The following reflection is an edited version of my travel journal from the Kilimanjaro trek. I hope you enjoy the window into my thoughts during the climb.
Day 1 – 10/19/2013 – Moshi to Rongai Camp 1
Today, we woke up early, packed, showered, and said goodbye to Batiste and Irak. Outside the hostel a Matatu was waiting, partially loaded with gear. Within minutes, we set off for the mountain, picking up various members of our crew on the way. We passed through the Savannah, rainforest, and finally arrived at Marangu Gate, where you register and buy your park permit. It was super pretty and the souvenir shop smelled like an adventure. Then we got in the car again after paying $579 for our park passes. Before we left, a random guy carrying a chameleon stopped by our car. It was cool so I took a picture. He wanted a tip, and I was like “no way!” and offered to delete the photo, but he just left. We drove off to the beginning of Rongai, registered again, and waited with some other Mzungu climbers while eating a really nice box lunch. Also, I used a squat toilet for the first time. Not too bad actually. Alex and I set off with our guides Josephat and Gasper. I think our eager pace surprised them because they kept telling us to go “pole pole” which means “slow down!” We tried to go slow, but apparently they meant SLOW J On the first day, we passed through a pine forest with log cabins (literally Oregon), then a rain forest, then we got to a more arid level with dry tall bushes and flowers. We set up camp around 3-4 pm and played cards over popcorn and tea until a delicious dinner of bread, cucumber soup, meaty cabbage with fried potatoes, sauce, and bananas was served. It was massively luxurious. They even brought a tent with a table and chairs for eating and flowers for decoration with candles for light. We played swimming (a card game) for a while after dinner then went to bed. We were tired, but full and extremely comfortable.
Day 2 – 10/20/2013 – Rongai Camp 1 to Rongai Camp 3
I woke up around 6 am, took a trip to the toilet, and attempted to take pictures of the beautiful sunrise with the mountain in the background, but to my dismay, the zoom on my camera was broken! It gave me a “lens error” and shut down whenever I tried to zoom in. Luckily, I could still take zoomed out pictures.
We began hiking after a wonderful breakfast of bread, honey, tea, fruit, porridge, eggs, sausage, and vegetables. We hiked for 3 hours, had lunch, hiked for 2 more hours, and arrived at Camp 3. All the while, the plants got smaller and landscape more desolate while the air lost its warmth. By the end of the day, it was quite chilly; however, by moving and carrying my pack, I could wear short sleeves and jeans comfortably. When we stopped moving and the sun fell lower in the sky, it became quite cold and I put on a jacket and hat. The altitude was just starting to affect me, at 12,000 feet, but it wasn’t bad at all. Physical effort felt a bit more tiring, and my head was a bit pressured, but not bad. I felt very optimistic about summiting. On the hike, we talked about things from the business of mountain guiding (some tourists are scared off by the low prices that Josephat offers!), to building a website for the guides and connecting it to Facebook and Twitter. We talked about movies, previous trips, altitude, the climate, and how to climb. Overall, the day was extremely serene. We really loved the hike. I’m excited to see how challenging the next days are! As the sun is set, and our crew had a very spirited conversation on the other side of camp. While chilling in our food tent, Alex and I discussed topics from politics to music and girls, and going back to school, plus our thoughts on hairstyles and excitement for the next few days. My hands and feet were cold, but I wasn’t too tired, and felt quite comfortable. We played swimming until dinner and I hit the hay early, hoping to catch the sunrise again.
Day 3 – 10/21/2013 – Rongai Camp 3 to Kibu Huts
We woke up toasty warm in our bags after a freezing night. Our washing water from the day before was frozen solid!
I got to watch the sunrise light up the mountain. Alex caught part of it as well. As the sun warmed us, we packed and ate a great breakfast of eggs, fruit, porridge, etc. We watched tons of birds and mice eagerly devour scraps around the camp. Around 8:30 we set off on a 3-5 hour hike to the huts, which mark the beginning of the final ascent. Vegetation was sparse, but by the time we finished, the landscape was barren, rocky, and desolate.
The altitude gave me a slight headache, and when I sat down, a small bit of nausea; however, I felt fine. Alex was worse off. He had a bad headache, felt lightheaded, and almost threw up before lunch. Also, I really had to pee when we arrived at camp. I think that was my source of greatest discomfort. I also had a big blister on my ankle, but I duct taped it, so it wasn’t bad. The other climbers (so many around us now), seemed to think that the final ascent is massively challenging. We haven’t had much trouble so far. In fact, I would almost say it’s been easy to this point. I’m sure the summit trek will be extremely difficult though. Apparently, we are around 15,000 feet, which is cool. Lunch was nice. Cucumber soup again with fries and an interesting coated and cooked bread. I’m eager to see how the final ascent goes! Alex will be taking an altitude pill. I’m not sure about myself. Josephat seems to think the side-effects are bad enough to warrant not taking the ill if you feel okay by this point. Will probably rest now until our midnight ascent. Not sure if another meal is in the mix.
Day 4 – 10/22/2013 – Kibu Huts to summit and back to Horombo Huts
The rest of Day 3 was uneventful. Just chilled at the camp and slept until dinner (spaghetti with green beans), then slept until it was time to summit.
Moonlight Ascent
We woke up at 11pm on Day 3 to get ready for the climb. It was freezing outside, so I crawled out of my warm sleeping bag directly into all the clothes I owned. I wore my PHS water polo shirt, Adidas long sleeve shirt, Gaspar’s colorful jumper, my light grey long sleeve shirt, my rain jacket, and Joesphat’s North Face shell jacket on top, with the Wal-Mart jeans and Gasper’s jumper on the bottom. I wore two pairs of socks (blister duct taped) and my boots, plus gloves, a hat, and sunglasses. By the end I must have been quite a sight! I had taken no altitude pills. I carried 2.5 liters of water, 2 chocolate bars, my camera, and a few random small things. We went to the dining area of Kibu Huts and ate tea/biscuits with other climbers who were prepping to go. Alex wasn’t feeling great, but I didn’t even have a headache anymore, especially since I opted to take an ibuprofen (instead of altitude pills).
We started our ascent at around midnight. The moon was waning, but still nearly full and it lit our path with a smooth, but strong light. As we set off up the mountain we saw the LED lights from strings of other climbers both ahead and behind us. We opted to travel by moonlight. At first, the trail was gravelly, but relatively gradual in its ascent. We moved quickly compared to other climbers, and soon we were at the front of the pack, despite our extremely “pole pole” pace. We took a break at a big rock for water and chocolate. My body was really warm, and I even unzipped my jacket and took off my gloves to cool down. We sat for around 10 minutes and a few groups passed us up. When we set off again, I was a bit chilly and put on my gloves. Both Alex and I were feeling fine at this point. We continued our slow ascent – zigzagging across loose gravel until we reached a big cave: the halfway point to Gilman’s peak. Alex was getting tired, but I felt great.
Tribulations
As we continued up the scree slope, Alex began to visibly slow down. Gasper noticed first, telling him repeatedly to “stop sleeping Alex!” He had to take lots of breaks and Josephat/Gasper started singing to keep his mind off sleep. At first he was vocal about how tired he was, but as time wore on, his words turned to incoherent mumbles. Eventually, the guides gave him ski poles to help, but he used them more often to rest, leaning forward and closing his eyes, than pushing himself forward. He looked like he was wading slowly up a fast current. His breaks became longer and more frequent with breath coming in labored gasps. I tried to offer encouragement and advice about breathing/using the ski poles, but the frequent stops were freezing me solid, and I eventually became preoccupied with trying to stomp life into my frozen toes. I tried keeping my arms and legs moving while we waited, but it didn’t do much, and I lost all feeling in my feet up to the ankles while my hands went numb. One break, I needed to piss, which was quite an endeavor. I had to bend over in order for the jumper come far enough down my waist (taking it off was not an option). I’m glad the pipes didn’t freeze, but it felt like they came pretty close. I felt bad for Alex, but felt confident he would push through and make it until one stop, near the end of the scree slope where he started mumbling and shaking violently and uncontrollably. He fell to his knees and vomited his entire dinner in violent fashion. Josephat was worried because he couldn’t understand what Alex was saying, so I came close and translated. He said that the cold was moving up his arms and legs from his hands and feet. Josephat took off one of his inner jackets and painstakingly re-layered Alex’s clothing with the additional coat. Meanwhile, Alex did a breathing exercise to calm himself. I tried to block the wind, but quickly became too cold and started jumping around again. I thought Alex was going into hypothermic shock and the guides started talking about bringing him down the mountain; however, Alex was determined to continue, for better or worse, to press on. With Josephat’s consent, we started up the end of the scree slope, and up the rocky climb before reaching Gilman’s Peak. These last 200 meters are apparently the hardest part of the mountain ascent, and our progress was slower than ever. The altitude still hadn’t hit me, but I was mind-numbingly cold. The path was very steep and involved climbing up a gigantic and seemingly unending pile of boulders. I was relieved to hear that the top of the pile was the crater rim; however, our progress was so slow, it seemed nonexistent, so eventually I stopped looking up at all and focused on taking one step at a time.
The Crater Rim
We reached Gilman’s Peak just as the sun was lighting up the horizon. The view was unbelievable. We could see tremendous distances and the world unfolded in hazy miniature as the sun crept across the land below us.
Alex was thrilled to have made it, even crying tears of joy. I took a picture of him and the sign, when my camera’s battery died! Apparently the cold can severely curtail battery life. I was freezing, but the rising sun slowly and painfully thawed my feet. Eventually, we set out around the crater bound for Uhuru Peak: the highest point in Africa. The crater was gigantic. A glacier lay at the bottom. Halfway to Uhuru, we reached Stella Point, where Alex waited with Gasper and I carried on with Josephat. Up until this point, I hadn’t felt the altitude at all. On the way to Uhuru, the thin air hit me hard. I was breathing very quickly and powerfully, like I learned how to from swimming for so many years, but it took a lot of concentration to keep my breath. The wind also increased the difficulty because it would whip the air from my mouth as I was trying to breathe. We made it to Uhuru Peak around 7:05. I didn’t have charged batteries for my camera and didn’t have the energy to wait and see if Alex would make it, so I touched the sign, gave Josephat a celebratory hug, and after a minute of enjoying the view, set off down toward Stella Point. We passed Alex on the way, but I was too tired to go with him and get a picture, so we continued on. At one point, the wind blew a blast of sand in my face. My immediate reaction was to put my hands to my face and try to get it out of my eyes; however, this distracted me from my quick breathing pattern. I almost passed out trying to catch my breath, even after a momentary lapse in concentration. By the time we made it back to Gilman, the air was nice again, and I ate some chocolate and tried to thaw my camera battery. After about 15 minutes, I had enough juice for a few more photos, and I tried to capture the incredible view. When Alex got back, we set off down the mountain following a short rest.
The Descent
The climb down was extremely rapid compared to the climb up. We scrambled down the pile of boulders and then half-ran half-slid down the scree slope, ignoring the zig zags and “skiing” straight down at high speeds. It felt like riding a mini avalanche. Alex moved a lot slower, but was feeling alert and healthy. By the time we reached the halfway point, I had big new blisters on my feet and had really smashed up my toes while filling my boots with gravel and dust. This made the rest of the descent quite painful. We slowly walked down the rest of the way, each step hurt my toes as they smashed into the front of my boots. I tried to ease the pain by leaning back, but this put extreme pressure on my knees. Despite a slower pace on the last half, we made it down the mountain in around 2.5 hours, compared to more than 7 hours on the way up. We walked into Kibu around 10 am and were greeted with a celebratory song by our crew of porters.
Intermission
The first thing I did when we arrived at camp was take of my jumper and go to the restroom. What a relief! Alex and I were ready to sleep until the next morning, but our guides had other plans. We were able to convince them to let us sleep till 11 for lunch before setting off down Marangu for Horombo Huts. We slept like rocks. Waking up and packing was extraordinarily painful. Lunch was consumed and we packed the tent in a daze before setting off down the mountain again. I don’t remember much more than slowly seeing more vegetation, and stumbling around with my feet and knees in extreme pain, especially going downhill when the path was rocky. We got to Horombo and set up the tent/hobbled to dinner and played poker/swimming over our meal. We had a great talk with Josephat and Gasper by candlelight. We set up plans for tipping and thanked the guides profusely. We slept like rocks again all night until 6:30 the next morning, when it was time to get ready to go again.
Day 5 – 10/23/2013 – Horombo Huts to Moshi
We woke up, packed, I popped a massive blister on my foot (2 centimeters diameter!), we ate breakfast, told everyone their tips, listened as the crew sang another celebratory song about “Kiliman-ja-ro,” and set off for Marangu Gate. The hike was approximately six hours long. We passed from the end of the alpine desert through moorlands, a rainforest, and finally out of the park. We signed out, I paid my park fee again because they originally charged me in Tanzanian Shillings (lol), got our certificates ready, then waited for the minibus at a bar with the guides. On the hike, people we passed would ask how we did on the summit and congratulate us on reaching Uhuru.
On the way to Moshi, we stopped by Josephat’s house for a lovely meal and ceremonious presentation of our certificates with necklaces. The meal was a delicious banana/beef stew. The bananas tasted like potatoes. They also gave us a lot of beer: Kilimanjaro, Castle, and a local banana beer that had a lot of things floating in it, and tasted dangerously like coconut wine. We met Josephat’s kids and family. His house was on a beautiful banana farm and we saw baboons. After saying goodbye and thank you, we left for Moshi, got cash for tips, gave gifts to the crew, and said farewell. I did some writing and dressed my toes in Neosporin and duct tape. I was exhausted by the time we got to bed, but extremely satisfied after a challenging and life-changing trek.
