Kilimanjaro: The Mountain That Taught Us What It Takes to Go Further As a Team

One is measurable: the kilometres, the metres climbed, the hours on the clock. The other is human. And no GPS can record that one. 

In June 2026, our team travelled to Tanzania for our reconnaissance expedition on Mount Kilimanjaro. We chose the demanding Umbwe Route, travelling from Umbwe Gate to Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres before descending through to Mweka Gate. We arrived with a purpose, and that purpose was to learn about what is possible as a collective. This expedition was our opportunity to meet the mountain properly before we asked for something extraordinary of ourselves. We soon learnt that the extraordinary would greet us with every step.

Our preparation for this expedition had started long before we arrived in Tanzania. For around eleven months, we'd been training, working on our breath work, Pilates, nutrition, kit testing, route planning, communication and team dynamics. We even ran kit flat-lays and a "bag buddy" workshop so everyone knew their equipment well enough to find what they needed when fatigue may consume us. We trekked for 24 hours to help us all understand how our minds and bodies responded to time rather than distance and we ventured into the Italian mountains to discover who we were together with the cold knee deep in snow!

At 1:01pm on 20 June, nine of us stepped up to Umbwe Gate, supported by 22 incredible members of our Tanzanian mountain crew. Our porters and cooks made the next 3 days, 22 hours and 30 minutes possible! Within an hour, we were swallowed by dense montane rainforest.

It was hot, humid, wet and alive.The air felt thick with moisture. Mud sucked at our boots and exposed roots twisted across the trail, making every foot placement deliberate. Wet rock demanded concentration, while moss, vines and enormous ferns closed around us. So many variations of green. More than you can ever imagine. Everything felt within the rainforest connected from our feet to the sky. And somewhere amongst the sounds of the forest, excitement and laughter we all began to realise this was like nothing any of us had experienced with a mountain before.

Umbwe is steep. It doesn't ease you gently into its path. It asks your senses, mind and body to wake up and connect with its smells, textures and organic curves, climbs and climates all at once.

Emotionally, there was excitement, curiosity and the first awareness that the plan on paper had become a shared responsibility with the largest free-standing mountain in the world. That night we began our altitude monitoring routine that became our evening ritual and somehow bonded us deeply as a team.

Morning and evening, we used a pulse oximeter to check our oxygen saturation and completed a symptom assessment, working through a series of questions covering things such as headaches, fatigue, nausea and how our bodies were responding to the increasing altitude. We weren't waiting until someone became seriously unwell before paying attention.

For me, this became one of the most valuable parts of the expedition. The numbers were useful, but they were only one part of the picture. How someone looked, moved, communicated and felt mattered just as much. It gave us another way to keep talking, keep checking in and, importantly, make us feel safe enough to say,

"Actually, I'm not feeling quite right."

On a mountain, early conversations can make very important decisions possible. And did they!

The following morning, the mountain began to change. The dense rainforest became scattered with ‘Forever flowers’ and as we climbed higher, Kilimanjaro began to reveal some of her strangest residents.

Among the heathland and moorland stood giant lobelia (Lobelia deckenii) and giant groundsel (Dendrosenecio kilimanjari) extraordinary, almost prehistoric-looking plants that seem completely out of place at altitude. Yet they have evolved to survive here, where intensesunlight, freezing nights, strong winds and huge changes in temperature are part of everyday life.

Looking at them felt like another reminder that life doesn't simply survive on Kilimanjaro, it adapts. Everything here has found its own ingenious way to exist on the mountain and as were we!

Then came wet winding scrambling of rocks. And eventually you meet the extraordinary Barranco Wall where people look like ants finding their way along its grey dense rocky face. I understand what surrender feels like Not giving up. But letting go of the need to control seems to allow a new level

Accepting that the mountain would decide what it was willing to give us and trusting that whatever happened, we were already incredibly lucky simply to be here.

This was when Kilimanjaro really began to feel like a high-altitude expedition. Your body connects to the rock in so many ways as you scramble the Barranco wall. It's an Indiana Jones or Gi Jane moment in your life! I've had a few of those now but this has to be one of my

favourites.

As you summit the Barranco Wall, the views become apparent. Your mind no longer focuses on the rocks you need to hold to climb, but instead a vastness that makes you feel like you could fly in its openness consumes you.

We each seemed to naturally find our own place to sit, stand and see the two days of our lives embedded into this mountain's shape, gazing out over blankets of clouds with gratefulness.

The colour evaporated from the landscape and the environment became more exposed.

This was when the differences between us became more obvious.

But all of us were loaded with resilience and determination

It reinforced something we'd been learning throughout the expedition:

A team isn't about everyone moving at exactly the same speed. It's about understanding what each person needs in order for the team to move safely together.

That evening at Barafu, we prepared for summit night, knowing a brief four-hour sleep was all we had to energise us for the summit trek, starting at 12:30am.The next time we would see the mountain properly, it would begin in darkness and summit in sunlight.

At altitude, everything becomes simple. 

Breath. Step. Pole pole. Slowly, slowly.

The higher we climbed, the thinner the oxygen became and the harder the mountain felt. Rory had been battling severe diarrhoea for much of the expedition, his ability to stand with stability was now an issue. One hour into our climb, I could see that his strength and coordination were deteriorating fast through lack of substance for the past 48 hours, to the point where continuing was no longer safe.

This is the hardest leadership decision I’ve ever made. Razak took Rory safely down and returned to join us. 

Kelly was fighting her own battle with altitude sickness. Most people would have chosen to quit.

But not Kelly. She described her organs as shutting down, with all her energy being drained from her.

Stuart visibly became overwhelmed with emotion as he journeyed with the memory of his late wife and dad held firmly in his heart with every step.

Alongside us were four extraordinary Tanzanian team members: Victor Oisso, Gaudence Lekule, Razak Buu and Joseph Mrope. These four men brought something no training plan could give us: lived experience. They knew the mountain, its moods and terrain, and what altitude could do to a human being. Victor became one of my greatest teachers during the expedition. His leadership was calm, patient and quietly confident; he seemed constantly to be reading both the mountain and us. He showed me that some of the strongest leadership is preventative rather than reactive.

What I'm most proud of is that not one of us pretended everything was okay when it wasn't.

We spoke honestly. We admitted when we were struggling.

No judgement. Just human beings trying to become a better team together.

And I think that became our greatest strength.

A sea of clouds appeared, with the sun piercing through them.

Eight of our nine route team members reached Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres.

The objective was gate-to-summit-to-gate. We turned around and began the descent.Loose scree and volcanic ash tested tired legs in an entirely different way. What had been hard to climb became a relentless rocky foot-placement journey downwards.

We reached Lower Mweka Hut, exhausted but happy with the realisation that we had just summited the largest free-standing mountain in the world.

Lower Mweka to Mweka Gate

After everything we'd experienced above, returning towards the forest felt almost surreal and beautifully calming. And now we were trekking the large rocky, muddy terrain back towards Mweka Gate with our own feelings unfolding with each other. Contentment, frustration, calm, pride, disappointment.

The one consistent feeling shared was Gratitude. To our bodies, our minds, our family, friends, the mountain and to ourselves.

At 11:31am on 24 June, we completed the journey.

When we reached Mweka Gate, Victor told us that in all his years on Kilimanjaro he had never seen, been part of and led a team of eight to complete the Umbwe route in less than four days I guess the fundamental difference with a team speed challenge is that the fastest person doesn't control the clock, the team does.

Lucy, our nutritionist, taught us that fuelling isn't something you begin when you're already hungry, tired or depleted.

You prepare your body to fuel properly before you ask it to perform.

Our Tanzanian mountain team fed us like kings and queens. Every day we returned to delicious, nourishing food designed to help us recover and prepare for what was coming next. Soups, chicken, vegetables, rice, fruit and plenty of fluids. Proper food, made with enormous care.

But eating at camp and fuelling while climbing are two very different things. Suddenly the thought of eating a bowl of soup or a plate of chicken can feel impossible, even though your body still needs carbohydrate to keep moving.

This was where Veloforte became part of our fuelling strategy.We used Fresco Energy Chews regularly throughout the trek, roughly every two hours. 

The Lemon & Mint flavour became a particular favourite of mine. Little bursts of energy that give as much of a psychological lift as anything else. Because, even when the trek ahead was hurting, the chews made things feel just that little bit easier: small, easy to carry and, crucially, an easy way of getting carbohydrate into our bodies when eating more substantial food wasn't appealing.

We also carried the Mixed Energy Bars as a more substantial, whole food energy option during the trek, alongside Veloforte electrolytes in caffeinated and non-caffeinated versions and Passo with carbohydrate.

Rory, Stuart and Dagne also used the Desto Energy Gel for an extra hit!

My preparation with Veloforte started months before the mountain — I was warned not to underestimate the importance of training your body to love the fuel you give it! I've been using Troppo High Protein Shake for three months before we travelled. 

Personally, I felt it became an important part of my preparation and recovery as the training load increased.

Afterwards, I found myself thinking about the two journeys that exist inside every challenge like this one.

Then there is the human journey.

And no GPS watch can record that.

It can't record the laughter, the fear, the exhaustion or the conversations.

It can't record the person beside you quietly changing their rhythm to match yours.

It can't record the courage to keep going. Or the courage to stop.

The environment that changes and requires you to change with it.

The history of the indigenous Chagga people, which deepens your respect for their relationship with the mountain and their understanding of how to meet it on its terms.

The mountain taught us how to become a team.

But most importantly, we know more about one another.

Our June expedition was officially verified by Fastest Known Time in September 2026 and has been published within their Premier Route section. But the way we create it matters more.

Project: Summit Every Feeling.

Our mission to inspire courage in the face of struggle.

Our goal wasn't to create a team where everyone felt the same. It was to create a team where

everyone felt able to be themselves.

MIND supports more than 664,000 people with their mental health every year in the UK.

We believe vulnerability is not weakness, but the strength that carries us to the summit. Our goal wasn't to create a team where everyone felt the same.It was to create a team where everyone felt able to be themselves.

To make it a little easier for someone else to take their next step. To Live it. Be it. Feel it.