The Roof of Africa (Extract)

"...we began our summit attempt at midnight on August 18th, our bodies starved of oxygen, every step emptying our lungs of the little air that was available to us, our hearts beating faster and faster to keep our legs moving; silence enveloped the entire mountain-side only broken by the sound of tired bodies moving slowly in the same direction with the odd groan, grimace of pain or slurp of water. All we could see was the beam of light provided by our head torches illuminating the ground in front of us, our world was a void of blackness outside of this beam. All we could do was follow the boots of the person in front as we trudged upwards and seemingly into the abyss, breathing heavily as we went unable to fully satisfy our need for air. But after 6 hours 20 minutes the summit was in view. Within minutes a ring of orange glow began appearing on the horizon, surrounding us in all directions, with it bringing much-needed light, warmth and unveiling the landscape that was hidden from us by the darkness of the night. It was now that the full beauty of where we were became reality. We were in a stunning place, high enough to see the curvature of the Earth and, at 5895 metres, standing on the roof of Africa..."