! Soon everyone was in their tents. I took my boots off and got into bed in every inch of clothing I had on, including my down jacket. I think I had a few hours sleep, but then the rest was just lying there – such is the sleeping life at high altitude in a tent! But it was so nice to lie still in my warm, smelly sleeping bag with my mouth tasting of sick, reflecting on the amazing but challenging day – and wondering at the fact that…. WE ALL DID IT TOGETHER!