Initially posted on Facebook [Notes] on March 21, 2009
Excerpts and transcripts taken directly from my personal travel journal
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| A & C at Londrossi Gate as we prepare to head into Mt. Kilimanjaro National Park to begin our trek |
On July 31, close to 9 in the morning, I made it to the rooftop of Africa by making it to Uhuru Peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro at 5,895 m. From our departure close to 11pm in the evening from Barafu base camp, it was the most difficult 8 hrs. or so of pure adrenaline, grit, determination & certainly God's grace, pushing me up to Uhuru Peak.
....Before the summit bid....I completed about 6 days of intensive hiking both in the mornings & afternoons. Our camps would be dead silent by 9 pm because everyone was busy resting and sleeping to refuel their energy & strength to continue on the next day's arduous climb...On the night of our summit bid, I didn't sleep at all probably because I was too excited anticipating the climb that lay some hours away...From around 11pm to 9am, we hiked for around 8 hrs. in the freezing alpine cold, struggling to catch our breath in the thinner air....meticulous about each step, strenuous, struggling to conquer my eternal optimism of "seeing the end"...
....After reaching the summit, I went back down to Barafu Camp (our base camp) to pack up our gear and head down to lower altitude because one of our climbing mates who didn't make it to the peak needed to get to lower altitude as he was experiencing chest pains...In the end, without resting at base camp and not being able to stomach much food, I hiked another 7-8 hrs. in total from Uhuru Peak to Mweka Camp (3,100 m) where we spent the night. I had been out hiking consistently pretty much for an excruciating 16 hrs. before we settled at Mweka Camp. My mood prior to reaching that camp was severely bent because I just wanted to reach camp and rest...maybe reflect on the monumental achievement that had just occurred hours ago...even if to capture & collect my thoughts. It seemed like an eternity before we did end up setting up camp for the night. And, to be quite frank, as we were nearing the camp, I came to a point where I almost succumbed to some "violent" tendencies and I felt like punching someone out!
I wrote this journal entry at Mweka Camp (3,100m) in the wee early morning (~5 am) hours the day after I made the summit. In my tent, I settled to chronicle my thoughts and feelings to capture the truest and most authentic moments of my climb:
Yesterday morning, God blessed me with a momentous opportunity to seek a great lifetime thrill in climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro & moreover, in the end, He helped me to accomplish that feat by making it to the summit at 5,895 m! I thank Him for the triumph and blessing.
On the morning of July 25, my adventures began with entry into Mt. Kilimanjaro at the Londrossi Gate. We were transported in safari jeeps from the town of Moshe and traveled through rough terrain & viewed beautiful landscape vistas of trees, corn & sunflower fields in order to reach that entry point. At the gate, we were met by a huge entourage of people - mostly men. Little did I know that these would be the unbelievably strong & fit individuals who would act as guides, cooks & porters for every individual outfitter group seeking to reach Africa’s rooftop. That morning, I met 2 people who I grew quite fond of and who would be my climbing mates for the next 6 or so days. Cindy and Andrew were a couple from Rochester, New York. During our six days there prior to the summit bid, we had to acclimatize our body with Diamox, a drug that should be taken to avoid or limit high altitude sickness. Each day, we walked from 6-8 hours. Put it this way, although not intensely technical, hiking up & down the mountains was not an easy task & each day I was so elated to have reached the camp because my body was clearly exhausted!
We went across many climatic zones in our daily hiking: cultivation, forest, heather, moorland, alpine desert & summit. Passing through each region was like an instant transformation into a different world - like the children’s entry from the wardrobe into Narnia! Sharp contrasts lay between vegetation, plants (flora), animals such as elephants & lions (although we didn’t see any...just big elephant dung - how nice!) & temperature.
The Day of the Summit Bid
We ate lunch at Lava Tower 4,600 m before descending back down to Barranco Camp 3,950 m for a night’s rest. This is a great example of the climb high/sleep low rule that helps people acclimatize safely. On July 30, we left at around 8 am to make our 2-3 hr. hike up to Kirenga Hut 3,963 m for lunch. This hike was arduous & difficult with steep climbs & ascents. The effect of altitude also began to take a greater strain on our bodies making us feel increasingly tired at quicker intervals. After enjoying our freshly cooked meal atop the chilly & windy Kirenga Hut, we immediately departed for Barafu camp. This would be the starting point for our summit bid. We needed to get there as early as we could so that we could organize our things, eat dinner and sleep before getting up at 11pm for the summit climb. It was a challenging 3 hr. hike to reach there. What’s more is since there were many tourists climbers in Kilimanjaro to conquer the summit, Barafu Camp 4,600m (and others along the Lemosho and Machame routes) was dotted with tents so we had to find our team. In order to do so, we had to manage to walk over huge rocks. Imagine doing this after a full day’s hike where the muscles are terribly numb and every aching step with our packs is a burning, terribly agonizing step! By the time we got there, settled down and had dinner, it was close to 7pm. Our plan was to wake-up at 11pm and depart at midnight in order to make it to the summit for the sunrise.
The Night of the Summit Bid
It was around 12:47am when we passed the last area of our campsite. As we began our sojourn up the mountain and as I struggled for energy, breath and even the courage to continue, I would occasionally look up to find a steady flow of lights that were the headlamps of those climbers who were higher up and ahead of us. The sight of that reminded us of a beautiful traffic jam against the backdrop of a black and dark mountain. The steady stream of headlamps marked everyone’s determination to take the "pole-pole" mentality (Swahili for step-by-step) up to Uhuru Peak. With hard toiling, climbing and seemingly endless switchbacks of steep ascents, we finally reached the spot where we had a clear view of the top of Stella Point. After resting for a good several minutes (we couldn’t rest for too long as it would get extremely cold keeping in mind that now we were closer towards the the peak which meant that we were in alpine conditions), I drudged up enough breath and mustered the strength to push myself onwards. Although not too far up and even within sight, perhaps 100m was Stella Point! It was “UP there” and that high depth ascent really annoyed me because although it seemed so close, it was very far. My body was aching, fatigued and I could feel that I was really struggling at this point. So from 12:47pm (July 30) to close to 8:45am, we experienced darkness to shimmering moonlight and then a booming, strong and glorious sunrise. Right from the starting point, I knew that I would be up for the physical fight of my life. Although I didn’t experience severe side effects from taking Diamox, I did struggle to breathe properly especially as we ventured up into thinner air. With every step, pole-pole, I was feeling the strain on my body and I was beginning to feel a tiredness in my lungs (which meant the lungs were sore & the chest felt heavy). This was most evident when we approached Stella Point. I needed to stop and catch my breath at almost every switchback turn because my breathing was beginning to feel more laboured and it was taking on a panting pattern that in truth, scared me. I needed to stop to quickly catch my breath at each turn. It was especially difficult to hike up because the switchbacks seemed never-ending and the seeming torture of going on didn’t seem to have an ending point. I was praying that I would quickly get there and with every ounce of energy, I muttered a pray of mercy to God at every turn!
After 6 days or so of heavy duty hiking and near to zero rest the night of our summit bid, I was already tired right from the start! When I reached Stella Point, I thought I could collapse. I remember distinctly that at that point my legs were getting super super sore - they were pretty tight and cramped up! I sat down to get some rest as we would stop for about 15 mins. We enjoyed the beautiful sunrise....probably the most beautiful one I’ve ever soaked in. We were given a can of Red Bull and a Mars bar for a last ditch refueling of energy and sugar before we made the final stretch towards Uhuru Peak of Kibo summit. Red Bull was nasty and I could barely stomach the chocolate bar although at that point, I still maintained the mental faculties to discern that it would be very wise to take a few bites and sips! When it was time to get up and go again, I told myself that although there was very little strength left in me, I had to push because it was the final stretch before I would reach the highest peak of the summit! I had to reach it. This part of the mountain had snow and ice so I was especially cautious in taking my steps. After about 50 mins. of traversing the black sand, rocks, snow and ice, I finally reached the last stretch towards Uhuru Peak! As Cindy was ahead of me with Hasan, she was sitting cheering me on in my final steps. As I saw her, I was filled with emotion. These final steps filled me with unimaginable elation that I was overcome with tears. I was overwhelmed at the thought of just how difficult and physically challenging climbing this mountain was and that I was about to accomplish this most awesome and excruciating adventure! I was also near extreme exhaustion that it had begun to affect my memory at such high altitudes but more importantly, the end journey was going to be reached in a matter of minutes and a shower of emotions got the better part of me.
The high altitude had begun to affect my memory because in the movie I made shortly after making it to the peak, I recorded my climbing mate’s name incorrectly! I said, Chrissy instead of Cindy!. Once I did reach the peak, it was a sensational feeling to take my photo at the sign of the world’s tallest free standing mountain: Mount Kilimanjaro. I spent enough time to breathe in the absolute gorgeous vistas, bathe in the glory of the presence of the mountain, quickly take photos and head back down.
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| 5,895m Uhuru Peak |
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| Moments after reaching the peak |
At high altitudes your brain cells are killed off at such a fast pace that we ended up spending only about 20 mins. at the peak before beginning our tiring journey back to base camp at Barafu....The beauty of hindsight reveals that little did I know that I would not be sitting down and resting for another 13-14 hrs.! AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Lemosho Route
Londorossi Gate to Mti Mkumbwa (2,650 m/8,692 ft)
Mti Mkubwa (2,650 m/8,692 ft) to Shira One Camp (3,609 m/11,841 ft.)
Shira One Camp (3,609 m/11,841 ft.) to Shira Two Camp (3,849 m/12,628 ft.)
Shira Two Camp (3,849 m/12,628 ft.) to Barranco Hut (3,948 m/12,956 ft.)
Barranco Hut (3,900 m/12,800 ft) to Barafu Hut (4,600 m/15,091 ft)
Barafu Camp (4,600m/15,091 ft) to The Summit (5,896 m/19,343 ft) and then to Mweka Camp (3,100 m/10,170 ft)
Lemosho Route in detail...
For a similar account, please read the article below found on cbc.ca
