Team Kilimanjaro Training Trek

Sunday 28th March 2010. The Team met at 11 am by the Guildhall in Much Wenlock in Shropshire. We were hoping that it would be a full turnout, unfortunately Stuart could not join us because he had a death in his family.


Much Wenlock is the birthplace of William Penny Brookes, founding father of the Modern Olympic Games.This beautiful English Town has more of the feel of a village, but with more tourist attractions.

Jean-Luc came prepared with his rambler's map enclosed in it's plastic pouch and secured around his neck. We set off on this bright, crisp, sunny morning. We passed through numerous kissing gates and stiles as we trekked through the rural countryside. The views were breathtaking with green fields, haystacks, forests, rivers and beautiful country houses.

We finally reached Ironbridge at about 1:30pm and crossed over it, weary of the millions of tonnes of water from the River Severn flowing majestically below. We stopped for lunch on the terrace at the Tea Emporium and took in the view of the magnificent Ironbridge.The bridge rests in the heart of Telford and Wrekin and signifies the start of the Industrial Revolution. I was starving and welcomed the hot English tea and the piping hot baked potato topped with beans and Cheddar cheese...mmmmm. Everyone else had something cold. I popped into the museum sweet shop to gets some treats and traditional fudge for my daughter before rejoining the team.

An hour later we grabbed our kit and got on our way. We walked along the river past the imposing Ironbridge Power Station cooling towers. Just then Qasim spotted the rope overhanging the river and used his walking stick to pull it in. The next thing I know, he has his kit off and takes a running leap swinging off the rope as he rolls out over the river and back again.... Oh no... here it begins... before you know it we were all doing it. I know what was going through everyone's mind - " have I got the upper body strength to do this, I hope to God I don't fall in.. !!! " - we have the right stuff and yes we did have a blast...

We pressed on up and down through the rolling countryside , up 15% incline hills until eventually we made it back to the Much Wenlock High Street for five. We exchanged hugs and handshakes and got back into our motors to make our way home.

I drove Qasim and Indy back to Birmingham , to their cars left at my workplace and made my way home to grab a nice hot shower... Half and hours rest and I was out the door again to.... well that's another story, but I needed another shower when I got back at 11....

I felt fine that day... no visible after effects apart from a little tiredness. No blisters, no bruises. But the following morning I was stiff and slightly uncomfortable. By Tuesday my calf muscles were hurting, the knees were sending me pain signals and my ankles were very sore and uncomfortable... All signs that we need more training. This went on for day, by Friday it was just my ankles that were still sore...

But hey this is what it's all about ... and I don't regret a moment of it...I'm loving it....

Jabs !! Jabs !! and more Jabs!!!!!!!!!

I finally got around to sorting out my vaccinations for the journey to Tanzania. I visited the MASTA website for more information.

MASTA is a global advisory service, established in England in 1984 and in 1988 in Australia, New Zealand & Papua New Guinea. Nice to know the Brits do something really well.

MASTA provides travel health advice to health professionals who use the MASTA service which provides up to date travel health advice for travel itineraries anywhere in the world.

So I ordered my personal Travel Health Brief online for £3.99.

Recommended Vaccinations For my Journey are:

Diphtheria
Diphtheria is usually spread by close contact with infected persons. In the UK, the combined diphtheria/tetanus/polio vaccine is available

Tetanus
Tetanus is a serious infection, usually contracted following contamination of wounds. In the UK, after 5 doses of vaccine, tetanus boosters are not routinely required unless travelling to areas with limited medical care.

Hepatitis A
Hepatitis A is a viral infection which occasionally causes severe liver disease. It is usually spread by contaminated food and water.

Typhoid Fever
Typhoid fever is a bacterial infection usually spread by contaminated food and water. It can cause serious illness, but vaccines
offer up to 80% protection. Vaccination is generally less important for short-stay travellers staying in good accommodation.

Yellow Fever
Yellow fever is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. This disease may only affect part of the country you are visiting, and the risk is highest in rural areas. A certificate will be issued following vaccination which is valid for 10 years. Yellow fever is transmitted by daytime biting

Vaccinations To Be Considered
The requirement for these vaccinations may depend on our activities, lifestyle or length of stay. We are advised to discuss these with our travel health adviser.

Polio
Polio is a viral infection which can sometimes cause paralysis. It is usually spread by contaminated food and water. In the UK most of us are immunised against this..

Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is a viral infection which can cause serious liver disease. It is usually spread sexually and by contact with infected blood or body fluids (e.g. puncture of the skin with contaminated needles).

Rabies
Rabies is a viral infection usually spread by the saliva of infected animals. Human cases are usually due to dog bites but many animals can be infected, and a scratch or lick may be sufficient to transmit the disease. Rabies is fatal once symptoms begin.

Malaria
Malaria is a dangerous disease that is spread by mosquitoes that bite from dusk to dawn.Ways of avoiding mosquito bites:

Use an effective insect repellent and apply it regularly.
Wear long sleeved shirts and long trousers, especially in the evening.
Clear your room at night with a knock-down spray (fly spray).
Plug-in insecticide vapourisers are very effective.
Air conditioning provides an effective deterrent; otherwise consider sleeping under a mosquito net impregnated with residual insecticide.

Geographical Risk:

Tanzania
Outbreaks are occasionally reported year round.

Cholera
Cholera is spread by contaminated food and water. It is rare in travellers, as outbreaks tend to occur in areas with poor sanitation.
An oral vaccine is available for those at risk (e.g. those working in slum areas, refugee camps or hospitals, those visiting friends
and family in areas reporting cases, military personnel in conflict zones, and those visiting rural areas with recent outbreaks).

Tuberculosis (TB)
TB is transmitted by close contact with infected people.

So I visited the nurse at my local medical centre to get some inoculations...and guess what she totally ignored my MASTA report and went online to check what I needed.

Surprise surprise it was exactly the same as my report indicated duhhhhhh. She informed me that I would have to go to a special clinic for the yellow fever jab which I need, but I needed my Hepatitus A renewed which is about to expire. So my left sleeve went up and I got the jab. My other jabs were up to date because I had been to the Dominican Republic two years ago. But poor Jean-Luc he had to take the whole lot.

The Footings

The groundwork on William Lench Court is progressing nicely and Jean-Luc sent me a picture of the site. It's come a long way since the turf cutting ceremony a few weeks ago. The footings for the apartments are clearly visible... and like all good structures and indeed life in general, good foundations make for a strong future...

Watch this space...

Team Member Profile - Andreas Sticher

Who am I? In one sentence: I am a 39 year old, married, German, sportaholic, business manager.

I moved from Germany to Birmingham together with my wife Andrea in October 2008, because of occupational reasons. As part of the Executive Management I am responsible for the organizational development and strategic realignment of the UK subsidiary of LISEGA Group of companies. LISEGA is the worldwide market leader for industrial pipe support systems (e.g. power plants).

At the moment we are living in the Birmingham City Centre and are direct neighbours of Jean-Luc in the Mailbox. During the eight years in Munich (from 1998 to 2006) I worked as a Management Consultant for an international Management Consulting Company. During that time I have done a lot of successful turnarounds at medium-sized technology-orientated companies with headquarter in Germany.

My private life is currently dominated by travelling through the beautiful English countryside and sightseeing. Besides several kinds of sport my activities and interests involve motor bike driving, Stephen King books, travelling abroad, Asian philosophy of life, as well as music and movies (I have a large collection of tunes and DVDs).

My motivation for the trip to the Kilimanjaro might be a little bit different because it is not only the look for the challenge:
Andrea and I had a very tough 2009 with several unsuccessful in vitro fertilisation's. Against this background I am currently in search of the sense of life, hoping that the experience at the Kilimanjaro can give me some additional input on my path of enlightenment.

Anyway, it will be a great adventure to climb on top of one of the highest mountains in the world with such a nice group of people. And if we can support the charity project with a decent amount of money it will be fantastic at all.


Andreas Sticher

The Salseros.............

What a fantastic evening. Over 24 people turned up for the charity salsa night. The majority had never done salsa before, but as Thomas eased them into the basics, the mambo, the side step and the Cuban open step, by the end of the evening they were loving it.

The team were there Dave, Qasim, Andreas, Indy, Jean-Luc and all joined in.
We raised over £200 this evening. Thanks to the Loft Lounge for hosting the event - Steve and Lawrence , great venue and the staff were fab. And thanks to Thomas O'Flaherty our dance instructor (from Spirit Salsa) who was great as usual.

Let's hope we have another one because it really was fun. And Since someone gave me a dare for £100 ,you know who your are.... I did the sequence so pay up !!! lol

You were all good sports...... Thanks for coming

What should we pack....?

Andreas has a German friend who did the Kilimanjaro ascent in 2006 (currently he is on a Annapurna Trek).

He got hold of the list of equipment and items that he took on the trip and circulated it to the rest of team to get an idea of what we may need.

Here it is:

For "5 days in tent 3 days in hotel"

Backpack

Baseball cap,Sunglasses,Sun protction creme,Lip balm,Digicam,Camera,APS-film,Batteries for camera,Spyglass, small,Rain cover,Tissues,Ortlieb bag black,Diary,Dictionary engl,Dictionary kisuaheli,Program,Map,Note-book, Pen,Book,German,Vaccination record,Pictures,Spare pair of glasses,Rain jacket,Mosquito net,Bag for documents

Sailor´s Kitbag

Eastpack backpack,Padlock (2x),Sleeping bag,Airbed (self-inflatable),Flip-Flops,A pair of sneakers,Toilet bag,Tooth brush and paste,Shampoo and shower gel,Tissues,Towelettes,Malaria pills,Micropur,Vitamin C pills,Insect-repellent spray,Oropax,Toilet paper,Towel large,First-aid kit,Survival kit,MSG bags,2 rubbish bags,Headlamp,Batteries,Letterman,Copies of documents,Water jug,Thermo wrapper for jug,Thermos jug,Leggins,Cap+gloves,Outdoor trousers 2x,Long johns,4-Underpants,Thick socks 2x,Tennis socks 2x,Shorts,T-shirts 2x,Polo-shirts 2x,Longsleeves,Fleece-jacket

Departure (at the body)

Jeans,Climbing boots,Thick socks,Belt,Scarf,Shirt Kathmandu,North Face jacket,Jacket MountainHardware,Mobile,Passport,Visa,Flight tickets,Participants identification,Wallet,Debit- and Credit- Card,300 USD,30 EUR

Compass (?)
Water filter (?)

Wow ..................This is a lot of kit...

Team Kilimanjaro Meet 4

The team met or rather some of the team met again yesterday to review progress on sponsorship, training and other preparations.Dave got tied up at work and Jimmy couldn't make it. We were hoping to get everyone in one place to get a full team photo for use in press releases, but alas it's not going to happen this time.

We all still need to get a move on and get our jabs and arrange our travel insurance.Stuart is trying to set up a Pizza and Drinks party in the Mailbox and Jean-Luc is arranging our next team training walk on Sunday 28th March – 11.5 miles around Much Wenlock & The Ironbridge Gorge. Oh and we will be organising a Gala dinner glam evening in May with a fabulous live jazz band and DJ in a marquee at a cool venue.

Plans are now in place for the charity salsa event and Lawrence and Steve from The Loft Lounge have confirmed the booking for 6pm this coming Sunday and they have helped in spreading the word about the evening.

Thomas O'Flaherty our star dance instructor is looking forward to the evening and the rest of Team Kilimanjaro will let their friends, employees and other contacts know about the salsa night. Any of you reading this blog are welcome to join members of the team for the fun packed evening......

Lench's Trust Commemorative Tea Party......

Yesterday residents of the Lench's Trust held a commemorative tea party in memory of their founder William Lench. It was held at the Custard Factory in Digbeth and although I intended to go unfortunately the demands of work intervened and I had to give it a miss. No matter, Indy managed to make it, together with the Mayor and Mayoress and of course, Jean-Luc was there on duty. I gather our good friend Arun Bajaj - CEO of Radio XL and President of the IAB popped in to mix and mingle with the residents. Hopefully as a result of Team Kilimajaro's fund raising efforts more elderly people will be able to enjoy the benefits of extra care sheltered housing in Birmingham soon.

Let's Salsa !!

Salsa is a wonderful form of fun and relaxation. After suffering various sports injuries last year through playing tennis and jogging and getting bored of just swimming and doing weights all the time , a private banker friend of mine suggested I try Salsa. He said not only would I work of loads of calories but I would have great fun dancing and meeting lots of interesting people.

Well ever since I saw Clive James' documentary where he mentioned that you could go to any capital city in the World and walk into a Tango class and dance with some of the most beautiful women in the city, I had added doing the Tango to my bucket list.The wise-cracking Aussie even spent £200,000 having the top floor of his London penthouse converted into a giant ballroom so he could indulge in his favourite new pastime...the tango. But, since I hadn't quite plucked up the courage to do the Tango yet I thought I would start with Salsa.

So last August I did some research on Google and I found myself booking a private lesson with Thomas from Spirit Salsa. He was very understanding and made me feel relaxed as we went through the basics. After mentally blocking out any anxiety and nervousness or images of me looking like a total invalid dancing salsa,the hour long lesson flew by and I turned up to his beginners class a week later. Tom teaches Cuban salsa as opposed to New York or Miami Salsa. Cuban is more flowing and rounded in it's movements.

When I first started there was only three of us. Two guys one lady. On one occasion I turned up and there was no one so Thomas and I just went through the basics. After a few sessions the numbers grew and I was finding myself enjoying it and hankered after more. As I got better I started joining the improvers class. I have to admit I am now addicted and on some nights up to 40 people turn up to the beginner session.

The basics... The Mambo, the side step, the Cuban open..., then you learn basic turns and the cross body lead. Master that and you go on to The En Chufla, The Setenta, The Sombrero, The Siete, The Suzie Q, and then onto sequences like the Dedo,The Titanic, The Coca Cola, The Kentuky, The Ochenta, The Peek-a-Boo .

On some nights we would do some Bachata or Merenge, the rhythms of the music almost hypnotic as you became totally lost in the moment.

Anyway where am I heading with this you may ask? Well I approached Thomas in February and explained that I was raising money for a charity and would be climbing mount Kilimanjaro in June. " Would you do a charity salsa night for me " I asked him. Thomas agreed in principle and so I went off and started making the arrangements.

Finally after sounding others out and coordinating the venue and designing the posters I managed to organise the event for Sunday 21st March at 6 pm in The Loft Lounge in China town. The word is now out, so if any of you fancy a real fun night out, come along on the day... There is a real danger that this could be too successful and too many people, mainly women will turn up. But Thomas is up for it and says not to worry as he will just lay on more sessions...... Thanks Thomas

I hope to see you all there together with the Kilimanjaro team.

Power Circle - Meeting of great minds

Over the years I have developed a deep respect for event organisers and fund raisers. A lot of work goes into planning, coordinating and marketing the event and dealing with fluid situations and moving ball parks that arise. It's all hard work, it appears easy, but it's not, it's just meant to appear that way.

The Power Circle event was no exception. Almost 50 people turned up to this exclusive event and we raised in the region of £440 for the Lench's Trust or another 1% of our target after tax allowances are written back in.

It was even more pleasing to see that we had hit 4% of our target today before this contribution making a total of 5%.

After a preliminary talk to welcome everyone, members of Team Kilimanjaro were introduced to the audience and Jean-Luc talked about the history of the Lench's trust and capital fund that we were raising money for - to build the new extra-care homes for the elderly. Fun tasks were announced by Mo Harford to get people connecting while the canape's were served.

Oh by the way the wines were excellent, and our hosts - Itihaas laid on an great spread. Especial thanks to Dawn who once again greeted our guests and to Mo Harford who compered the evening. And thanks to Kavita whom I press-ganged into taking the photos on the night.Look out for the pictures here soon.

We had a great turn out of varied and interesting people, each with their own unique anecdotes and stories. Looking around the room I could tell that we had managed to get the ambiance right, most people seemed to be having fun.The vibe was warm and relaxing, with no coercion to mix. This is not a networking event, but a meeting of minds in ways that allows people to genuinely connect. Guests were all interesting in their own ways, down to earth,and either already successful or destined for success. As I mingled I found it very mysterious how people knew of other people in the room through mutual acquaintances or interactions spanning years. Thus reinforcing the theory of six degrees of separation...

A sign of a good event is how many people linger around at the end. As we left the main event area downstairs after everyone else had gone, and emerged from the entrance near the bar on the ground floor, it was heartening to see so many people were still at the bar chilling and having fun...Qasim and I joined in...

It's hard work, but the results are worthwhile...

I look forward to the next fundraiser, on 21st March , the Charity Salsa night at the Loft Lounge... that's a story for another time.

P.S. It's snowing on Mt. Kilimanjaro today and it rained all day in Moshi, our starting point for the climb....

Malvern Trek...Endurance Training - Indy & Parve

I met Indy at Frankly services, M5 Jn 4ish at 10:10 this morning. I pulled up behind his Volvo just as he was getting off the phone. It was a crisp bright sunny day, not a cloud to be seen for miles around. This was going to be nice.

After a quick sit rep we jumped in the cars and I followed him down to Jn.7 where we exited and made our way into Malvern Town centre and found a parking spot.We donned our gear and I grabbed my camera and we made a move.

The town is a quaint little place with quite a few visitors meandering around, and several who had come to walk for the day. It had lots of photo opportunities.

It was a marvelous refreshing walk up the hills with all sorts of terrain. On the way up there was remnants of the night's frost and the wind nipped around our necks. The air was clean and fresh and at various points along the trek I was either taking layers off or putting them on. But at one point near the peak despite the sun it was bloody cold because of the wind.

We passed many ramblers, young , old, lovers on a romantic walk and families taking the cute kids and a marvelous variety of dogs for a stroll.

The scenery was breathtaking and Indy and I paused from time to time to take in the view and take some snaps. In between we talked about hobbies, work, ambitions and our respective bucket lists. We got to the main peak and took in the view before walking along the ridge and over the other peaks...

We came across a group that were parascending.. the myriad of colours of parachutes peppering the hills and sky.. "you should add that to your bucket list" Said Indy - offering to have a go with me...hmmm that's a possibility.... !! Alongside the parachutes were the extreme sports guys preparing to take of in their hand gliders..(no I saw no women !!)

Despite still having a runny nose, I was glad I came, it was refreshing, exhilarating, enjoyable and bloody good exercise.I might even have got a tan...

I was also braking in the hiking boots and they were fabulous, very comfortable and they had very good grip. I'm glad I paid a bit extra to get a good quality pair of boots. After 7 miles of walking over 5 hours I suffered no blisters or discomfort. I experienced a bit of jarring of the knees on the way down but nothing to worry about. No aches or pains as of yet, so that's a good sign. We will have to push the limits further next time.

We got back down to the town centre and unloaded the gear before going off to find a pub in town. I settled for a nice hot cheese burger chips and cold beer ..hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm that was nice. Then we jumped into our cars, and made our way home.

I got back for five, had a nice hot shower, changed into something comfortable and had a lovely cuppa. Now I feel fabulous. I must have worked off at least 1500 calories.

I'm looking forward to the next trek..

Thanks Indy - it was a fine day !!

The Rongai Route....

Breakfast with the Prime Minister......

Well it's Saturday 6th March , 107 days left to go , and so far we have raised 3% of our target sum. Mean temperature on the peak in February 2010 : -5 deg. Humidity 65%, wind speed 19kms/hr

Earlier in the week I phoned the AXA PPP travel insurance help desk to check if my company travel insurance was still valid for this adventure. I told them I was going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and the nice lady congratulated me and seemed genuinely excited.

I said I wanted to check if my travel insurance was still valid. She asked me what is the height I would be ascending to.. I asked her to hang on while I googled it. About 5,900m I said. She informed me that unfortunately the policy only covered me to 5,000m and that I would have to get cover elsewhere.. How frustrating...

I informed Jean-Luc and he contacted our travel organisers. Apparently they can arrange specialist cover for an additional £86. Well that's another £86 quid that could have been used for the capital fund but now won't be. I wonder if AXA-PPP read this blog they may change their mind. I mean if I don't even get to 5,900m, but break a leg at 4,999m will they cover me then you wonder......

After having wound Qasim up about having "Man Flu" I have to admit I have come down with it as well. I've had it since late Wednesday. Besides that I did not miss work.. - I rarely do.. but I felt very rough: fever, perspiration, lack of appetite, runny nose, throbbing head, lack of concentration,frustrated and irritable... Oh and when at home did I mention bored...

Never one to take medicines I downed the paracetamol.. tried to sleep it off and I am just about recovering... I am hoping another night's rest will get me over it because I have arranged with Indy to go walking in Malvern tomorrow. We'll go for a good trek and settle for a nice country pub lunch... I need to start testing my endurance , wear in the boots and test my gear...

I dropped into work to make sure everything is OK and post another project on Guru.com - a fabulous site to get professional freelances for great value. I posted a project to create a graphic design for a mug for our trek.. If I get this sorted we can get some produced to sell and raise money for the charity.. lets see how it goes.

I also popped into Jessops today to pick up a polarizer lens for my camera, the one I will take on the trek.. I will try this out tomorrow in Malvern. Finally I nipped into Blacks off Colmore Row to check out their trekking gear... they have some nice stylish stuff... anyway the hats and gloves were on offer - buy one get other half price.. so I got a kick arse pair of arctic gloves and a thermal insulated hat.. On my way out I bumped into a good friend - Kavita on her way to the hairdressers - "Saks" - she is so excited because she is having breakfast with the Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday.... nice for some, get him to sponsor us Kav hahaha

The Power Circle

Qasim popped into my workplace today still suffering from the "man flu".

He came by to review progress on our next charity event - "The Power Circle" and finalise the numbers for the event.

We both started this event in 2009. We kept coming across some real cool and up and coming and successful entrepreneurs, artists,and professionals who wanted to get away from the normal rat race type of gathering but just meet up with like minded others to chill, grab a drink , have a bit of fun and may be eventually even do business with each other.

Me and Qasim came up with the idea of the Power Circle to get everyone in one place and have some fun ourselves at the same time. So last year we got Jabbar Khan from Lasan to host the first event. It was a tremendous success. Everyone came away from it feeling good and we also had a fab meal, drinks and a laugh. After the event Qasim, myself and some friends all popped over to the Jam House to chill out until late evening.

It is an exclusive invite only private party. We charged to cover the cost- normally £10 and we figured that if the guests could not stump up that much they didn't deserve to be there.This time round because we are raising money for a good cause we raised the ticket price to £20.

We set the criteria of who would be invited and that remains between us.. suffice it to say , invitees would be down to earth and not there to push their own agendas or business cards... it is a nice environment to be in.

Anyway since the success of Lasan on winning the the "F Word "... it has been fully booked since last September so we have moved the event to Itihass. The founder Raj Rana has agreed to host the next event on the 9th March 2010. The venue and food promise to be excellent.

Qasim has something planned to make the evening interesting. Jean-Luc will give a brief talk about the Lench's Trust and the charity , and the Team Kilimanjaro members will be floating around if anyone wants to chat about the trek.

I have already started getting calls from people about why such & such was not invited , some have tried to invite themselves.. they are likely to be disappointed at the door because if they are not on the guest list they are not getting in..

3 months 19 days to go - Team Kilimanjaro 1/3/2010 - meet 3

Well yesterday we held our third meeting. Only 111 days to go........

We have finalised our team and were introduced to the eighth member of the team..Andreas. We agreed to all create a short profile about ourselves and I'll post these soon.

In the second photo left to right..

Parveen, Stuart, Indy, David, Jean-Luc, Andreas, Jimmy ..... The "missing man" and eighth team member Qasim had cried of with man flu at the last moment.

Starting off with a presentation from the beautiful Sara and her colleague from ICE - Interactive Creative Management Ltd -First photo above... we discussed venues and ideas for our main fund raiser event in May. And, after this we looked at progress on other fronts... "Just Giving" page up and running - yep check !Power Circle fundraiser arranged for Tue 9th March -yep check ! Salsa night set up for Sunday in three weeks time - yep check ! T - Shirts to be printed - action Jimmy and so on...

Jean- Luc emphasised getting our jabs done as he had to take some ridiculous number - 8 or so.. and was 2/3 of the way through them. Surely that can't be right - note to Parve get on and check this quick.

I discovered Jimmy is great at baking cakes and has been getting his mates to help him bake birthday cakes at £40/ throw to raise money.... hmmm I might try one of those myself..lol

Stuart reckons we should celebrate with a Cigar when we reach the top... fantastic idea.. if we still have the strength to take a puff or we can light the bloody things in the rarefied atmosphere.. Hang on isn't he a bit young for cigars.. fair play to you Stuart.. I like your thinking ..

Then I decided to quiz Jean-Luc on what to expect in respect of the trek seeing as though he had attempted it before.

Showers/ bathing? Jean- Luc said forget it we would not get to shower for the whole week... What!!!!!!!!!! OMG... not even a skinny dip in a fresh water stream????? - NO!! we are going to smell like something unthinkable

sleeping arrangements - tents two per tent I assume..

Urrrmmm .... loo facilities.....don't go there... you just don't want to know.......

Food .....cool no probs, plenty pasta in the evenings, lunch bland, take some snack bars as treats...

Water..... plenty but take chlorine tablets or spend a lot of money buying en route...

Climbing the summit - last day - three layers of everything... and plenty of batteries as the cold temperature will kill them quickly..

Now the biggy...... Altitude Sickness and fitness... hmmmmm , talk about that later... suffice it to say , Indy is going to try to arrange a little trek this weekend in Malvern... I'm definitely up for that...

One thing was clear around the table .... we are all up for it, we are here for all sorts of personal reasons , but the determination in the air was clearly palpable.. Bring It On !!

Job done... off to Salsa !!