Jen to the top

We woke up to Alfried and his buddies as per ususal, had a lovely coffee in the tents and started to pack our gear. As we had seen that a lot of the porters didnt have much clothes, we put all our stuff that we didnt need in a big bag and handed over to Abel so he could give to the guys. Our bags were significantly lighter, but it was a nice thing.. We also handed over our tip to them, which was around 100-150USD/person. That will probably give each porter a tip equivalent of a months pay. As the greatest farewell, the porters sang a few songs and danced for us, so great! We celebrated our victory at the gate with a Kilimanjaro beer! Just as it should be.... :) Jan filmed a lot during the climb and see his fab video below!! Kilimanjaro

After the best rest ever at Barafu Camp, we had a late lunch and then started our walk to our last camp site, Mweka. We were all so tired and the lunch was very hard to get down. The appetite was gone and we just wanted to sleep, but Abel wanted us on the move by the latest 2pm so we would reach Mweka before dark. The sun was shining and we set off, the walk was a bit easier even if the legs were tired. After an hour the rain started again and it kept raining for the rest of the walk. It was so quick to go downhill, and the more oxygen we got, the faster we got! Shaun, Jan and Steve had problems with the knees so it wasnt a nice walk for them, and when we reached the rainforest and a camp site, they were so glad! It was just not our camp site.... We were only half way. At 6pm we reached the camp site and it was a tired group that went to have an early dinner before crashing into the tents for the best sleep so far! Now it was just about getting back down... tomorrow.... zzzzzzzzzzzz

Terrified, insecure, excited and hesitating... Tonight is the start of the big climb to the summit! We went for a few hours rest, but it was hard to sleep. After my emotional breakdown earlier I was determined to get a few hours of sleep as it couldn't really get any worse. I was really cracking up and thinking I wouldn't make it. Disappointment mixed with tiredness and nausea, knowing that we all needed each other to make it to the top, the goal of the whole journey, The Roof of Africa. I went to rest next to Jan and tried to be cheerful as I didn't want to spoil the mood for him. I think I prayed to God, Jesus and my gran before getting some rest. When it was time to get up and have a meal before midnight, I got out of the tent and there it was, in its full glory looking down at me. Suddenly I felt better, it didn't feel impossible. It felt DO-ABLE!!! Full with new spirit I went into the dinner tent to the guys and told them, Kili is do-able and we will do it!! I t

06/04/12 Today is the Big Day! Today we are going higher, and the words "Pole Pole" will be heard a lot. They mean "Slowly Slowly" in Swahili, and that is the key to success on Kili.as anything faster will stop you from going on. We start with Barranco Wall and then base camp, before our summit attempt. Barranco Wall We start by climbing the Barranco Wall. This is proper climbing and its steep. We wont use our poles as we need our hands here, and looking down makes you realize why a few people say it could be dangerous after the rain. Its easy to slip if you aren't careful. Pole pole up the wall, and six fascinated faces looking at the porters that climb the wall with big bags on their heads and backs like its an easy walk. Gosh, they are soo cool these guys! After a while we all get up and rest a bit on the top before we are descending again to lower altitude before getting up again towards Barafu Camp, our home for the next 24h. This day we walked throu

05/04/12 Altitude and rain, and it poured...!! Day 3 was about acclimatization and to test our waterproof clothes. The altitude got to us but was fine compared to the clothes.. Most of us were wet through our waterproofs and realized that the monsoon rain wouldn't stop anytime soon and this day that started quite nice wouldn't end as nice. I was wet through all my new waterproof's and I was shivering as it started to get cold. My hero Abel could see that I was miserable and offered his warm proper waterproof clothes, trousers and jacket so I would stay warm. I also got a new shirt as base layer, so I was feeling a lot better. I was terrified that I had gone and got myself a UTI or a proper cold. Lava Tower is on 4600m so we got a proper feel of the altitude. Most of us got short of breath or felt sick, but nothing really bad. Ben, our Superman, he didnt feel anything... Bloody Diamox, I wish I had taken them too!! We went down again after spending a few moments at Lava

Abel, our head guide, is such a great guy! Thanks to him I got to the summit after hours of struggling. What a man! All my love to you! On this particular day, I was his support up the tough Barranco Wall ;) xx

04/04/12 Machame Hut to Shira Cave Day 2 is mostly about covering altitude, going up 900 meters from first camp. We go through a different scenery and this day involve a bit of rock climbing and we have to put our poles to the side as we need both our hands go forward. After a few hours we had covered quite a bit and finally reached our lunch spot, and we were all happy for that, felt like a great achievement. We found a big rock to sit on with the greatest views of Mt Meru and from the path below where we just had come from.   Me with Mt Meru in the background We noticed that we had a bird stalking us, first waking us up at 6am in the morning at camp and then constantly being around us. Dean named him Alfried, which funny enough ended up being what the porters thought Dean's name was.. Alfried and his mates are clearly used to people and got very close to us. We had a big lunch and both me and Jan felt sick afterwards. This is more than I eat for a big dinner, and how w

03/04/12 At Machame Gate We arrive to our starting point around 9am and we are given our hired gear such as walking poles and head torches that some didn't bring. After filling up our water and going to a "normal" loo for the last time in a week, we start our 6 days walk. The Team at Machame Gate Ben and Shaun walking through the rain forest The first day is quite tough, but luckily we dont know what's ahead of us.. We walk through rain forest and after a nice lunch half way, we arrive at Machame Hut after 5h walk. The porters who are quicker than the wind up the trail have already set up all our tents and have made popcorn for us in our dining tent. Super-service for sure! We are then at 3000m, and I can already feel the altitude when breathing. Going to the loo has started to become a little mission, and it is quite weird to not be able to breath when you have never felt it before. After a great dinner we settle in our tents for a good night sleep. I share with

02/04/12 Project visit at Benjamin William Mkapo School As the whole reason with this challenge event was to raise money for kids in the Kilimanjaro region, we were all very excited to go on a project visit at one of Childreach's schools. When we arrived there, the kids greeted us with singing a welcome song. We were surprised and moved by this as we didnt expect so many kids to be there. We got off and walked with the kids to the school, one in each hand and the rest just trying to get close to us. When we got to the school we got our second surprise; just as many more kids were waiting for us, this lot a bit younger. They started singing too and they were just as excited to see us. It was quite clear that these kids were a happy bunch and that warmed my heart. We were soon to find out why..  This little girl constantly came up to me, very happy and cheerful   Young boys showing their interest for the camera before singing a song for us Charles, the local Childrea

01/04/12 Moshi is the home of Maasai and Chagga tribes, and is located on the lower slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro. It has around 150 000 inhabitants and its is quite lively. As we arrive on a Sunday, the super markets are close, but we find a nice little burger bar where to have our lunch. A cheese burger with chips costs 1500 tanzanian shilling, around £1-2.. And its nice. Mt Kilimanjaro, majestically showing itself outside our hotel.. We walk around a bit, Jan being our guide as he has been here before and knows where things are. Quite soon a guy approaches Dean and wants to show him what he has in his bag, and out comes Tanzanias national football shirt. Exactly what the boys want to get, so the guy is lucky- business is going great even on a Sunday! While they are talking, another man comes up to me and wants to show me his own art, some paintings of Maasai people and the mountain. This guy doesnt give up very easily and ends up walking with us. He gets that I dont want to buy anyt

01/04/12 Nairobi to Moshi We start early in the morning and Abel tells us that the journey will take around 8 hours, even with the new road that has been built not too long ago. We find our seats in the shuttle and start, Im quite excited about whats ahead of us. After driving through Nairobi's outskirts we get into Masai land. I can see the tall men and women dressed in red clothing herding their kettle along the roads or in the bush. It looks dry, but kind of what I would expect. Very exotic. We pass through many villages and what gets me most is that hotels are in the same house as the butchery, and the building is a small shed-like building. We arrive to the border and there are forms to fill in and hand in on both sides and this is a bit time consuming but we are finally through. We continue through Tanzania and we soon arrive to Arusha, a town quite close to our end-destination, Moshi. Arusha is the hometown of Abel and it has more than 1,5 million inhabitants, includi

31/03/12 Arrival to Nairobi After meeting the delegation of five adventurers at Heathrow, we checked in and our journey had started. My fellow team members are: Dean , a lad from Nottingham with his mate Steve from Essex. They soon showed to be two walking comedy shows. Everything that came out of them was pure comedy, its great! They had spent the night drinking and were looking for a pub at 4am at the airport. Just fantastic :) Jan , a tall guy from London who works for the charity. A nice guy who has the lovely job to keep us all together and get us down to Africa.. Oh dear. Shaun , a Scotsman from Dundee and his mate Ben , a Welshman living in Cambridge. Shaun has spent the night at Heathrow and is rather quiet when we meet. Ben looks like a pure outdoory person with his fleece and boots on. Its a quite interesting crowd to say the least. And me. I will travel with 5 boys for the next 10 days, climb a mountain, live close and constantly be in each others faces. But I had a

So, time has come to go to the airport. I havent slept at all so Im expecting to sleep quite well on the plane. But we all have some proper getting-to-know each other to do. Watched some videos from precious climbers and I could feel the butterflies coming, soo excited! Did my last squats with the magic ring from Pierre as you could have seen on the pic I took but I cant upload it unfortunately, my last contribution to the preparations, from now on its reality all the way :) I might find a tree though to Use for this but Im not sure my legs would appreciate it.. Will be really cool to see the others, we all come from different places and most of us havent met before, so it will be an exciting setup and we have to form a good team. I am sure we will, we have all raised money for the same cause and know we will push ourselves a bit further than normal. So, good morning everyone, hope you have a magic day! Jenx

So, now its really getting closer.. In a week, I will be in Nairobi waiting to go to Tanzania and Moshi, the town close to Kilimanjaro. Weird but absolutely super-exciting! Yesterday, I got my backpack from Johan. Tis was my christmas gift and we found a great one from Kathmandu. I have the most vital things done now, just need sun cream and the malaria tablets, get Sharons sleeping bag which she so kindly is borrowing me and then I think Im done. My trip has changed as I have sadly cancelled my second week of holiday due to the high security risk in Kenya. I had a plan B but due to visa time frames it didnt work out. Ah well, another time. Just so disappointed that others, terrorists and others, have made the world such a bad place. They have just decided that I cant go on my holiday. Training is also going well, went on a jog along the canal today as it was such a good day. So warm and lovely, and I thought I should enjoy it and go for a 8 km run, but missed the turn and got a 1

I just love when seasons change, and today I think we can say we officially have spring in London. I optimized my time last night and ran home from the office, and I only had a tshirt on but that was ok.. I just love the little chill in the air but not too much, it just makes it fresh. And also the late sunsets, so I actually have time to run before darkness. I normally dont run home that much as I have my backpack and it gets a bit complicated and my back starts to moan a bit, but yesterday was actually good. I ran for about an hour, not fast at all, but everything was intact when arriving home. I can feel superficial soreness but nothing major so all is going really well. I cant believe I have come this far. I read about two girls today that got mugged in Tanzania by a cab driver. I guess I just have to be very careful as the swedish embassy doesnt seem to be too helpful either. Will have my last injection tomorrow, then I am all done. Will also have my passport picked up from t

Went to the gym yesterday to do boxercise, and I must say it turned out to be a much better workout, even if it was less boxing that I hoped for! We got into the room, and the regular guys started to put up different stations around the room. I didnt get it, I was there to do boxing? The leader, Wendy, then soon came in. She is def shorter than me, long blond hair and around 45 I would guess. An attitude that is enough for an elephant and a voice that you will hear from London to Brazil! She hates when you dont move, so we were constantly moving for an hour, no time for rest. I must say I have probably never worked my body that much before and I have never had someone shouting at me whilst doing it. Cool though, great feeling afterwards :) Went to Pierre again today and felt pretty good, but after 10 mins he had gone past what he calls the superficial soreness in a muscle, and was down deep and my back felt like it would break. That soreness is not superficial, it is very real... Bu

19 days to go until we leave Heathrow and Im building up both my body and my courage. Its not going to be a walk in the park and I am trying to not be so mega scared of the potential snakes I might come across. I realized today that I might just ignore the fear for that as I cant do anything about it anyway. I just rationalise. Ah well. I only hope I wont have any unpleasant encounters as they might be the last I have. Went on a run yesterday in the great weather in London, and when cruising through Osterley Parks lovely horse fields I felt stronger than ever. Its been ages since I felt that good, that I can just roll on, mile after mile. I couldnt, but the shape is getting there. I give most cred to Pierre, my physio who has given me great exercises and stretches so I could build up my back and my legs. Its a fantastic feeling to not be in pain, I can tell you that. Its a shame it takes so long to understand it.  A typical night in for me;  stretches and exercises... thank god for

This weekend just gone me, Johan, Alfie and Cath went to Brecon Beacons and had a lovely walk up to the top of Pen-y-fan, 886m. It started out great with sunshine so I was (un)clever and didnt bring my wooly underwear with me, I left it in the car. After like an hour walking, the showers started and after reaching the first peak we were in the storm! We even considered not moving on, but only for a brief second. Of course we move on!! But I have never experienced that kind of storm, I was scared to be blown off the ridge. But the views are fantastic and even if the rain and storm made it slightly cold, it was truly amazing. Best of all, I think Mr J got a great interest for walking, so I hope to bring him along to more of my expeditions :) We could all feel it in our legs, and I couldnt help thinking that 900m is only like a 6th of Kilimanjaro in height.. I will be walking for 6 days, and I will surely feel that in my legs. So I have to work harder with my squats with the magic ci

Busy times! This monday just gone, the fundraising deadline came up and I made it.. I had to add £200 at the end but that is ok, I didnt have time to do more events or raffles so I am very pleased. I am very proud that over 60 people have supported me and my cause, that is just amazing! I cant really understand that this phenomenal fundraising method hasnt come to Sweden yet, its unheard of. But yet so good for the charity as the participant does all the work. Jabs I had my second hep A&B vaccination today, I just dont like it.. but one more of that, a few tablets against typhoid, an injection against yellow fever, rabies and finally the malaria tablets.. then we are done! I didnt even think that there were so many things to catch! I didnt think it was so expensive either, my smile kind of went down when the nurse told me the cost.. Im probably just naive, I wasnt aware of this, but even if I get Hep A&B and typhoid for free, I end up paying £150 for the rest. But its def w

soo.. went to see the 2nd Saffa-man in my life, the lovely Pierre who is my physio and trying to sort out my back for me, and he has actually managed to fix a few things so I am very excited to see how good I can get! Anyway, he is from South Africa and told me about snakes for the whole 40 mins session we had last time, and I kid you not - I was shivering! Apparently these things go into you sleeping bag, in your tent.. want to be where they are covered and cool. I am not so pleased with this knowledge.. considering that I will spend 6 days in Black Mamba-land (i.e. 6 nights in tents, in a sleeping bag..). My mum is a proper mum and worries too much, so she is of course not very pleased with this and wish I would cancel my trip and go somewhere a bit more.. snakeless.. Pierre also promised to bring me a dvd about the south african snakes so I know what to expect.. Thanks, really..nice! Black mamba, average 2.5 m, can get up to 4.3m.. poisonous I feel like I am back on track with m

On Saturday the snow started to fall in London and we all know what that means.. FULL CHAOS! I happily stayed indoors watching the grass turn white as the flakes were falling. I like when the weather changes into something else, especially snow. I was out walking, had been for a few hours actually, when I could feel the change in the air and small flakes starting to fall down. Yesterday after some work that had to be done rather urgently, I tried my new trousers from dare2b and went on a long walk through and around Osterley Park and I was very happy with all my gear, old and new! I wasnt cold nor wet, my Columbia shoes are brilliant as well as my jacket from Mountain Warehouse. I will post some pictures of them actually. Today Im doing a health checkup as I have changed GP, and the next appointment should be vaccinations :) woohoo, getting closer! :) As my cold seems to be gone now, I will start more cardio training again this week and my physio promised me more exercises as well s

Today was the day every keen Arsenal fan had waited for - THE DRAW! I had gathered all my colleagues in our canteen to finally draw the winner of the signed Arsenal football, and the lucky winner was Linda! As football isnt really her main interest, she very nicely sold the football to a very keen supporter for 50GBP which she straight away donated to Childreach International! Today has been a great day for my fundraising, for sure! After my next fundraising event, the Football Tournament on the 12th of February , I can start to focus solely on my physical training as I expect to be well again, have a horrible cold at the moment (again!!!) and get stronger and fitter. After seeing my physio today again, I have hopes to be ready and strong in time! :) My bit is to do exercises 2 x day and stretches.. Man, I am probably their most devoted patient as I actually do my exercises as I am told.. :) This weekend is all about getting well, taking walks and having a C-vitamin feast! Ha

I am getting excited now for the raffle draw on Friday, I have quite a few interested winners as I have sold around 250 tickets so far, and a few more out there wanting to get the chance to win! If you want to get one but havent contacted me yet, make sure you do so! Another good news today is that I will be writing a chronicle for Utemagasinet after my trip, and I am really looking forward to that, I have done it previously and it is really fun to put down in words what you just done. Back going forward! I am running and doing quite a lot of shoulder and back training, as part of my physio treatment. I can feel that I am much stronger so its actually motivating to keep going even if the exercises arent all that exciting.. I know I will be ready in 10 weeks, no doubt. I think its getting more and more exciting to think about how interesting it will be to make this journey with a bunch of people I dont know and we will form a team to reach the top. Attitude, attitude...! Jen

Wow, what a morning! It started with a package from Arsenal with a signed football from the 1st team! That one will go on a raffle for 2 pounds a ticket! So grateful - Thanks Arsenal for your support! If you want to participate in the raffle, email me - jvavik@gmail.com Then I get a whole page in my local newspaper from home as they think my cause is good and want to highlight it. Thanks Allehanda for your support! http://allehanda.se/start/ornskoldsvik/1.4295446-jennie-ska-bestiga-kilimanjaro Training Went to a spinning class yesterday at my gym and the leader was fab! A short woman (shorter than me!!) that was jumping off her bike to check our resistance on the bikes! Man, that is motivation! Hard class, but fun! One of her lines was 'Imagine that you are climbing a mountain!' If she only knew how right that was to say when I was there... Tonight there is a Boxercise class that I think can be interesting, I do like that.. Have a good day everyone, I surely am! J

There we go, all done and booked for the next tournament! I am so excited! This time I am aiming for 10 teams and a great day! Just send me an email if you want register!

I have finally found a gym that works in all ways; close to home, nice fee, right classes and weights! I will climb that mountain, literally! Went to check it out and it looked great so I joined and tried pilates which happened to be on. Not my preference but it is supposed to be good for you posture and back, and as my physio and chiropractor both are working on my posture and back muscles, I thought this could be a good thing to try. I guess you need to learn this breathing in and out business to make this hard, because I didnt really find it too interesting. As the footballer and runner that I am, I like to sweat, get dirty and have a high pulse. But I have heard that when you learn the breathing it is really good. But I will go for the spinning classes and to my running as well. Mr J, my boyfriend and greatest supporter, is very much into weights and I have promised to come with him for some sessions now.. Looking forward :) especially for when I take him to my spinning classes (a

Back from Christmas holidays and well rested! Spent two great weeks at my parents in Sweden and you cant really ask for more. It was a shame we didnt have more snow for skiing and ice skating, but I guess that will be for later. Kilimanjaro is now getting closer, and I cant wait! A bit more fundraising to do, I have a big plan for a football tournament in the beginning of february, with around 10 teams and a celeb-team. This will be exciting if it all comes into place. Well, WHEN it all comes into place. Apart from that, I have a big bunch of clothes that I will sell at a car boot sale so Im sure I be done with all fundraising before dead line! When it comes to training, I need to step it up a gear.. Have had a cold now for a while but finally getting back to normal so I cant wait to get myself out in the parks and the gym again! Probably coughing and breathing like a 77 year old, but hey, have to start again! :) jen