After weeks of talking about it, I've finally signed up!

Welcome to my Blog.

After completing my challenge to raise thousands of pounds for the Huntington's Disease Association last year by trekking on The Great Wall of China, I am now ready(ish) to start all over again.

This year my challenge is far greater. It's KILIMANJARO !!!!!!!!!

This time I'm going with CharityChallange.com. This is the company who took the celebrities up to the summit and they have a great summit success rate.

The Challenge is as follows:

- To raise a minimum of £5,000

- To get fit enough to climb to the top (much harder than The Great Wall of China and I think that this will be my biggest challenge)

- To overcome the altitude issues whilst there (you can't really prepare for that and you don't know how it's going to affect you)

- To get the mental strength to get myself up there
(oh yes, the days are long and tough and we're sleeping in tents
and no proper loos - yuk!)

........ and all the other stuff like getting the right equipment for the job etc.

In all honesty, today I'm feeling rather overwhelmed and a little wobbly. But that's how I felt when I signed up for China and I have a better idea of what to expect now....... aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh..........

Things you might like to know about my challenge

At 5,895m, Mt. Kilimanjaro is the worlds tallest free-standing mountain. It lies 205 miles south of the equator and stands on Tanzania’s northern border with Kenya. Kilimajaro is composed of 3 extinct volcanoes: Kibo (19,340 feet), Mawenzi (16,896 feet), and Shira (13,000 feet), supporting 5 major eco-zones: rainforest, heath, moorland, alpine desert and
glaciers.

My challenge is to reach its summit (Kibo).

There are different routes you can take to the summit. I've chosen to take the Lemosho Route up. It's not the easiest - in fact its one of the longest and most challenging but as I'll be on the mountain longer I'm hoping to acclimatise to better cope with the altitude.

Temperatures drop at night and during the days we'll rise higher; often looking down on the clouds.

Charity Challenge has excellent success rates (96%) for trekkers reaching the summit, but I'm told not to underestimate the challenge ahead. Most trekkers will never have experienced a day as tough as summit day, with 1,000m of ascent and over 2,000m of descent.

I'll be sleeping in a tent at night on the mountain, hopefully with someone I get on with!

Looking around the Internet, it seems that 8 - 10 trekkers per year die on the mountain due to heart attacks or altitude related problems and only 60% reach the summit. I think this is mainly due to not spending enough time acclimatising. I may get sick but chances are I wont die!

It just so happened that the trek I wanted to book on was full so now I'll be spending my 48th birthday in October in a tent on the mountain!

I'M SCARED

Please sponsor me:
http://www.justgiving.com/Deborah-Kilimanjaro