We were woken up early with about 4 hours of straight, plain alpine desert ahead of us to get to Kibo, which stood at an altitude of 4700m. Only the first part of the journey was 'interesting' since it involved a steep climb, the rest was a grudging road in sun and wind. I almost expected to see riders on camelbacks in that desert!! Or maybe I was just hallucinating!?!? At Kibo we had pasta dish al fresco then most of us hit our beds to gain energy and rest for the night while, others decided to acclimitise for another 100m or so. I decided to spare my energy esp since I felt OK in terms of altitude. Couldn't complain really except for my nose which constantly dripped and was so sore with the sun and dust. Not to mention, the beautiful hues of black (dust) and red (blood) oozing at every nice big blow!!! Well, shit happens!!!
Back in my tent I couldn't rest. The wind would not stop blowing making me feel less and less re-assured. I tried to start preparing my gear and wear for the big night but thoughts just clouded my mind every minute. Finally, feeling beat, alone, scared and nervous I just forced myself to think POSITIVE and started jotting down things as to why should I do this and most of all succeed? So, I had sacrificed nearly every damn weekend for the last 3 to 4 months to walk 22 miles a day and go up and down a 260m hill in West Berkshire!! I climbed the 3 UK peaks, ok not in 24hrs but still did them, and Ben Nevis was a mental challenge with all that stormy weather! I have a Blog site (!) which I started and wanted to complete successfully (if that makes sense!!!) I thought how other Maltese fellows and my big friend Maria did it - so, why shouldn't I? I thought about my family, my friends, ..... of having lived away from my country for the past 2.5 years, my cousin Marco who climbed Mt. Kenya and not just Kili, for God's sake!! my job at Vodafone and how this was a mega adventure compared to office life and the little Maltese flag I had in my duvet jacket which I had had to stick on the peak...well, anything to keep me going and most importantly give me a bit of confidence.
At 5.30pm we had our dinners. At that point we also asked the million-dollar questions to Tosha and got to know the summit porters. We also poured out our thoughts on the table. I had to voice out my nervousness esp not having a buddy with me I just stammered out to everyone; "I'm scared, well, part of me is the other part is saying , 'just go and do it!" Everyone reassured me which made me feel better. Anja even took my pulse rate and told me I should be fine it was so low (about 70) at that altitude. She was also pretty confident that we would all do it following her acclimitisation hike earlier that afternoon. She assured me it was not to steep and anyway very pole pole! Yeah, ok but what about doing it in the dark, cold night for 6 to 7 hours?!?!?!?
We adjourned to get some sleep or kind of anyway, till 11.00pm. The symphony of the strong wind and vomiting/coughing noises were a restless lullaby!! What if I get blown off the mountain by the wind?!?!?!?!?! ok, I know but hey, can't help asking any question when you're up there!!!!!
At about 10.45am I got out of the sleeping bag, went to pee then got dressed into a penguin for our Halloween night!! I wore 4 layers beneath my duvet coat, 2 thermal leggings, walking trousers, waterproofs and gaiters over my boots at the bottom. Head-torch, 2 pairs of gloves, buff, fleece hat and my walking poles. We met in the mess tent bumping into one another in our heavy clothing for tea and biscuits and set off right after Tosha at midnight, exactly.
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