4th January 2010
Day 1 - Mt Kilimanjaro – Machame Gate to Machame Camp
We arrived at Machame Gate around 10.00 am and after registration and a false start (we’d filled in the registration for a seven day trip when it should have been six), the first major decision was if I should have a porter to carry my back pack up the mountain. The team leader suggested that I carry the back pack myself to encourage a correct posture and to ensure a slow pace. The pack when full weighed about 10 kilos but about 4 kilos of that was water so as I drank that lightened the load as the day progressed. So I decided to carry the pack. We set off then on our first day on the mountain at 11.00 am. It was a fairly easy climb and we were reminded constantly to keep drinking water and to keep snacking. I was feeling pretty good so at one stage I kind of sped up past the other team members but immediately got into trouble from the guides for going too quickly. “Pole pole” from the start became our mantra which is Swahili for “slowly slowly”.
Keeping water flowing was easy as I had a “camel pack” system which is a bag of water with a hose attached which threads through the back pack and you suck on the tube to get the water. By the time I had finished the day’s climb at 4.30 pm I had drunk all of the 4 litres of water that I was carrying, plus a mango juice for lunch. I received an “attaboy” for that, which kind of offset my being on report for going too fast earlier in the day.
We arrived at Machame Camp in the rain which turned the camp into a muddy mess. However dinner redeemed the situation – zucchini soup then filet of fish with vegetable sauce. We all retired to bed before 9.00 pm for a well deserved night’s sleep.
Just before bed we were each handed an envelope. One of our team members, Shean, unfortunately contracted pneumonia just before the trip and hence was forced to stay home. He was there with us in spirit however and he had for each of us prepared a hand written a note for each day, which I read first thing each morning. This morning ritual became an integral part of the climb and Shean’s notes really inspired me each day to keep on trekking.
Our guides, headed by Elias and ably supported by Stanford and Eliakim, were superb. They gave us excellent advice and helped us where the going got tough. For anyone contemplating a trek up Mount Kilimanjaro, Tusker Trail is the only company to go with – they really look after you (this is a free ad).
Day 2 - Mt Kilimanjaro – Machame Camp to Shira Camp
Camp was raised at 6.00 am for packing and breakfast. We were served hot oatmeal, papaya, bread and jam and were feeling really satisfied. That was when the eggs and sausages were served. So we were really full setting out at 7.45 am. Today’s ascent was really steep climbing from 10,200 feet to ultimately reaching 11,600 feet (3,840 metres). The team leader suggested that I use my trekking poles today which was great advice as there were a lot of large steps as we ascended for about 5 hours. I can tell you that to come over that last crest and see the camp was a beautiful sight.
The fact that camp was already set up was in itself remarkable. Each morning we would pack our own gear and leave it outside the tent in the specially designed Tusker gear bag. We weren’t required to touch the tent. Once we started out, our porters (there were about 55 of them in total) would pack up the camp and carry all of it (our gear, tents for everyone, food, supplies, the portaloos, even chairs for the mess tent, etc etc) to the next camp. They would pass us along the trail, each of them carrying up to 30 lbs of gear. They would then unpack everything, pitch the tents, put our bags inside, and have some hot tea and snacks ready for us when we reached each day’s destination. These guys were the real heroes of our trip – without the porters there is no way we city slickers could have lugged all that gear up the mountain.
Today during the climb I learnt a great Swahili phrase “haraka haraka hyena barraka” which means those actions which are taken with haste, are not blessed.
Lunch at camp was as good as a gourmet meal – hot soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.
The afternoon was spent at leisure, stretching, talking about the day’s climbing and playing Texas Hold ‘Em with the boys. We didn’t finish the game as by 6.00 pm we had to line up for our twice daily medical check. We have our pulse and oxygen level monitored twice a day and the guides listen to our lungs each morning. Today for passing the check we each were awarded a black plastic Tusker Kilimanjaro bracelet. That bracelet is now a treasured possession.
Dinner was a magnificent chicken curry. My appetite has been huge on the mountain (which is a good thing) and I enjoyed all of 3 plates of chicken curry and rice.
Bed time was again at 9.00 pm.
Day 3 – Shira Camp to Lava Tower to Barranco Camp
Today was an 8.15 am start with the first four hours being a relatively easy climb up towards Lava Tower. I started with the poles but it quickly became apparent that they were more of a hindrance than a help and one of our guides, Stanford, kindly took my poles for me to leave me free to walk. By noon as we approached 14,000 feet I started to really feel the altitude - it took all of my energy to slowly walk step by step up to finally reach Lava Tower at about 1.00 pm where we stopped for lunch and an impromptu medical check. I did okay in the medical check and ate most of the lunch but still just felt pretty average. But most of the afternoon was downhill so I took back the poles and traversed the rocks and streams down to the Barranco Camp.
Lava Tower is so named because it is the source of the lava flow of the now extinct volcano. I have to say that we descended from Lava Tower (just over 15,000 feet) at a cracking pace which was tough on the knees, hamstrings and quads. Especially the quads. In some respects going downhill was more difficult than trekking uphill but at least the oxygen level was improving as you descended.
When we reached camp just before 4.00 pm, I had my first mountain headache so I took a couple of Panadol and just felt generally poorly. Interestingly my oxygen result that evening was one of the best on the mountain. Go figure? Fortunately I still had my appetite however and I enjoyed a meal of soup (always the soup) and spaghetti Bolognese.
Bed time was 8.30 pm and I’m pleased to say that I slept for 9 hours which left me refreshed, relaxed and on the Tusker scale of mountain climbing, 10 out of 10 for the Day 4 ahead.
Day 4 – Barranco Camp to Karanga Valley
So fortunately after the 9 hour sleep I woke up feeling good again. We had a 30 minute grace period before breakfast today. Breakfast consisted of sweet corn porridge, pancakes, sausages and toast. We then set off up the Southern Circuit down into a river valley, crossed the river and started to climb up a rocky precipice. It wasn’t long before we encountered “suicide ridge” which meant a slow shuffle along a two inch wide ledge, clinging on to the mountain side for each life with one’s fingernails dug into the rocks. Letting go would mean a 1,000 foot plunge onto the rocks below. This was the only time so far during the whole trek that I wished I didn’t have the backpack on my back. But the guides were great and got us through unscathed. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”.
From there on the rest of the day’s climb was relatively easy. We ascended to 14,000feet, descended into the vast river valley, then walked up a steep slope to Karranga Valley. We arrived in the pouring rain to find ourselves stuck in our tents for about 30 minutes until the rain subsided.
Oh how I hate camping.
Anyway, finally the sun came out so we could dry our wet clothes. We were served vegetable soup, cheese and vegetable sandwiches, then chicken for lunch.
We stayed in the common tent to play cards for most of the afternoon. Then the usual medical test visit followed by dinner of the ubiquitous soup (it all tastes the same now) followed by mashed potato with beef stew and lentils. My appetite remains good but the food is becoming wearisome. But what can you expect half way up Mt. Kilimanjaro? Tusker did their very best to make the food varied and nutritious. Sanitation was also a huge issue on the mountain, which is why for the most part the food we ate was very well cooked. We also used our hand sanitizers often.
Day 5 – Karanga Valley to Barafu Camp to Cosovo Camp (16,000 feet)
I slept well again. My PA gave me a Phiten X50 necklace before I left which is supposed to assist sleep and well being in difficult conditions. I think this helps.
After breakfast and getting our gear packed once again, we set off on the uphill trek to Barafu. Not a difficult climb today, a bit of scrambling over rocks but mostly just trekking uphill.
Barafu means ice in Swahili and the camp there is perched on rocky slopes in a fairly hostile environment. Our guides earlier on had suggested that we carry on an extra hour to Cosovo and we were very pleased to have agreed with that suggestion once we saw the barren cramped conditions at Barafu.
So after lining up to “sign in” with the rangers, we started our climb up to Cosovo. As we departed our head guide Elias commented that every step was now part of the summit climb so we were pleased to have at least a small part of the summit climb behind us before the big day. The early part of this climb was quite tough as well as it involved scrambling over slippery rock surfaces.
We arrived into camp in time for lunch. After lunch we had a briefing on the summit climb then headed back to the tents for a nap before dinner. We were back in the sleeping bags by 7.30 pm to try and get a few hours sleep before the 10.45 pm wake up call.
Day 6 – To the Summit
We all forced down a bit of breakfast before assembling for the midnight departure. Fortunately the porters were going to pack up for us so we just grabbed our back packs and left.
I’d been told several times that the big advantage of leaving at midnight was that you couldn’t see the climb ahead and I have to say this was true. Basically for the next 6 hours we just slowly walked up a very steep dirt trail with numerous switchbacks. We did stop here and there for brief rests but it became so cold that stopping for long wasn’t really an option. About an hour into the ascent it started to snow, and whilst beautifying the landscape, it didn’t do much for our demeanor. About 2.00 am the moon rose which was a welcome sign and from then on we were all looking forward to seeing the top – but that was still over four hours away.
You couldn’t really talk much as we all needed the energy for climbing. So most of the time I just focused on the next step and sang nonsensical 70’s and 80’s pop songs in my head. I also sang a few musicals like “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Miss Saigon”. Why these popped into my head at 17,000 feet above sea level, I’ll never know but quite a few of us were experiencing some level of delirium so I was likely going through some phase of temporary insanity, just to trick my brain into letting me climb higher and higher while the rest of my body was demanding to stop with the craziness.
At some point on one of our frequent brief stops the guides pulled out some white powder for us all to consume which turned out to be pure glucose powder. The guides absolutely insisted that we consume the glucose and watched us eat it. It was like eating a handful of sand from the beach so the side benefit was that we had to wash it down with a lot of water.
I have to admit that the first two hours were very tough but once the moon came up it seemed easier and I just got into a “zone” and trudged up the mountain step by step. Fortunately I didn’t suffer any headaches or nausea (thanks to the Diamox I would think) and my lungs had sufficient oxygen to get me uphill. It was tougher on some of our group and a few of the group needed a shot or two of oxygen from the guides but in the end everyone dug deep and found that little bit extra to get them through. I was mightily impressed by all my fellow climbers’ strength and fortitude.
I had taken up my usual position at the rear of the group and just before 6.00am I looked up to see all my fellow climbers hugging and ‘high five-ing” each other. I thought that they had really been tipped over the edge and gone stark raving mad but it turned out that we’d reached the Stella crater rim, which was a significant milestone in the climb. From there it was a leisurely one hour walk up a gradual incline to the summit. As the sun came up we stopped often to take pictures as the surrounds were breathtaking with glaciers, snow capped peaks and the awesome scenery of Mother Nature at her finest.
Finally at around 7.00 am we all made it to the summit. It was quite a busy morning with about 20 other climbers reaching the summit at around the same time. While we waited for our turn to take a photo at the famous Uhuru Peak sign, we enjoyed the immense feeling of satisfaction to have made it up there under our own steam. In total we spent about 45 minutes at the summit. Having strived towards this peak for the previous 5 days, I wish it would have been possible to spend much more time up there on the “roof of Africa” but we had a long descent ahead of us so all too soon it was time to go. I will never as long as I live forget the feeling of being there at the top.
Uhuru Peak to Mweke Camp
Now came the really hard part – the descent. We had a descent from 19,340 feet to 10,400 feet ahead of us, over a total of about 15km. The first part took about 3 hours down to Barafu Camp. You descend over a different path than what you climb up and it is pretty slippery in part so you need to use your poles for balance and support and one needs to take extra care.
Coming down we were chatting about our being totally over the camp food and that the only thing we really felt like from the camp menu was the grilled cheese and vegetable sandwiches. Well fortuitously when we reached the Tusker mess tent at around 11.00 am that’s what they were serving for lunch.
We hung around there for about an hour before dragging our weary bodies back out on the trail to walk down to Millennium Camp. Of course it started to rain so it became a pretty miserable hike. My boots which had performed very well on the ascent weren’t so great coming down and after a while every step became agony as my toes kept banging up against the front of my boots. But stopping wasn’t an option so we just soldiered on downhill in the rain. Another issue was that we’d put on thermal underwear for the cold ascent and as we lost altitude it became warmer and warmer. We reached Millennium Camp around 1.30 pm and after a brief rest we trekked on downwards towards Mweke Camp. This stage was a huge challenge as most of the walking was through a rocky river bed and every step was potentially a twisted ankle. We walked past a stretcher left beside the trail as if to say be careful or you could find yourself stretchered out.
Finally our hot, sweaty, tired, rain drenched bodies arrived at camp around 3.30 pm. So all in all it amounted to a day of 15 hours of trekking starting out at 16,000 feet climbing to 19,340 feet and then descending back to 10,400 feet.
After a change of clothes (just from one dirty set to another really, the only difference being that we changed into drier clothes) and ditching the boots we met up at the mess tent for a couple of well deserved cold Kilimanjaro beers which the ranger station was selling for US$4.00 per can. The rain was still pouring down and in fact became a river through the floor of the mess tent but no one really cared. We forced down a little of the ubiquitous fried chicken and chips for dinner and then crashed for about 10 hours.
Thankfully that would be the last night in a tent for the trip and I don’t plan to sleep in a tent again for a long time to come.
Day 7 – Mweke Camp to Mweke Gate
Up early at 6.00 am as we were all keen to get out of there and back to civilization. At the guides’ urging I forced myself to eat some egg on toast and we set off at about 7.15 am. One of the guides suggested that I wear my running shoes and after putting on a “second skin” bandage over my many blisters I found that I could walk without too much discomfort. The trail was pretty easy but very muddy at times. We stopped to watch a family of black and white Colobus monkeys jumping around the jungle canopy and finally arrived at the Mweke Gate at 9.50 am. We signed in with the rangers for the final time and then boarded the Tusker bus for the drive back to the Keys Hotel for a shower, lunch and many more beers. Ironically that afternoon I suffered a blinding headache and had to sleep for a couple of hours before I could eat dinner. I guess it was just an accumulation of all the challenges over the week that finally got to me and forced me to sleep for a while.
Summary
Although I had never previously aspired to climb a mountain it became somewhat of a challenge once suggested to me by my good friend and fellow climber, Sam. The fact that we were supporting a very worthwhile children’s charity decided it for me.
Over the seven days we climbed from 6,000 feet to 19.340 feet and back down to 5,500 feet over approximately 60 kilometers. I didn’t do any special training for the climb, but without doubt you need a certain level of fitness to be able to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. I only found out on our return that the Machame Route that we took was the most challenging of the various routes, so that gave me a little extra satisfaction.
Camping out is not at all my thing and this was probably the most uncomfortable aspect for me. I actually enjoyed most of the climb, and the camaraderie with my fellow climbers was fantastic. But of course reaching the summit was a personal achievement. What was interesting to me personally was that the one thing that I was expecting more than anything else, a really tough “out-of-breath” slog to the summit on the last day, didn’t materialize. Then again, I also didn’t experience the oxygen rush on the descent that so many climbers had described to me.
Looking back I guess I mentally determined that I was going to make that summit one way or the other unless it became physically impossible due to altitude sickness. So in the end that is what I did.
Postscript
Pretty much all of the ailments that I managed to avoid on the mountain got me in the week after. First the headaches (these lasted for several days), then the nausea and stomach upsets, and finally I came down with acute bronchitis and had to succumb to a dose of antibiotics to help me to recover. Even now, some 2 months after the climb, I feel that my body is still adjusting back to normality. Interestingly I have just come back from a trip to Ecuador and traveled as high as 4,000 meters (by car this time), with no ill effects, although some of my colleagues did it tough. So my Kilimanjaro experience has left a lingering impact on my constitution, it would seem.
Our team leader asked us at the end to summarize our Kilimanjaro experience in just one word. I can’t recall what if any answer I gave at the time, but for me now it would have to be:
“Attitude”
-David
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