Nothing has prepared me for this week - the week my son left to hopefully reach the Uhuru summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. I am a mess - can't think of anything else, restless, just awful.
He is climbing with a school team - the AISJ Kili Team 2013 - 22 students & 4 teachers. He is one of the youngest - at just 15. They started training last November - with hikes after school on Tuesdays & Thursday s& then a few Saturday hikes thrown in. All good stuff & helped with the team building.
Then they went to the Drakensburg in February - where it rained, rained, rained & then rained some more! They came back 24 hours early because there was nothing left which was dry. Great training & excellent team building.
So I am wondering where was the prep for the Mums left behind? I know at least 3 mums who are the same as me - hanging on to every word in the occasional email updates from the Kili Team leaders. Hubby is in the UK and it is the school holidays so we are not in our normal routine either.
Tonight is the night! Today they are climbing to 4700m today then after a short rest woken at 11pm to prepare for summitting. Squeeze asked me why they summit at night so I made the mistake of Googling it - to find a blog on someone's personal experiences of submitting, seeing a body bag & lots of other detail I really could do without. And it still didn't answer my question - but now I am too scared to look again.
Some people think Kili is a walk in the park - but I think that it is massive - all 5,895 metres of it. Bloody massive & my boy is there right now - doing his very best to reach the top! Whatever happens I am, of course, going to say that we are hugely proud of him & all the others on the team. I know he will be so gutted if he doesn't get there but I also know it will not be for lack of effort & motivation or stubbornness!
Someone pass me the gin!
He is climbing with a school team - the AISJ Kili Team 2013 - 22 students & 4 teachers. He is one of the youngest - at just 15. They started training last November - with hikes after school on Tuesdays & Thursday s& then a few Saturday hikes thrown in. All good stuff & helped with the team building.
Then they went to the Drakensburg in February - where it rained, rained, rained & then rained some more! They came back 24 hours early because there was nothing left which was dry. Great training & excellent team building.
KILI TEAM SET OFF!
Tonight is the night! Today they are climbing to 4700m today then after a short rest woken at 11pm to prepare for summitting. Squeeze asked me why they summit at night so I made the mistake of Googling it - to find a blog on someone's personal experiences of submitting, seeing a body bag & lots of other detail I really could do without. And it still didn't answer my question - but now I am too scared to look again.
Some people think Kili is a walk in the park - but I think that it is massive - all 5,895 metres of it. Bloody massive & my boy is there right now - doing his very best to reach the top! Whatever happens I am, of course, going to say that we are hugely proud of him & all the others on the team. I know he will be so gutted if he doesn't get there but I also know it will not be for lack of effort & motivation or stubbornness!
Someone pass me the gin!
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