Kilemakyaro (Kilimanjaro): Hakuna Matata (1/3)
19 Mar 2015 21:17 #63109
by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic Kilemakyaro (Kilimanjaro): Hakuna Matata (3/3)
Part 3 – Karanga Camp to the end
Day 5 – Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp (5km – 3930m to 4600m)
Excitement and anticipation is beginning to grow within the team. This is day 5, we have spent 4 days walking around Africa’s highest mountain. We have seen Kibo from the west and the south. Now we are walking towards the eastern flank. The ridge we see on the skyline is the ridge we use to gain access to Stela Point, and thereafter, Uhuru. What we have come here to do is almost in sight.
Today is our shortest day – we all know that we will not get much sleep between now and our summit push. We must conserve our energy. Even Dickson’s attitude seems different. He has been very laid back for the last 4 days, but now the assertive man who has led hundred, if not thousands, of people to the Roof of Africa is emerging. We can all smell how close this goal is.
We walk out of Karanga Camp at a speed of no more than 2km/h. I Pole Pole a bit faster than the others and stop to get some videos of how Pole Pole we are walking. Today is almost entirely uphill. No haraka haraka today!
The hill we are climbing is steep by Kili standards. Not quite as steep as Baranco Wall, and not even as steep as the zig-zags on the way up the Chain Ladders, but steep enough. At 4000m we aren’t feeling the effects of altitude if we go slowly enough. But walk at a normal pace for 1 minute and you will be gasping for air. Even the porters are walking slowly now.
We take a few breaks on this first 2km up the hill, but the hill doesn’t pose a real threat to any of us.
We soon reach the top of the first hill. There is a big valley in front of us. One could easily picture an army of Orcs camping in this valley. There is no life, aside from the occasional raven picking up what man has dropped. It almost looks as if someone has brought dump trucks full of scree and just offloaded them everywhere.
Words (and photos) really can’t capture this valley. It is not pretty, but it is most certainly beautiful in its own way. There are 3 distinct rock types – some sedimentary rock that somehow is layered at a 90 degree angle to the ground. Clearly it has been pushed up since it was formed. There is also a smooth black rock with red patches that dominates this valley. Between all of this there is some odd kind of volcanic rock that looks almost like marbles stuck together. The landscape switches between all 3. I pull on some of the igneous rock and it turns out to be rock-solid. The sedimentary rock sounds like glass when you walk on it. According to my mother (with her BSc in geology after a study of my photos and a video of this) this rock is called Breccia.
The trail through the wasteland is solid, but when you step off it you realise how hostile this terrain is. It is the most desolate valley I have ever been in. I can’t take enough photos in this valley.
The walk through this valley is long and flat. We don’t risk walking faster, we all see the massive ridge in front of us, and the outbuildings of Barafu Camp – far up the ridge ahead of us.
The porters carry water from near Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp due to there being now nearer water. Porter after porter carrying 20 litre containers on their heads coming walking past. One you porter runs past and does a dance, to the cheers of his co-workers. The degree to which the porter’s pace has slowed really says something about this landscape, we are now clearly in the Alpine Desert, there is literally no vegetation in sight.
The mist that usually envelopes Kibo is up, the top is hidden. But our camp stands in plain view. Even though we are within 1km of completing the day, we know that the biggest hill of the trip so far is what still lies ahead of us.
We take a good 15 minute break at the base of the hill. I tell the guys that this is a 20 minute hill, they all laugh.
The surest way to be defeated by a mountain is to prematurely declare victory, and since Lava Tower on day 3 I have basically had this victor’s mind-set. I have not been drinking enough water, I am getting lazy with my vitamins – I have made these kinds of mistakes in the Berg before, and it never ended well. I know I need to return my mind-set to that of a determined hiker, not that of a victor. In my mind I am thinking up excuses of why I didn’t get up the mountain. But wait, I feel fine, have energy and have absolutely no reason to think I won’t get up. Amazing how the mind can sometimes perceive reality to be so different to what it is!
We gradually make our way up the ridge. I stay at the back of the group to force myself to walk slowly. The pace is too slow for me, so I stop to take photos, including some nice close-ups of the different types of rock.
We hit the top of the ridge – the time, 19m30. I point this out to the team, although no one seems to catch what I am smiling about.
The camp is a way up the ridge, although it is very spread out – many tents are far down the hill. It is difficult to find a good camping spot at 4500-4600m.
We see Mawenzi – it is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen! This mountain is officially not a mountain as it would cause Kili to not be the highest free standing mountain on earth. It is more than 10km from Kibo and has topographical prominence of at least 800m. Its steep flanks further go to show that by any definition of a mountain, Mawenzi is one. There are bits of glacier left near its summit, but not much. I have since read that many of the routes on what is really Africa’s 3rd highest mountain went up the ice. For more than 10 years now this summit has been off limits – and with an entirely scree covered region as one approaches the top, I am not surprised. Dickson tells me adamantly that that is not a mountain. We agree to disagree. Nonetheless Meru, Shira and Mawenzi turn out to be the 3 gems I discovered on my way up. I know most people know of these before the trip, but to me these were all very special and valid reasons to return – well, I am not going back for Mawenzi!
The walk up to Barafu – the Ice Camp in Swahili – is long and slow, but much more gradual than the walk up the hill to reach the top of the ridge.
Eventually we see the hut where we sign in. We get a group shot with an SA flag and move off to our tents.
We have lunch and an hour long rest before taking our acclimatisation walk.
Our acclimatisation walk takes us into the mist. We have about 5 minutes of very light snow. We reach 4800m and wait for about 10 minutes. It is very cold and a gentle breeze is making it colder.
We get back to the tents. Our tents are the highest in the camp. We watch a man get carried down on a stretcher. We see people walking down the trail – it is past 2PM, these people have been slow. Tomorrow is the big day, will this be us?
A fellow Zara trekker from the UK is at the camp. She has just summited, we chat to her. She looks broken. Will this be us in 24 hours? Will we get up? Excitement is mixed with nerves.
Dickson briefs us on summit day. He tells us that the others must give their packs to the 3 guides to carry. Only I will be carrying my own daypack on summit day. The ladies will start walking at 11 and we will start at 12:30 – he rates this will mean meeting up at Stela Point around sunrise. There is some discussion, but it all comes to an end when Dickson says “do you trust me or not”.
We all disappear into our tents. I am ready ahead of everyone else. Sleeping bag and beanie over the face and an MP3 player in the ears helps with drowning the noise of the others out. I can still clearly hear the others. Not sure why I try to sleep at 6, my circadian rhythm is not configured for this.
Day 6 – Barafu Camp to Mweka Camp (23km – 3930m to 3100m)
11:30PM – Dipak is up. I must have nodded off before I switched off my MP3 player. I can hear the ladies, they must be running late. Headphones back in the ears and trying to get a bit more sleep.
11:45PM my alarm clock goes off. I slowly rise and begin to get dressed inside my sleeping bag. I can feel it is icy inside the tent.
My dress for summit day is a tad excessive. Icebreaker vest, K-Way Challenger fleece, Hi-Tec Down Jacket and a Spray-Way raincoat over the top. I also have my thermal long johns, hiking pants, fleece pants and breathable waterproof pants on. Socks are the normal thin inners with thick marino wool Icebreaker socks on. I am wearing my Tibets as usual, K-Way Broad Peak gloves, a beanie with a buff underneath as well as a Polar Buff as a scarf.
Midnight and Dickson is waking us up, but we both reply that we are already up.
00:15 I am sitting in the food tent drinking a hot cup of Milo.
1AM I have been ready for a while, but we Dipak isn’t. He emerges from his tent, but his pack is too heavy. Dickson takes about half of what is in it and puts it back into the tent. You don’t pack up your tent before leaving on summit day – you have to come back past here anyway. My sleeping area has been left clear for one of the porters to sleep in. You can’t lock your bags in case you have to be carried off the mountain and someone else needs to pack up for you – so a porter stays in the tent to look after your things.
At 1:06AM we begin to walk. The moon is high, Dickson gives Dipak his headlamp as his is too weak. Dickson and myself both go without a headlamp – it is really bright enough without one.
The walk is relatively gradual. Pole Pole and we are doing fine. Dickson asks us if we are doing ok every 5 minutes. With risks such as hypothermia and altitude sickness, this is definitely necessary. Many people also fall asleep while walking, and that can be dangerous.
Our pace is probably around 1.5km/h – we are practically running up the mountain. We pass 2 other large groups that set out a while before us.
3 people walk past me on their way down within about 20 minutes. It is too early for them to have reached the top. I say “get well soon”, each says “thanks”. One says that their guide is sending them back because they keep falling asleep. I can’t understand how someone could fall asleep while walking?
Time passes, terrain changes, the temperature drops. We stop for the occasional break, but we are all looking good.
3AM we stop for about our 4th break. My waterbottle – upside down and wrapped in 2 socks, which is usually enough to stop it from freezing – is frozen. I am now starting to understand this falling asleep thing. We sit down for a break, and I hear let’s go almost immediately. I must have dozed off. I take a small bite of my cereal bar, I feel a bit nauseous trying to eat it, but it goes down alright.
There is a very faint blue line in the easy. We are so high that the start of the sunrise – still around 3 hours away – is visible in the distance. I have only seen this once before – on a overnight flight between Jo’burg and Istanbul many years ago. Mawenzi is visible in the moonlight. The glaciers are getting closer. The air is getting colder. This is no place for humans!
We are past half way up in both distance and altitude now. I am now feeling very tired. The next 2 hours can be summed up like this – open eyes to see next step, close them again and take the step. Force eyes open to take a step. Close them and take the step. I am feeling tired now – in retrospect this is what happens when they don’t serve you breakfast on summit day and you don’t snack when you stop – every break we take I am sleeping, not eating or drinking. Rookie mistakes may be costly.
“Strong like a simba, slow like a chameleon” says Dickson.
Dickson can see I am not doing well. He takes my 2 litre waterbottle from me and gets me to eat and drink something. This few drops of icy water with game taste good, the cereal bar makes me feel a bit nauseous again. I know this feeling. I have had this in the Berg before. I don’t think about it. I refuse to let myself acknowledge that I am putting my life in danger. I will not come back to this mountain. I must conquer it today.
6:30 – the sun is about to rise. The horizon has a solid red line. Stela Point is about 100m away. Dickson tells us to keep going. My sleepiness has gone away – 2 hours of almost sleep walking is not healthy and my energy levels are low. The weather forecast said it would be -11, sunrise is the coldest time of the day and we are nearing the top. I can’t feel my fingers or my toes. My water is mostly frozen, with only a few drops coming out at a time. So much for “keep it upside-down” and “cover it with a sock for insolation”. Funny enough – I was the only person in the team who had this problem.
I get my camera out at Stela Point – the sun is up and I need photos. I am not feeling well. I know this feeling and it isn’t altitude sickness. It is a simple case of not eating properly. What I really need is 20 minutes in the sun, something to eat and something to drink. I start walking ahead of Dickson and Dipak towards Uhuru. The hardest part is done, but I know that only 60% of people who make it to Stela Point will actually summit. This is probably more true due to days when people summit in storms. Our weather is perfect – not a cloud in the sky.
The ridge between Stela Point and Uhuru is very crowded. There must be 40 people up here. Thembi is on her way back to Stela Point when we pass her. We soon pass Janine as well. She says I need to sit down and eat something. Apparently my face is white. I can believe this – I felt like this on day 1 of GT 2012 and that was on track to not end well. Take away some oxygen and make the temperature much colder and I shudder to think! As you can probably all guess, though, the author of this story did not die that day…
I reached Uhuru – 5895m, Swahili for freedom – with Dipak and Dickson at 7:33AM. Dipak congratulates me and I congratulate him, but also remind him that we are only halfway there. It is windy and there is a queue at the summit board. I know I need to get out of the wind and warm up. In retrospect I should have done this on the way up, but my motivation to summit exceeded my instinct of self-preservation.
We get some summit shots, my ones with the SA flag don’t come out well – the wind is too strong. I also took my high school flag along – the summit shot with this massive flag comes out a bit better.
I race off the top. I scratch my nose, it is completely numb. I know this isn’t good. I must have almost run off the top. At around 5800m I find a sheltered spot where I sit and allow my icy body to thaw a bit. I also eat some food.
I am feeling much better already. The sun at this altitude is very warm. Almost burning.
As I sit there I stare at the massive glacier in front of me. In this moment I realise that this is what I actually came here to see, and I so easily could have missed it. I take cognisance of the shape of the glacier. I notice water dripping off the ice on one end. Just thinking of this now fills me with sadness. To think that these glaciers have been there for millions of years, and in the next decade this will probably be entirely gone. Absolutely tragic.
Soon Dipak, Dickson and myself are at Stela Point. I am feeling much better, I open my water bottle to find a massive blob of ice inside the nozzle. I clear it and manage to get a bit of juice out. I also finish my cereal bar. We are some of the last people to still be on top.
We begin our descent. You go up on solid trails, you go down on scree. This allows you to drop down the mountain very quickly, although I would imagine that may people get injured on this section.
Around 9AM, as the surfing on scree comes to an end, we meet up with Jeanine. We slowly make our way down to camp. When we arrive at the Ice Camp it feels like 4PM. It is actually 10:30AM.
Thembi is sleeping in her tent. Jeanine tells me the story of her hour on top of Africa. It’s funny – the person who struggled the most for the past 5 days is the one who was strongest on summit day. But we all made it up and that is what really counts.
My 2 litre waterbottle never got used on the way up or down, so in my mind it was not cheating to allow Dickson to carry it for me. But it will always be almost a mark against my name in my head.
Sitting in camp it feels like the morning events were a dream. As if I dreamed I climbed the mountain, but I was just sleeping in my tent. I know that what I came here to do has come and gone, so quickly, and while I was basically sleeping. I think back now, and I wonder how I would have regretted it if I had not spent those 10 minutes staring at the glaciers.
If I did the mountain again, I would start summit day at 5AM after a big breakfast. Get your basics right and don’t change what works – the rule of any sport.
At 1PM we have lunch. It feels more like supper. The others tell Dickson that they don’t feel like leaving Barafu. They are all exhausted. I remind them that we will all be much more energetic when we reach a lower altitude and have more air. Funny enough, I still don’t feel the altitude at all.
By 2PM we are walking again. Somehow I managed to convince the others that we shouldn’t go for Millennium/High Camp (3700m) but rather the lower Mweka Camp (3100m). The logic is that we have to reach the carpark by 11, and Millennium Camp is 2 hours further, which means walking from 6AM. Also a lower camp means more oxygen and a better/warmer night sleep. Of course you can’t change your minds once the porters have been given instructions – otherwise your tents will end up at the wrong camp long before you get there.
Isaiah leads the way. Jeanine and myself end up far ahead of the others. We haraka haraka-ed nicely, doing around 5 km/h.
As you drop in altitude you begin to see vegetation again. This is a strange sight after a few days of Alpine Desert! I don’t feel a difference in energy levels, but the others clearly do.
We hit Millennium camp around 4PM. It is far to go still, and we have already done 19km today. The others are taking strain, but I still feel fine. We stop for 10 minutes here, Dickson gets the permit he needs to check into Mweka Camp. This camp looks quite nice – equipped with a helipad and surrounded by trees.
Not much to say about the walk to Mweka Camp. It rained a bit – and for the first time on the trip, my raincoat was with the porters, I was long over worrying about getting wet on the final afternoon. Fortunately the rain wasn’t too bad.
The camp comes into view from a while away, but the path winds so much that it feels like it will never come.
Mweka camp looks good, covered in trees and flatter than anything we had seen since day 1. We are all happy to be here, a 23km day with 1.3km in altitude gain and 2.8km in altitude loss will always be heavy!
Day 7 and the journey home
The day starts with the normal breakfast. I stop pretending that I like the millet porridge and don’t even touch it. I eat some of the not-very-nice omelettes on stale cold toast. Eat 2 of the others bananas as well – they weren’t very nice bananas. I snack on another of the many cereal bars I took with.
We then all get together – 4 hikers, 3 guides and 11 porters – for a group shot with an SA and Tanzanian flag. The team then sings us a thank you song:
The walk back to Mweka gate is uneventful. We reach the hotel at 1:30 in time for lunch.
Before we have lunch, Dickson gives us our certificates. We give him the tip for the porters – we had previously agreed to give the minimum tip (which seemed really excessive), but after how amazing the guys were, we decided to up the tip by 12.5% - and really, they deserved double what we gave them.
We sit down to a lunch, all feeling nice and relaxed. Then I check my email.
“Dear Mr Newman, please note that your Precision Air flight has been CANCELLED. You are now on the later flight to Nairobi and the late flight to Jo’burg“.
I have a connecting flight to PMB, they haven’t moved this. I need this flight moved as I will only have arrived in Nairobi when my final flight takes off. Kenya Airways replies that it isn’t there problem, I must fix it myself. With no access to phoning, I am trying to arrange this via my cell phone and wifi.
Anyway – to cut a long story short – after much fighting I had to fork out a lot of money to move an overpriced SA Airlink flight to 7AM the next morning, and all Kenya Airways would pay for was give me accommodation near JHB airport – ironically this was more expensive than moving the SA Airlink flight (also moving the flight almost cost as much as booking it in the first place).
We all safely arrived in JHB the next day (at midnight). I had to get to the Kenya Airways desk to get my voucher to go to the hotel. At 1AM I was in my room. 5:30 I was up again, 6AM I am back at the airport, 7AM sitting in an Avronliner jet, 7:45AM the clouds finally clear enough for me to see the clear shape of the Hodgeson’s Peaks, 8:10AM I am safely in PMB.
The next day, driving back from a client in Durban, I always love the spot when you see the mountains around PMB as you drive in - on this occasions they looked completely flat
Advice for others doing Kili
1) Do the Machame Route - it is really awesome
2) I highly recommend Malcolm Pearce's Summit Ventures and Zara. If you can get Dickson, he is awesome. Isaiah is also really good. I saw how other guides conducted their teams, some teams tents weren't set up when they arrived. Our group was really well organised, Dickson really knows what he is doing, and the guys were incredibly jacked up. Getting the best spot at Barafu Camp when there were so many others camped there just goes to further show how well organised this was.
3) They tell you not to bother taking snack food as they feed you so much. I disagree. Take some sweets/motivation food, and if you are a fussy eater like me, take plenty of snack food. Especially for summit day - they won't give you a lunch pack, so make sure you take some food.
4) Don't forget your electrolytes. You drink a lot on this dry mountain, so you really need these.
5) Chill, take it slowly, enjoy - it is not a race, and you always have much more time than you need. Pole pole!
6) It is colder than you think, don't take a chance on your gear, especially your sleeping bag
7) Listen to your guide's advice - they know what they are talking about. Don't forget that it is generally the experienced hikers who don't get to the top.
If I did Kili a second time, what would I do
1) I would combine the trip with a climb up Meru
2) I would go up the Umbwe route to Baranco Camp, would then go up to Lava Tower Hut and do the Arrow Glacier Route. I would camp at Crater Camp and spend a day checking out the crater and ash pit - you don't see these if you don't stay up there
3) I would fly in a few days early and check out the area, imagine if it was my inbound flight that got cancelled.
Day 5 – Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp (5km – 3930m to 4600m)
Excitement and anticipation is beginning to grow within the team. This is day 5, we have spent 4 days walking around Africa’s highest mountain. We have seen Kibo from the west and the south. Now we are walking towards the eastern flank. The ridge we see on the skyline is the ridge we use to gain access to Stela Point, and thereafter, Uhuru. What we have come here to do is almost in sight.
Today is our shortest day – we all know that we will not get much sleep between now and our summit push. We must conserve our energy. Even Dickson’s attitude seems different. He has been very laid back for the last 4 days, but now the assertive man who has led hundred, if not thousands, of people to the Roof of Africa is emerging. We can all smell how close this goal is.
We walk out of Karanga Camp at a speed of no more than 2km/h. I Pole Pole a bit faster than the others and stop to get some videos of how Pole Pole we are walking. Today is almost entirely uphill. No haraka haraka today!
The hill we are climbing is steep by Kili standards. Not quite as steep as Baranco Wall, and not even as steep as the zig-zags on the way up the Chain Ladders, but steep enough. At 4000m we aren’t feeling the effects of altitude if we go slowly enough. But walk at a normal pace for 1 minute and you will be gasping for air. Even the porters are walking slowly now.
We take a few breaks on this first 2km up the hill, but the hill doesn’t pose a real threat to any of us.
We soon reach the top of the first hill. There is a big valley in front of us. One could easily picture an army of Orcs camping in this valley. There is no life, aside from the occasional raven picking up what man has dropped. It almost looks as if someone has brought dump trucks full of scree and just offloaded them everywhere.
Words (and photos) really can’t capture this valley. It is not pretty, but it is most certainly beautiful in its own way. There are 3 distinct rock types – some sedimentary rock that somehow is layered at a 90 degree angle to the ground. Clearly it has been pushed up since it was formed. There is also a smooth black rock with red patches that dominates this valley. Between all of this there is some odd kind of volcanic rock that looks almost like marbles stuck together. The landscape switches between all 3. I pull on some of the igneous rock and it turns out to be rock-solid. The sedimentary rock sounds like glass when you walk on it. According to my mother (with her BSc in geology after a study of my photos and a video of this) this rock is called Breccia.
The trail through the wasteland is solid, but when you step off it you realise how hostile this terrain is. It is the most desolate valley I have ever been in. I can’t take enough photos in this valley.
The walk through this valley is long and flat. We don’t risk walking faster, we all see the massive ridge in front of us, and the outbuildings of Barafu Camp – far up the ridge ahead of us.
The porters carry water from near Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp due to there being now nearer water. Porter after porter carrying 20 litre containers on their heads coming walking past. One you porter runs past and does a dance, to the cheers of his co-workers. The degree to which the porter’s pace has slowed really says something about this landscape, we are now clearly in the Alpine Desert, there is literally no vegetation in sight.
The mist that usually envelopes Kibo is up, the top is hidden. But our camp stands in plain view. Even though we are within 1km of completing the day, we know that the biggest hill of the trip so far is what still lies ahead of us.
We take a good 15 minute break at the base of the hill. I tell the guys that this is a 20 minute hill, they all laugh.
The surest way to be defeated by a mountain is to prematurely declare victory, and since Lava Tower on day 3 I have basically had this victor’s mind-set. I have not been drinking enough water, I am getting lazy with my vitamins – I have made these kinds of mistakes in the Berg before, and it never ended well. I know I need to return my mind-set to that of a determined hiker, not that of a victor. In my mind I am thinking up excuses of why I didn’t get up the mountain. But wait, I feel fine, have energy and have absolutely no reason to think I won’t get up. Amazing how the mind can sometimes perceive reality to be so different to what it is!
We gradually make our way up the ridge. I stay at the back of the group to force myself to walk slowly. The pace is too slow for me, so I stop to take photos, including some nice close-ups of the different types of rock.
We hit the top of the ridge – the time, 19m30. I point this out to the team, although no one seems to catch what I am smiling about.
The camp is a way up the ridge, although it is very spread out – many tents are far down the hill. It is difficult to find a good camping spot at 4500-4600m.
We see Mawenzi – it is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen! This mountain is officially not a mountain as it would cause Kili to not be the highest free standing mountain on earth. It is more than 10km from Kibo and has topographical prominence of at least 800m. Its steep flanks further go to show that by any definition of a mountain, Mawenzi is one. There are bits of glacier left near its summit, but not much. I have since read that many of the routes on what is really Africa’s 3rd highest mountain went up the ice. For more than 10 years now this summit has been off limits – and with an entirely scree covered region as one approaches the top, I am not surprised. Dickson tells me adamantly that that is not a mountain. We agree to disagree. Nonetheless Meru, Shira and Mawenzi turn out to be the 3 gems I discovered on my way up. I know most people know of these before the trip, but to me these were all very special and valid reasons to return – well, I am not going back for Mawenzi!
The walk up to Barafu – the Ice Camp in Swahili – is long and slow, but much more gradual than the walk up the hill to reach the top of the ridge.
Eventually we see the hut where we sign in. We get a group shot with an SA flag and move off to our tents.
We have lunch and an hour long rest before taking our acclimatisation walk.
Our acclimatisation walk takes us into the mist. We have about 5 minutes of very light snow. We reach 4800m and wait for about 10 minutes. It is very cold and a gentle breeze is making it colder.
We get back to the tents. Our tents are the highest in the camp. We watch a man get carried down on a stretcher. We see people walking down the trail – it is past 2PM, these people have been slow. Tomorrow is the big day, will this be us?
A fellow Zara trekker from the UK is at the camp. She has just summited, we chat to her. She looks broken. Will this be us in 24 hours? Will we get up? Excitement is mixed with nerves.
Dickson briefs us on summit day. He tells us that the others must give their packs to the 3 guides to carry. Only I will be carrying my own daypack on summit day. The ladies will start walking at 11 and we will start at 12:30 – he rates this will mean meeting up at Stela Point around sunrise. There is some discussion, but it all comes to an end when Dickson says “do you trust me or not”.
We all disappear into our tents. I am ready ahead of everyone else. Sleeping bag and beanie over the face and an MP3 player in the ears helps with drowning the noise of the others out. I can still clearly hear the others. Not sure why I try to sleep at 6, my circadian rhythm is not configured for this.
Day 6 – Barafu Camp to Mweka Camp (23km – 3930m to 3100m)
11:30PM – Dipak is up. I must have nodded off before I switched off my MP3 player. I can hear the ladies, they must be running late. Headphones back in the ears and trying to get a bit more sleep.
11:45PM my alarm clock goes off. I slowly rise and begin to get dressed inside my sleeping bag. I can feel it is icy inside the tent.
My dress for summit day is a tad excessive. Icebreaker vest, K-Way Challenger fleece, Hi-Tec Down Jacket and a Spray-Way raincoat over the top. I also have my thermal long johns, hiking pants, fleece pants and breathable waterproof pants on. Socks are the normal thin inners with thick marino wool Icebreaker socks on. I am wearing my Tibets as usual, K-Way Broad Peak gloves, a beanie with a buff underneath as well as a Polar Buff as a scarf.
Midnight and Dickson is waking us up, but we both reply that we are already up.
00:15 I am sitting in the food tent drinking a hot cup of Milo.
1AM I have been ready for a while, but we Dipak isn’t. He emerges from his tent, but his pack is too heavy. Dickson takes about half of what is in it and puts it back into the tent. You don’t pack up your tent before leaving on summit day – you have to come back past here anyway. My sleeping area has been left clear for one of the porters to sleep in. You can’t lock your bags in case you have to be carried off the mountain and someone else needs to pack up for you – so a porter stays in the tent to look after your things.
At 1:06AM we begin to walk. The moon is high, Dickson gives Dipak his headlamp as his is too weak. Dickson and myself both go without a headlamp – it is really bright enough without one.
The walk is relatively gradual. Pole Pole and we are doing fine. Dickson asks us if we are doing ok every 5 minutes. With risks such as hypothermia and altitude sickness, this is definitely necessary. Many people also fall asleep while walking, and that can be dangerous.
Our pace is probably around 1.5km/h – we are practically running up the mountain. We pass 2 other large groups that set out a while before us.
3 people walk past me on their way down within about 20 minutes. It is too early for them to have reached the top. I say “get well soon”, each says “thanks”. One says that their guide is sending them back because they keep falling asleep. I can’t understand how someone could fall asleep while walking?
Time passes, terrain changes, the temperature drops. We stop for the occasional break, but we are all looking good.
3AM we stop for about our 4th break. My waterbottle – upside down and wrapped in 2 socks, which is usually enough to stop it from freezing – is frozen. I am now starting to understand this falling asleep thing. We sit down for a break, and I hear let’s go almost immediately. I must have dozed off. I take a small bite of my cereal bar, I feel a bit nauseous trying to eat it, but it goes down alright.
There is a very faint blue line in the easy. We are so high that the start of the sunrise – still around 3 hours away – is visible in the distance. I have only seen this once before – on a overnight flight between Jo’burg and Istanbul many years ago. Mawenzi is visible in the moonlight. The glaciers are getting closer. The air is getting colder. This is no place for humans!
We are past half way up in both distance and altitude now. I am now feeling very tired. The next 2 hours can be summed up like this – open eyes to see next step, close them again and take the step. Force eyes open to take a step. Close them and take the step. I am feeling tired now – in retrospect this is what happens when they don’t serve you breakfast on summit day and you don’t snack when you stop – every break we take I am sleeping, not eating or drinking. Rookie mistakes may be costly.
“Strong like a simba, slow like a chameleon” says Dickson.
Dickson can see I am not doing well. He takes my 2 litre waterbottle from me and gets me to eat and drink something. This few drops of icy water with game taste good, the cereal bar makes me feel a bit nauseous again. I know this feeling. I have had this in the Berg before. I don’t think about it. I refuse to let myself acknowledge that I am putting my life in danger. I will not come back to this mountain. I must conquer it today.
6:30 – the sun is about to rise. The horizon has a solid red line. Stela Point is about 100m away. Dickson tells us to keep going. My sleepiness has gone away – 2 hours of almost sleep walking is not healthy and my energy levels are low. The weather forecast said it would be -11, sunrise is the coldest time of the day and we are nearing the top. I can’t feel my fingers or my toes. My water is mostly frozen, with only a few drops coming out at a time. So much for “keep it upside-down” and “cover it with a sock for insolation”. Funny enough – I was the only person in the team who had this problem.
I get my camera out at Stela Point – the sun is up and I need photos. I am not feeling well. I know this feeling and it isn’t altitude sickness. It is a simple case of not eating properly. What I really need is 20 minutes in the sun, something to eat and something to drink. I start walking ahead of Dickson and Dipak towards Uhuru. The hardest part is done, but I know that only 60% of people who make it to Stela Point will actually summit. This is probably more true due to days when people summit in storms. Our weather is perfect – not a cloud in the sky.
The ridge between Stela Point and Uhuru is very crowded. There must be 40 people up here. Thembi is on her way back to Stela Point when we pass her. We soon pass Janine as well. She says I need to sit down and eat something. Apparently my face is white. I can believe this – I felt like this on day 1 of GT 2012 and that was on track to not end well. Take away some oxygen and make the temperature much colder and I shudder to think! As you can probably all guess, though, the author of this story did not die that day…
I reached Uhuru – 5895m, Swahili for freedom – with Dipak and Dickson at 7:33AM. Dipak congratulates me and I congratulate him, but also remind him that we are only halfway there. It is windy and there is a queue at the summit board. I know I need to get out of the wind and warm up. In retrospect I should have done this on the way up, but my motivation to summit exceeded my instinct of self-preservation.
We get some summit shots, my ones with the SA flag don’t come out well – the wind is too strong. I also took my high school flag along – the summit shot with this massive flag comes out a bit better.
I race off the top. I scratch my nose, it is completely numb. I know this isn’t good. I must have almost run off the top. At around 5800m I find a sheltered spot where I sit and allow my icy body to thaw a bit. I also eat some food.
I am feeling much better already. The sun at this altitude is very warm. Almost burning.
As I sit there I stare at the massive glacier in front of me. In this moment I realise that this is what I actually came here to see, and I so easily could have missed it. I take cognisance of the shape of the glacier. I notice water dripping off the ice on one end. Just thinking of this now fills me with sadness. To think that these glaciers have been there for millions of years, and in the next decade this will probably be entirely gone. Absolutely tragic.
Soon Dipak, Dickson and myself are at Stela Point. I am feeling much better, I open my water bottle to find a massive blob of ice inside the nozzle. I clear it and manage to get a bit of juice out. I also finish my cereal bar. We are some of the last people to still be on top.
We begin our descent. You go up on solid trails, you go down on scree. This allows you to drop down the mountain very quickly, although I would imagine that may people get injured on this section.
Around 9AM, as the surfing on scree comes to an end, we meet up with Jeanine. We slowly make our way down to camp. When we arrive at the Ice Camp it feels like 4PM. It is actually 10:30AM.
Thembi is sleeping in her tent. Jeanine tells me the story of her hour on top of Africa. It’s funny – the person who struggled the most for the past 5 days is the one who was strongest on summit day. But we all made it up and that is what really counts.
My 2 litre waterbottle never got used on the way up or down, so in my mind it was not cheating to allow Dickson to carry it for me. But it will always be almost a mark against my name in my head.
Sitting in camp it feels like the morning events were a dream. As if I dreamed I climbed the mountain, but I was just sleeping in my tent. I know that what I came here to do has come and gone, so quickly, and while I was basically sleeping. I think back now, and I wonder how I would have regretted it if I had not spent those 10 minutes staring at the glaciers.
If I did the mountain again, I would start summit day at 5AM after a big breakfast. Get your basics right and don’t change what works – the rule of any sport.
At 1PM we have lunch. It feels more like supper. The others tell Dickson that they don’t feel like leaving Barafu. They are all exhausted. I remind them that we will all be much more energetic when we reach a lower altitude and have more air. Funny enough, I still don’t feel the altitude at all.
By 2PM we are walking again. Somehow I managed to convince the others that we shouldn’t go for Millennium/High Camp (3700m) but rather the lower Mweka Camp (3100m). The logic is that we have to reach the carpark by 11, and Millennium Camp is 2 hours further, which means walking from 6AM. Also a lower camp means more oxygen and a better/warmer night sleep. Of course you can’t change your minds once the porters have been given instructions – otherwise your tents will end up at the wrong camp long before you get there.
Isaiah leads the way. Jeanine and myself end up far ahead of the others. We haraka haraka-ed nicely, doing around 5 km/h.
As you drop in altitude you begin to see vegetation again. This is a strange sight after a few days of Alpine Desert! I don’t feel a difference in energy levels, but the others clearly do.
We hit Millennium camp around 4PM. It is far to go still, and we have already done 19km today. The others are taking strain, but I still feel fine. We stop for 10 minutes here, Dickson gets the permit he needs to check into Mweka Camp. This camp looks quite nice – equipped with a helipad and surrounded by trees.
Not much to say about the walk to Mweka Camp. It rained a bit – and for the first time on the trip, my raincoat was with the porters, I was long over worrying about getting wet on the final afternoon. Fortunately the rain wasn’t too bad.
The camp comes into view from a while away, but the path winds so much that it feels like it will never come.
Mweka camp looks good, covered in trees and flatter than anything we had seen since day 1. We are all happy to be here, a 23km day with 1.3km in altitude gain and 2.8km in altitude loss will always be heavy!
Day 7 and the journey home
The day starts with the normal breakfast. I stop pretending that I like the millet porridge and don’t even touch it. I eat some of the not-very-nice omelettes on stale cold toast. Eat 2 of the others bananas as well – they weren’t very nice bananas. I snack on another of the many cereal bars I took with.
We then all get together – 4 hikers, 3 guides and 11 porters – for a group shot with an SA and Tanzanian flag. The team then sings us a thank you song:
The walk back to Mweka gate is uneventful. We reach the hotel at 1:30 in time for lunch.
Before we have lunch, Dickson gives us our certificates. We give him the tip for the porters – we had previously agreed to give the minimum tip (which seemed really excessive), but after how amazing the guys were, we decided to up the tip by 12.5% - and really, they deserved double what we gave them.
We sit down to a lunch, all feeling nice and relaxed. Then I check my email.
“Dear Mr Newman, please note that your Precision Air flight has been CANCELLED. You are now on the later flight to Nairobi and the late flight to Jo’burg“.
I have a connecting flight to PMB, they haven’t moved this. I need this flight moved as I will only have arrived in Nairobi when my final flight takes off. Kenya Airways replies that it isn’t there problem, I must fix it myself. With no access to phoning, I am trying to arrange this via my cell phone and wifi.
Anyway – to cut a long story short – after much fighting I had to fork out a lot of money to move an overpriced SA Airlink flight to 7AM the next morning, and all Kenya Airways would pay for was give me accommodation near JHB airport – ironically this was more expensive than moving the SA Airlink flight (also moving the flight almost cost as much as booking it in the first place).
We all safely arrived in JHB the next day (at midnight). I had to get to the Kenya Airways desk to get my voucher to go to the hotel. At 1AM I was in my room. 5:30 I was up again, 6AM I am back at the airport, 7AM sitting in an Avronliner jet, 7:45AM the clouds finally clear enough for me to see the clear shape of the Hodgeson’s Peaks, 8:10AM I am safely in PMB.
The next day, driving back from a client in Durban, I always love the spot when you see the mountains around PMB as you drive in - on this occasions they looked completely flat
Advice for others doing Kili
1) Do the Machame Route - it is really awesome
2) I highly recommend Malcolm Pearce's Summit Ventures and Zara. If you can get Dickson, he is awesome. Isaiah is also really good. I saw how other guides conducted their teams, some teams tents weren't set up when they arrived. Our group was really well organised, Dickson really knows what he is doing, and the guys were incredibly jacked up. Getting the best spot at Barafu Camp when there were so many others camped there just goes to further show how well organised this was.
3) They tell you not to bother taking snack food as they feed you so much. I disagree. Take some sweets/motivation food, and if you are a fussy eater like me, take plenty of snack food. Especially for summit day - they won't give you a lunch pack, so make sure you take some food.
4) Don't forget your electrolytes. You drink a lot on this dry mountain, so you really need these.
5) Chill, take it slowly, enjoy - it is not a race, and you always have much more time than you need. Pole pole!
6) It is colder than you think, don't take a chance on your gear, especially your sleeping bag
7) Listen to your guide's advice - they know what they are talking about. Don't forget that it is generally the experienced hikers who don't get to the top.
If I did Kili a second time, what would I do
1) I would combine the trip with a climb up Meru
2) I would go up the Umbwe route to Baranco Camp, would then go up to Lava Tower Hut and do the Arrow Glacier Route. I would camp at Crater Camp and spend a day checking out the crater and ash pit - you don't see these if you don't stay up there
3) I would fly in a few days early and check out the area, imagine if it was my inbound flight that got cancelled.
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21 Mar 2015 07:15 #63127
by ghaznavid
Nice
When are you going?
Replied by ghaznavid on topic Kilemakyaro (Kilimanjaro): Hakuna Matata (1/3)
Spykid wrote: I had to put everything aside to read this ! Good read and info. I plan riding to Tanzania soon in anycase.
Nice
When are you going?
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22 Mar 2015 06:42 #63130
by Spykid
Replied by Spykid on topic Kilemakyaro (Kilimanjaro): Hakuna Matata (1/3)
Hoping to do it in the June/July holiday. Namibia to Zambia via Caprivi and then onto Tanzania. There is a route around Kili and maybe hop onto a ferry and check Zanzibar our.Returning through Moz. Broke my right wrist so I am taking it easy for now 
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22 Mar 2015 17:19 #63131
by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic Kilemakyaro (Kilimanjaro): Hakuna Matata (1/3)
Nice, enjoy
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