Saturday morning, started with an early start, up around 7 am, for some breakfast. After breakfast, it was a case of back to the rooms to sort out what we would bring with us up to base camp and then up the mountain. All unnecessary things were removed from the rucksacks and left at the lodge. Just after 8 am we started off with our two guides (John and Dura) for the next two days. The walk up to the base camp was a nice walk up through some forest area, and then into open grass lands. Sadly , cloud cover was down and some mist along the way, so visibility was limited and we got a little wet. The idea of the early start is to allow you some extra time to adjust to the altitude at base camp before starting the main hike from base camp to summit. The walk from Camp JJ to base camp took 3 hours.
On arrival at base camp, cloud cover was down, and visibility was about 50 meters Max. At base camp there is lake a short walk from the house you stay in, however it was impossible to see it. After about 2 hours, the cloud lifted for a short while, and we got to see the lake and the little waterfall coming down from the upper lake into the lower lake at base camp. Used this time to walk around a little and see some of the views down into the valley. The temperature also had started to drop and was time for the woolly hat. Nigel, one of the volunteers had kindly leant it to me. Helps when you have no hair on the top of your head 
With a 1:30 am wake up, it was time to have a bite to eat, and then head to bed. Dinner was cooked up by the great chef Ben, worked wonders with a little gas stove and some water, mixed in the the two minute noodles for a refreshing dinner , this was followed up with a cup of tea and some biscuits. One cannot go to bed without a cup of tea. John, our guide, had told us that if it was still raining at 2 am when we were due to leave it would not be possible, and unsafe. He asked were we OK with that, which I replied, yes, you are the one who knows the way, not us. If a local person thinks it is not safe, there was no way in hell I would try and walk up.
Come 6 pm, it was time to get a few hours sleep. Wrapped up well in sleeping bag and clothes for the morning, as had heard it gets very cold from other volunteers who have done the walk. However on this occasion, due to the thick cloud cover all day, the heat was trapped in, and I would guess it was a cool 6-8 C not too bad at all. Alarm went off at 1:30 and rolled out of the sleeping bag. A quick cup of tea to warm us all up, and a look at the weather. We had got lucky, the rain had stopped and the sky was starting to clear. We packed up one small rucksack to take with us, Ben and I agreed to take turns on carrying it, or should one of us be unable the other was happy to carry it all the way. Along with water and some chocolate, a very important Sligo jersey was in the bag, I mean how can I climb all the way up and not take a picture of a Sligo jersey on the top of the highest mountain in PNG. We left the base camp and took a little walk out to cross over the stream, which would be the start of the long trek ahead. However as we walked across the little bridge, John spotted a big fish in the river, so he went back for his bush knife to try and kill it. Sadly for John, by the time he got back, the fish was gone. It was time for us to start the walk, now it was 2:30 am and in the total darkness.
