Spirits were high as The Team completed the first day’s hike in 7 hours. Tuesday’s hike took them to an altitude of 3500m. This gave our survivors the opportunity to experience some altitude while not being exposed for too long, allowing them time to acclimatise. At this stage of the climb Robby will caution the rest of The Team to take it slow. Because of the quick onset of altitude sickness, climbers often feel good and push on only to be caught in the latter stages of the climb.
We were unable to make contact with the team till late the afternoon, when we got word that they were safely at Machame Camp, 3000m. This hike would have pushed The Team into unchartered territory as they would have exceeded their altitude comfort
zone. With Robby’s experience to guide them, I am sure they would have ended strong.
Thursday 6 May
Received a quick update that the team is on top of the Baranco Wall, 4100m. It’s the first time they are seeing sun since they commenced the hike. The temperature is around 6 degrees and all team members are still strong.
They will be attempting the summit on Saturday, departing at midnight on Friday.
We are with them, every step of the way in Spirit!!
Saturday 8 May
Good news all round. The entire team reached the summit at 07h30, and in true South African soccer spirit style, proceeded to dance the diski, blow the vuvuzela and kick the soccer ball (Kiliball). So it took them an hour to find the soccer ball, but all’s well that ends well.
They have started the trek down the mountain to Millenium Camp.
Monday 10 May
After an early morning start, the team will be transferred back to the airport to catch the Kenya Airways flight at 06:00 am back to Johannesburg (flying via Nairobi), which is scheduled for arrival at 12:20 (local SA time), Terminal A, OR Tambo International airport.