Songs for the mountain

The summit day (21st April) of the Kilimanjaro climb is up to 16 hours (dependant on a number of factors one being suffering from Acute Mountain Sickness).

As a group we have agreed we won’t use IPODs until this day. But Aaron has suggested we should ask for songs to play on the climb - here is what he has so far - so any suggestions gratefully received..

Ain’t no mountain high enough, by Diana Ross
River Deep Mountain High, by Ike and Tina Turner
Kilimanjaro by Johnny Clegg and Savuka
Down Down, by Status Quo
Stairway to Heaven, by Led Zeppelin's
Move any Mountain, by The Shamen
The only way is up, by YAZZ
Up on the Roof - Kenny Lynch
Reach for the Stars, by S Club Seven
The Climb, by Joe McElderry
Don't Stop me Now, by Queen
500 miles, by the Proclaimers
It's a Long Way to Tipperary
I've looked at clouds from both sides now, by Joni Mitchell
Moving on up, by M-People
Bluberry Hill, by Fats Domino
I'm Walkin, by Fats Domino
Living on the ceiling, by Blancmange
Walking back to happiness, by Helen Shapiro
Cold as Ice, by Foreigner
Don't let the sun go down on me, by Elton John or George Micheal
Knocking on Heaven's Door, by Guns n Roses, or Bob Dylan
Free Fallin, by Tom Petty
I Won’t Back Down, by Tom Petty
Higher Ground, by Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Sometimes you can't make it on your own, by U2
Half the World Away, by Oasis
What a Wonderful World, by Louis Armstrong
I Feel Good, by James Brown
I Can See Clearly Now, by Johnny Nash
Walking On Sunshine, by Katrina and the Waves
What A Feeling, by Irene Cara
Unbreakable, by Bon Jovi
Mountains, by Lonestar
Rocky Mountain High, by John Denver
Climb every mountain by Julie Andrews

Sleeping Bag sorted

A friend has just lent me his sleeping bag and a load of dry bags for the trip, so that hs saved me a couple of quid....Thanks Paul

Plane Tickets arrived today

Got the E Tickets for the flight today, cant believe that it is only 54 days to go....... getting closer slowly but surely.

February Training Walk - Cheviots

Richard was kind enough to take the group on a gentle training walk in the Cheviots today - well when I say gentle turns out it was more than 16 miles.


I couldn't make it but the team tell me they enjoyed it! and they took some photos which I have uploaded here.








The Group at the top of Windy Gyle

A Different type of Training? Bums N Tums.........

So obviously in order to do Kili you need to have a good base level of fitness (Still can't quite believe it is only 6 weeks to go) and I have been trying to get into it with some sessions at the gym. Im doing 3 days at the moment totalling 10 miles running, 5K on the rower and then spinning with my mrs on a Wednesday. Unfortunately last wednesday when we went to spinning the class was full, so after some discussion we went to a "Bums N Tums" class........

After getting over the fact that I was the only bloke in a class full of women (well that wasn't that difficult) I have to say it was one of the hardest classes I have ever done equal to circuits at Lambton street! I have suggested that they change the name from Bum N Tums to something more masculine - so suggestions please......

The Laptops have arrived

I have just received some seriously rugged laptops from Dell to take on the trip - Latitiude E6400 XFRs! Have a look at them! http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-latitude-xfr-e6400?c=us&l=en&s=hea

Many thanks to the guys at Dell that have sorted it out!

Steve Cram - A Kilimanjaro climber gives us his top 10

Steve Cram was kind enough to come and speak to us all and offer us his top ten tips following his successful climb in November 2009, before he went out to Vancouver to cover the winter olympics. Even better he had climbed the same route as we were going to take - the Machame route and had done it over the same number of days. In Steve's group 28 climbers started and 21 managed to get to the summit.

As well as regailing us with stories of beautiful sunsets and his first meal on Kilimanjaro of chicken and chips cooked by the team, he gave us a really honest account of how hard we would find it and shared some of his top tips.

These included:

• Drinking lots of water and then drinking a bit more
• Take a really good sleeping bag
• Make sure you purify the water
• Keep your water bottle in someone eles bag - so every time you stop you don't have to take your bag off
• Eat Jelly babies!
• Take things to break the monotony - Joke books, quizzes etc
• Celebrate the little things
• Adopt a positive mental attitude (sounds like an advert for lucozade doesn't it)

All the way through Steve reinforced the fact that it was as much about desire to get to the top as opposed to being superfit. Some poor soul on his trip actually managed to get to the top, but on the final day was sick 32 times and was walking for 19hours!!!! We did ask who had counted it - but everyone questioned whether if they were feeling that rough if they would have been able to keep going!.

Finally he showed us a picture of them all at the summit - which made it worth it!

Chair of the Partnership says a few words

Interview by Claire Jones

3rd trip - Langdales - January 16th-17th 2010

Saturday lunchtime saw us heading over to the lakes. The snow still had a good covering and the A69 had just opened that morning.

The drive over was spectacular with even some of the lakes frozen solid!

The original plan was to camp in Wasdale and climb Scafel, but weather had stopped that, so we ended up in Great langdale near to one of the most famous pubs in the lakes The Old Dungeon Ghyll - not a bad location if you ask me!

We arrived half an hour before dark and set about getting the tents put up, have to admit it was certainly the first time I have ever had to break the ice on the floor before I could hammer a tent peg in!

This was the scene and I was certainly worried that my sleeping bag wasn't going to be up to the challenge!

The next problem was that the with the tents up it was only half past four and whilst we thought we had earned it - we couldn't bring ourselves to go to the pub quite yet.

After a brew and checking everyone that had arrived was ok, it was five O'Clock and we decided that it was pub time!

Everyone was very sensible and despite the temptation, no one had a skinful. Personally I was having none of it as I didn't fancy getting up at silly o'clock and skidding all over the place to find the loo! So before 11 everyone headed back.


Home sweet home???

After a cracking breakfast prepared by the hairy bikers and enough tea to banish the chill from overnight, we set off to tackle a low level walk around the langdales and some fabulous scenery and views.

Blea Tarn


Aaron and John - do you like his hat?

So that was it, job done, another 9 miler nailed and after a coffee stop - back home.

Thanks to John for the lift!