The Kili50 Blogathon

Kilimanjaro has been experienced in all its glory by The Kili 6, my 50th birthday is fast approaching, and it feels like the end game has nearly arrived. To use a sporting analogy borrowed from our friends across the pond....it's the bottom of the 9th innings and the count is loaded.

I set up this Blog in January 2006 to record our progress towards attempting Kili in February 2007, and to raise funds for a World Vision project in Tanzania. Well, you can read how Kili treated us by scrolling down from here to some great articles and pics...and I'm very proud and grateful to say that we've raised over £11,000 for a life-changing fresh water project for the small community of Kisiriri in central Tanzania.

But what about the Kili50 Blog? Blogs have feelings too, after all. Here are some bald facts about its short, but thrilling, life...and some Kili50 BlogOscars:

• First article: Are you crazy or what? published on 13th January, 2006
• Last article...so far, apart from this one: Machame Memories published on March 22, 2007
• Total number of articles written so far: 92
• Article distribution: Andrew 68, Eszter 11, Jon 6, Neil 5, Mrs M 1, Steve 1
• Total number of words: loads!
• Longest article: Jon's Machame Memories
• Shortest written article: Eszter's Kilicam
• Number of audio blogs: 2 (Foolish thank you and from the top of Snowdon)
• Favourite article from my portfolio....considering how fit we finally became many long hard months later: Definitely fat
• Neil's post Kili horror story. HEALTH WARNING....DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU WILL SHORTLY BE CLIMBING KILIMANJARO: Worth Doing....But Never Again
• Eszter's more balanced view of The Final Push: READ THIS FOR A LESS PAINFUL ACCOUNT THAN NEIL'S: Eszter's summit night
• Best Kili pics...from Jon & Eszter: The Big Picture
• Most descriptive climb summary...an indispensable account for anyone considering the Machame Route - Jon's Machame Memories
• Best (only!) article from Mrs M: Happy Birthday Andrew
• Best (only!) article from Steve...written during the painful 5 hour transit stop in Addis Ababa airport on the way back: Steve's Frst Bloggerisation

I feel like this Blog has become an old friend. I'll miss it and have very fond memories of how it helped motivate us all in the long year of preparation; how it helped us meet new people in cyberspace, like Dale; new friends in the real world like Chris & Jillie in Shere, Jane's Gang, and Claire & John in a tiny Snowdon B&B; record great training trips like Snowdon and the Surrey Hills; crazy fundraising ideas like the Holloway Hill Climb and the sweltering Lymington Boot Fair; and much, much more.

I'll leave the Kili50 Blog as a living organism, rather than kill it off...it deserves to rest and enjoy a peaceful retirement (boy, does that sound good), and hopefully it will be a useful resource for anyone thinking about climbing Kilimanjaro. And if you happen to stumble across it and have read this far, please think about donating to World Vision for this very worthy cause in Tanzania. Thanks to the many generous people who have donated over the last year we've raised over £11,000 to make a start on the vital water project in Kisiriri, but they need so much more....

Onward and upward. The 50th is just around the corner...new challenges to face, old friends to meet, and new Blogs to write. But this one will always be closest in my ageing heart!