After a just a few hours sleep at the Kibo hut (4073m) on the upper slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, 21 of the original party of 24 Vets and Veterinary nurses left our beds at midnight and climbed for 6hrs by torchlight to the crater rim.

16 of us reached Gilmans point (5680m) at dawn on a old, clear morning with the temperature at minus 10C.