I kept a little journal of my climb up Kilimanjaro and this is the unaltered contents of that. It was only seven days, so it doesn't go on for too long. I hope it wasn't too boring, I didn't have a lot of useful mental activity during the trip! Haha.
9 September - circa 0700 - San Francisco Airport
A dubious start - my "mega-gear" watch languishes at home, forgetfully left on the bathroom sink apres shower. My drop-off at the international terminal was ill-advised, as the first hop is from SFO to Minneapolis, a domestic flight. I guess I need to start learning to walk all over the world ASAP anyway! On the plus side, the hiking shoes are much more comfortable on my blisters than any other shoe during the last week. Now the battle for emergency exit seating begins. Things forgotten: watch, exchanging large bills ($100) for small bills that I can actually use in Africa.
9 September - circa 0820 - San Francisco Airport
Used my digital camera picture of my gear to verify I didn't forget bug repellent; I might need that! First trip expenditures: $7 for Jamba Juice! Successfully got two of three exit seats. Now the long flying begins. Hoping to find a cheap digital watch and convert money in either Minneapolis or Amsterdam. Jamba didn't sit well... haven't left SF and already need the Cipro!
9 September - 30 minutes from Minneapolis - In the Air
Spent most of the flight sleeping. We had cereal and banana for breakfast. A very pedestrian start to this trip that ends nearly 10,000 miles from GPS location "My Room".
10 September - 0659 - Amsterdam
No cell phone coverage, no GPS signal, I've entered the Nether Lands! Flight to Amsterdam wasn't bad - saw Matrix 2 (for the 2nd time) and XMen 2 (for the first time), slept a bit. I picked up a "cheap" watch in Minneapolis for $25, and converted some $20s to smaller bills via purchase. $2 coke ($18 change), $3 McDonalds ($17 change), and $1 cookies ($19 change). I also pillaged the airline bathroom and found a few medium sized plastic bags -- those should be helpful for waterproofing and dirty laundry. Thanks NWA. I have a 4 hour layover here - hoping to get on the exit row seating list and generally lounge around - then 10 hours to Tanzania. Need to rewrap blisters as well. Today's pain index for September 9, feet blisters ... 4 of 10, knee ... 3 of 10, neck ... 2 of 10. But that's with no movement or exertion. Luckily, I was able to get knee braces in SF - that should help immensely.
11 September - 0724 - Moshi
The arrival in Kili finally happened. A bouncy jolting drop onto the airfield and we were soon all disembarking in class Casablanca style down the ramp onto the tarmac. I saw immediately why landing was so rough - the pavement may have been many things, but "smooth" was not among them. We walked across the dark tarmac and into the dark terminal. While my co-passengers milled around, I grabbed an entry form and took it to the empty "VISA" booth. The power came on (that's why the terminal was dark!) briefly and a fellow showed up to issue me my VISA -- that only took about 3 minutes and cost the same US $50 that doing it in the US would have, very easy! The power went back out but someone turned on some battery powered lights and I was able to find my bags (yeah!).
After leaving the terminal, it was easy to find the Zara/Springlands group - they had about six people to meet their latest band of converts and we were soon on the bus - myself, two Germans doing the Marangu route the next day, and two Canadians doing the Rongai route starting the same day as me (the 13th). The bus ride was leisurely - about 30-40 mph down fairly deserted roads (at 9:30pm). Overall, the buildins along the road appeared comprable to those in India. I fired up the GPS, which told me that we were at 3000' altitude and about 29 miles from Uhuru Peak. So far to go!
Once we got to the hotel, I whipped out the service form and the reception/cashier seemed to recognize my name. I guess there are some bonuses to going directly through Zara for booking and exchanging 826 emails. The rooms are small but habitable with three single beds per room, equipped with mosquito netting. I tried to reconfigure my beds into a double and rig my own advanced mosquito net with pretty limited success - tonight, I'll try the default configuration.
11 September - 0924 - Moshi
A short break for breakfast. My trip departure has been moved up one day from Saturday to tomorrow. There are 150 South Africans doing the climb Saturday and Zara is overrun!! Had a funny experience in my room. The door is very sticky, and I thought I'd been locked in. My key was in the outside door lock, but with some wrangling, I was able to escape my room. Breakfast was quite Western - eggs, hotdog sausages, cereal, toast. Met a bunch of Germans, a Spaniard, and a pair of Brits who had all successfully summitted. Everyone's #1 advice - go slow. Weather today is cool and overcast. I'm hoping we don't get rain on the trip up the mountain.
11 September - 1027 - Moshi
Took a short walk around the Springlands, the area is "sub"-urban - lots of people wandering around with machetes, which is disturbing on some level. A small child attempted to put the beggar smack-down on me. He wanted: money, pens, chocolate, and a football! in that order. I actually meant to bring a bag of chocolate for the childrens but alas, halloween will have to wait for October. Knee and blisters are "ok" - knee seems very weak on cross-axis forces, so I'll have to be careful (especially on downhills where I can easily drop full body weight on it) - flex and extension seems ok. Weather continues to deteriorate, have large dark clouds now. I hope that I'll be spared the Kili-mud-slog but I have my doubts.
12 September - 0616 - Moshi
Mass deluge of rain overnight between 2 and 4 am. Sleep was broken, up at each hour from 1am onwards - just preparing for my typical camping sleep pattern I guess. My bags are sorted, and breakfast is in 15 minutes, deparature in a bit over an hour. I'm not sure these guys got the Crater Camp part of my trip - I hope so since it will break up the "killer" 30 hour day at the end. Beyond the crater question, the rest of the trip sounds potentially doable on my weak knee.
| Day | Length (Where) | Actual |
| Day 1 | 3 hours (Big Tree Camp) | 2 1/2 hours |
| Day 2 | 6 hours (Shira 1) | 5 hours |
| Day 3 | 3 hours (Shira 2) | 2 1/2 hours |
| Day 4 | 6 hours (Barranco) | 5 3/4 hours |
| Day 5 | 3 hours (Karangu) | 3 hours |
| Day 6 | 3 hours (Barafu) | 2 3/4 hours |
| Day 7 (no crater) | 15 hours (8 up, 7 down) | 11 hours (7 up, 4 down) |
| Day 8 | 3 hours (Mweka) | 2 1/2 hours |
12 September - 1729 - Big Tree Camp
What a long drive to Lemosho. We left Zara at approximately 9am for the nearly 60 mile drive. Weather was cold and SF-style foggy. The fog was so bad we couldn't even see some of the Kilimanjaro signs. I still haven't actually seen the mountain. We had a Land Rover for transport which I thought was pretty cool until I found out the LR didn't have 4 wheel drive. Where's my brother's Xterra when I need it? We reached the Londorosi Ranger station around 11am and began the permit process. Oops! Zara only pre-booked a 6 day permit... hmmm. 6 days would be crazy fast for this route. I had the bag lunch while the guide haggled or did something. Lunch was 2 pint sized banana, 2 bags of peanuts, 1 roll, 1 piece of fish flavored chicken, a bottle of orange soda, and a hard boiled egg which I passed to some neighborhood kids. After lunch, we were back in the LandRover to find the Lemosho trailhead. Good luck! We were driving all over these crazy mountain roads. And the LandRover was having a hard time of it - our assistant guide had to keep getting out to shore up the road. Finally, we got so lost we had to enlist a random guy as navigator. He jumped in, had us backtrack a mile or so and then we went down this long very dirt road (2 wheel rut style dirt road). Much unsticking of the LandRover ensued. Finally, about 1pm, we arrived at the trailhead.
The weather was cool and overcast as we unpacked. By the time we actually left at 2pm, the deluge had begun. Dinner: popcorn & hot chocolate, potatoes, unknown meat, cabbage veggie mix, chicken soup (mmm!), vegetable soup disguised as "potato dip", bread with jam/honey/butter, banana and avocado desert. And now, it's time for bed.
13 September - 1341 - Shira 1 Camp
To continue my Big Tree entry, the rain forest certainly lived up to its name, there was a LOT of forest, and a LOT of rain. Best REI investment: waterproof pants, they really worked! Clothes that I thought were waterproof but really weren't: jacket shell (my cotton shirt was soaked!), hiking shoes (socks and feet got the mass cold soak). The dinner wasn't bad, it definitely had the plantation owner feel - I got to eat in my private dining tent on a chair. By the time I finished eating, it was dark, quite a late start for the first day. Sleep was tough as it was cold, raining and wet. My gear made it through ok for the most part - everything I was personally carrying was soaked of course. There was a reasonable amount of seepage along the bottom of the tent plus heavy condensation along all interior surfaces. All in all not the most pleasant of first nights - and the rain slog ruined the rainforest experience which was the bonus for this route!
Starting day two, I had a hard choice - the wet hiking shoes or the affectionately named "source of all blisters" boots. I went with wet and used one pair of my liner and thick sock combination. I hope the liner would "wick" the moisture of the wet shoes away! I also opted for the knee brace today. All those choices paid off. My feet didn't deteriorate despite the very wet shoes, and as it turned out, day two was a long up and down (rinse and repeat) day where the knee brace was a thankful addition.
We completed the day fairly quickly, about 15 minutes behind the porters. The day was essentially a traverse across some of the hills surrounding Kilimanjaro proper. We crested a couple, following relatively steep streambeds up and down the hills, gaining altitude to about 3560 meters at the highest point. From there, it was a relatively easy traverse around the last hill and then descent to the Shira 1 camp. Camp altitude is about 11500 feet, so 1000' above Helen Lake (my highest previous camping site), and only about 3000' below the highest point I've ever reached. Altitude sickness is now a concern (after breaking 10,000') and I've been following my usual Tylenol based prevention system. I'm not sure when I'll start Diamox, probably tonight or tomorrow. Day 3 should be relatively easy, only about 3 hours long and altitude gain is only 350 meters. Day 4 will be the second hardest day - with the ascent from 3850 meters to 4600 meters and then back to 3800 meters over six hours.
14 September - 0623 - Shira 1 Camp
Another day breaks in Africa - the last seven hours finally yielding the first views of Kilimanjaro. The first at 2344 during a late night bathroom visit. The dark blue of the moonlit night and far in the distance, the looming black outline of the forbidden mecca. By 0400, the predawn provided sufficient illumination to see the white tracers of the quickly vanishing glacier snows. Now, with sunrise mere moments away, the mountain submits to the first photograph, snapped from the comparitive warmth of my sleeping bag. The nights remain cold but not so much as to require my warm fleeces for sleeping yet - in fact, I was able to sleep in a short sleeved cotton shirt (finally dried during our long afternoon yesterday). Yesterday, I attempted to tell my guide about bears and bear canisters in the California mountains without much success. He told me there were no "bears" on this route, only on the Marangu route. After much contemplation, I think he must have been talking about "beers" and probably through my conversation about the "beers" stealing your food the altitude-sickness fueled ravings of a madman.
Statistics for the morning:
14 September - 1213 - Shira 2 Camp
Day 3 complete. I have to say I think I'll use the knee brace on all the rest of the days. This was the easiest day and I definitely felt the lack of support on each ascent and descent. Compare to yesterday which was constant ascent/descent and felt fine. I also have my "foot strategy" all ironed out after consuming the last of my "light hiking" socks today. I'll use liner and heavy sock combinations on the three remaining hard daysand the soft, heavy socks solo on the two easy days. I have two days worth of bandaids for the blisters; I'll use those tomorrow and for the crater ascent.
GPS shows camp today is 12,807 feet. Slowly but surely approaching my highest ever point (14246 feet). Distance covered was 7.38 kilometers (total 14.03 km so far). Most of the previous 6.65 kilometers was from Big Tree to Shira 1; I did not have GPS coverage on the hike from the trailhead to Big Tree due to dense forest coverage.
Today's distances:
14 September - 1325 - Shira 2 Camp
Finished lunch - a word of advice for future Kilimanjaro trips. If there is something brought to you which looks like it could be used (and stored) across several meals - it's safe to assume that's all you have. In my hypothermia induced fit on day #1, I drank about four cups of full strength hot chocolate - and now there is no more hot chocolate!
For the first time today, we have other hikers in camp - a group of Germans coming off the Shira route (day 1 for them, day 3 for me!). Our guides set us up as two separate camps, so I don't think I'll see much of them until I catch up tomorrow at Barranco.
I started the Diamox at lunch today, I guess if I'm planning on taking it, any time now is as good as another. That definitely means I need to go through the full 4.5 L water per day though. Also notes on extra acclimitization days: either plan on afternoon hikes or bring some entertainment. The stretch from lunch at 1300 to dinner at 1700 is really quite long! I definitely miss my Clancy book left safely back at Zara. I probably could have read that over the three short days.
Random thoughts:
14 September - 1429 - Shira 2 Camp
Had to register with the park rangers, the climb fee for 6 days is $403! Our little six day fiction persists though we'd have to bust ass to di it in six now. 4: barranco, 5: barafu, 6: summit & down; all long long days.
14 September - 1604 - Shira 2 Camp
Took a short acclimitization hike over to the Machame route. They have a TON of people on that route. Visisted the (no longer used) Shira caves - pretty cool. Did the walk without knee brace and it wasn't bad, so who knows. I'm sticking with the brace for real stuff. Altitude effects seem minimal so far, the smallest hint of a headache and fever, but that usually clears overnight. Energy levels and breathing on the A-hike seemed ok and we didn't do the pole-pole wimpy speed either. The fellow that took me (the assistant guide) says Barranco isn't that hard - we'll see, looks like a long ridge hike to Lava Tower and then descent. Diamox side effects are already present - crazy tingling in the toes. It'd probably be disturbing if it weren't expected. Dinner soon and then sleep for early day tomorrow.
15 September - 1537 - Barranco Camp
First, the daily stats:
Woke up to the sound of what I thought was some sort of African hawk or eagle strafing the tent. It was so low you could hear the high pitched whine of the wind through its wing feathers - it turns out it was actually a mountain buzzard though! So much for romance! The day's objective was to go to Barranco via the Lava Tower (at 4600 meters) for acclimitization. Victor (the guide) estimated 7 hours for the entire trip. The first half of the trip (to Lava Tower) was fairly uneventful. It was quite simply a pretty continuous upward slog. There was a small dip just before the Lava Tower (dropping from 4373 meters to about 4350 meters), but though it appeared substantial it was really not much of a reprieve from "up".
We reached Lava Tower at around 11:00am (about 3 hours after leaving) and had lunch. It was brutally cold and clouds obscured any hope of warming sun. The gloves go in the day pack from here on! After lunch, sitting in front of this massive 100 meter rock formation, there was only one thing to do, so we climbed Lava Tower. The climb was a fairly straight forward class 3 rock climb. Handholds and footholds were numerous and solid. There were 2 or 3 places with some pretty big exposure - a slip in those spots would have yielded a fall of at least several hundred (if not a thousand) feet. We avoided slipping! The view from the top was almost spectacular except clouds obscured everything. Even at 15440', Kilimanjaro still towered over us by a solid 4000'. The nearby Western Breach route looked steep and arduous. On the other side, the Lava Tower dropped off steeply to merge into the valley far below. After a brief sojourn in hopes the clouds would clear (for some good views), we gave up and descended. Going down was fairly tricky as well and my pants separated along a quite embarassing seam line (I have since applied the requisite survival duct tape repair to them!).
Once we returned to the base of Lava Tower, we immediately made for the Barranco camp. Unfortunately, the route was a very steep descent from 4600 meters to 3900 meters. The guide took the lead and hustled us along at a very non pole-pole pace. Additionally, we did not stop for water, so I essentially dehydrated for that 2-3 hours. The sharp descent on a loose trail caused havoc with my knee, despite the brace. I'm icy-hotting the knee and force rehydrating in hopes of a recovery by tomorrow. Tomorrow is billed as a short day, but the trail over the Barranco wall appears extremely steep (ascent from 3900 meters to 4200 meters).
Oh, of note today, on the trip up to Lava Tower, I felt strong enough that I actually passed another group's porter. That was a first; those guys are always passing me!
16 September - 0644 - Barranco Camp
What a suck ass night. First, the clouds rolled in, thick as soup right through camp, bringing their own version of misty rain. Add to that uncontrollable shivering cold that would not abate, even after putting on all the "hot" clothes including my ski gloves. I think that was hypothermia, but alas, treatment for hypothermia is not in my list of skills, so I just suffered through it until 1830 when I could finally retire to the warmth of my sleeping bag. I also spent the night in a pitched battle to resurrect my dying water balance and to shed the intense fever and headache associated with high elevation dehydration. Finally, just to add to my length list of miseries, I've developed various forms of digestive problems, most notably gas buildup and low volume diarrhea. Last night marked the first night with more visits to the outhouse shack than to nearby bushes. I added drug #3 from my collection (Cipro) which will hopefully clear up some of that "mess", though I think it all might be related to the water balance. My knee remains operational although very tender, I hope today will not hold a lot of descent - I do better with ascents.
The view of Kilimanjaro in the pre-sunrise light is spectacular, although formidable. There remains no visible "easy" route to climb the last two thousand meters that I can see. Today and tomorrow, we will circle the mountain, perhaps in time, the magical stairway to heaven shall appear.
16 September - 1243 - Karanga Valley
The guide led today as we circled around directly south of Kilimanjaro. I believe from here the approach is directly north, first to Barafu, and then onward to the crater itself. This camp is not as high as it was claimed to be; the GPS says sltitude here is slightly less than 4000 meters; the literature claims this camp is at 4200 meters. Distance covered today was 4.31 km and the distance to Uhuru has actually increased slightly to 3.67 kilometers at 2° (almost directly north). We actually did pass through 4200 meters briefly on the way here - today's course was class 2 boulder scrambling most of the way. There were large down segments but I attempted to go easy on the knee, hopefully with some moderate success. Lunch time!
16 September - 1330 - Karanga Valley
As we walked today, we were passed by legions of porters. Everyone attempting the summit from the South Circuit comes along this path. The next stop (Barafu) is the staging area for the summit attempt itself. Clouds obscure most of the valley, but when they break, I see huge red colored cliff walls -- that is tomorrow's three hour walk. Looks insane for only three hours.
I'm on the triple plan for meds now - Cipro (2 per day), Diamox (2 per day), Tylenol (6 per day). Diamox side effects are strange - often there is no tingling at all but when it does appear, it ranges from "pins and needles" to almost borderline painful. Urine output is hard to quantify, after all I'm drinking 4.5 L of water per day, so one would expect it to be increased.
The actual "hiking" is interesting; Victor and I speak infrequently as English is not his native tongue and my speech is slurred and generallly unenunciated at best -- two factors that don't lend to extended conversations. Instead we hike along in comparitive silence, I check my watch about every 5 minutes wiating for the elapse of the 10 minute water cycle. Yes, in may ways, my life while hiking is in ten minute slices. I mostly find myself watching the trail very closely in front of me, spending freely of mental cycles to evaluate the perfect precision step, each step. From time to time, I look up to see the "big picture" of where we are going. Sometimes the majesty requires photography, somtimes an unspoken "I'm glad we're not going that way" is enough. From time to time, I look at the GPS, to see our current elevation, and use it as a crude predictor for the "are we there yet?" question. Such is the life of the solo hiker, I'd definitely recommend bringing friends for this trip, and I find myself thinking from time to time of my friends back home, but I'm sure they're working way too hard, so I try not to think of that!
At camp, the same solitude persists; the porters have their own tent to which they retire; I retire to mine with my faithful companion, Le Journal. I think this must be how it is to be impossibly rich; like a staff of servants, my guide staff caters to my every need and whim - serving and preparing food, carrying my belongings, setting up the shelters, cleaning the room (tent) ... but, the culture of the served and the serving forms; they are employees but not friends and confidantes. I can see how being among the very rich in America could also be very lonely as well.
One of the high points of each day is when Victor explains the following day; the useful information is when breakfast is. I know the itinerary, I picked it! In any event, he always ends with the question "any questions on next day?" to which I always think "you point, I walk, pole, pole, drink lots of water." Once the plan to climb Kilimanjaro is complete, the actual execution is pretty straight forward (at least mentally wise). Physical strength, stamina, endurance, altitude adaptability, raw willpower. All essential, but by day five, either there or not.
16 September - 1831 - Karanga Valley
Good news! New hot chocolate has materialized! No acclimatization hikes today, except the 100' uphill trude to the outhouse. I won't be attempting that by moonlight except in absolute desperation! Victor says tomorrow is three hours to Barafu, I said, "oh, like today". He said, "no, it's all uphill." Well, at least the knee will be spared.
Bad news. There is no water in Barafu, so a porter has to carry it from here. Yikes, that's probably 75 pounds of water. I remember that "fun" from my training regiment. I guess that's why the porters make the big bucks (NOT!).
The mists have now totally obscured camp - visibility is about 25 feet tops. Hopefully some good pictures in the morning, it's usually clear until about 10 am.
17 September - 0634 - Karanga Valley
Another sunrise in the shadows of Kilimanjaro. The famous "water for watching" ritual begins in about an hour. I'm skimpy on the washing because I neglected to bring my "towel for drying" - well I brought it to Africa, but it didn't make the cut for the mountain duffel. So, I wash my hands (so I can eat with them) and brush my teeth and call it a day. If it is particularly warm (which it isn't in the mornings but sometimes is in the afternoons), then I'll wash my face. I didn't include my razor so I'm gradually metamorphing into Grizzly Adams, but I'm happy not to have an excuse to prolong the cold water-for-washing ceremony anyway. The nights continue below freezing, the novelty of ice on the outside of my sleeping bag has worn off - thought last night was warmer than the night before, I was able to shed my sweatshirt while sleeping.
Speaking of cold, on the down trip from Lava Tower to Barranco, it actually snowed, so I can say I saw the Snows of Kilimanjaro.
17 September - 1240 - Barafu Hut
Well, the news is in. I'm on the midnight death march. So, that's another $50 Zara owes me (in addition to the two nights hotel at $50 each). At this point, I'm not too picky, I'll just take the $150 and apply it towards my $250/night safari once I get done with this climb! Sleeping at the crater would have been cool since it would ensure the coveted "sunrise" shot plus would have left time to do some exploring of the Eastern Glacier and crater itself, but those must be left for the next trip (with my not-taking-vacation-to-come-on-this-one brother) and sacrificed for the goal of summitting -- which is what this is all really about! The Barafu camp was a lot of ascent as promised, and a day of solitude as my guide left me to do this part solo. I passed one large group of hikers and a couple of stragglers, and was passed by every porter in the universe. About par for the course!!
I'm almost done statistics:
17 September - 1440 - Barafu Hut
This place is packed now! I guess our group was one of the first to arrive and stake areas. It looks like probably 50+ summiters for tonight. We're in the midst of a post-lunch hailstorm - I mean the stuff is really coming down. So, rain, snow, hail - I think I've seen Kili's full reperetoire of precipitation. It's fairly chilly but not enough so that the hail stays intact aafter hitting ground. Tonight should be clear and cold - I worry that my layers may not be sufficient but in reality, once we start the laborious trek, I'll probably be quite warm. The only really bad thing is I forgot to rent a balaclava, which means my nose and face will really get to bond with the weather!
17 September - 1633 - Barafu Hut
I attempted to determine the approximate angle of the ascent ahead of me. I decided 15°; you can see I had far too much free time on my hands up there.
18 September - 0902 - Barafu Hut
I made it!
18 September - 1427 - Mweka Camp
First, the ascent. Brutal but fantastic. Almost a mile up frozen scree in the middle of the night. Victor & I were first off and led the entire train for about two hours. It was funny to look back and see the long stream of headlamps snaking up the unseen hill behind us. Eventually, the rest of the train caught up so we let the lead group go by but then we couldn't re-insert ourselves until half the line passed! I wasn't worried, noone would ever know if I were first or last to summit that day. We'd started about 11:40 pm and my GPS showed we were making good elevation progress each hourly break. As the night wore on, the train fragmented with the lead groups getting farther ahead and the ones behind us fading into the distance, we passed several groups during breaks and eventually "merged" with a group of Brits led by a guide with whom Victor seemed to be friends. It was funny slogging along, with the guides chatting, joking, and singing while the clients ALL plodded along silently, each tapping their own individual inner will to take this step and the next.
5100 meters passed, then 5400 meters.We'd climbed 700 meters of the 1200 meters total; so close but so far. Now, the mountain turned to frozen scree and we could see the top of the climb to Stella Point. Minutes later, we heard the raucous celebrations of the first group to crest the ridge. Re-energized, we continued on, following our guides like lemmings rather than a path we could actually see. Lots of people were really working the ski poles trying not to slide as far back as their step forward with each stride. For my part, I passed on the ski poles, instead mimicking Victor's forceful kick into the scree with each step. It seemed to work.
Sometime on the scree slope (which went on for hours), I began to lose feeling in the toes of my left foot. I feared frostbite. At a rest break, I took off the boot and massaged the toes, they seemed warm and dry. I determined it was just a case of tying the boots too tight. Unfortunately, in curing one "frostbite", I had introduced another. The Zara people had given us advice in the pre-climb meeting not to put your camera battery near your body (to keep it warm so it would have full charge). The reason they said was because you'd have to remove your gloves to insert the battery. I figured they were worried your hands might get cold and mentally thought "you wimps." So, there it was on the mountain, I'd just removed my gloves to massage my foot and it was pretty cold, so I thought again "I'm such a wimp" and put my glvoes back on. It was then that I discovered the real reason not to remove your gloves. When you're climbing, working hard, you sweat - even your hands sweat a little, and then when the gloves are off, that small amount of liquid is instantly converted to ice, giving you a nice bag of ice to put your hands in. I actually contemplated taking my gloves off permanently, it was really quite cold, too cold for not wearing gloves! It was that bad! And I'm really not a wimp. Trust me!
Soon after I had finished dealing with my various "frostbites", our small band stumbled across the ridge line, onto a flat area. Victor turned around, and hugging me, said "Welcome to Stella Point." The moment almost evades description, I was almost in tears from that single line. Seven days of hard hiking up and down valleys, six hours of absolutely brutal trekking in the dark, where every step is a battle against your own inner weakness, freezing cold covering every inch of your body, and then to have simply say "You made it." It was an intense emotional purge.
The good news about Stella Point (besides that you now know you get to take home a glorious green certificate commemorating the experience) is that Uhuru is only about 45 minutes away. When we reached Stella, it was quite dark, but as we walked around the Kibo Crater and began ascending the summit, dawn, and then sunrise broke over Africa. Unfortunately, a dense layer of ever-present clouds covered most everything except Kibo's twin pinnacle (though less high) and the glaciers around Kibo itself.
We actually reached the summit around 6:45 am, almost exactly seven hours after leaving. We took some pictures, I signed the summit log (noone else seemed to know what the metal box next to the summit sign was! so I got the first signature of the day -- some people saw me sign so they signed too afterwards! haha) and then down we went.
The down trip involved extensive scree-skiing of the now unfrozen scree. To normal people, this would probably be fast and fun, with my knee, it was still fast but NOT fun. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to descend; we were back at our tents by 8:30 am. I tried to grab a few hours sleep to repair my knee but was largely unsuccessful (and I'd only really slept about 1 hour the night before!). Victor delayed our departure to the next camp by an hour because he thought I should have a "full lunch" to regain energy. This was in reaction to my telling him on the way down that descending was just as hard or harder than going up. After I ate, we got started, and he told me the trip down to Mweka camp would take "at least" 4 hours. I could tell he was thinking "probably more like seven because you suck." Needless to say, that sounded like a challenge, so I led us on a break-neck, let's pass some porters, what are rest breaks, 2 1/2 hour trip. I think I made my point.
Tomorrow holds a short three hour trip to the Mweka Gate, a fancy gold certificate and the end of this little adventure. I'm hoping the trek out is long and not steep, but I must again fear for the worst as Mweka is billed as a "down only" route solely because it is "too steep" for ascent. Ah, the many trials of Kilimanjaro. Where's my helicopter "we are the champions" ride down from the top??
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