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Published: August 7th 2006
Surrounding Scenery
Waking up our first morning to a beautiful view to the SouthA great big "Good Job" to all of us! =)
A big shout out to my family who were kind enough to contribute genes that allowed me to climb to
19,164 ft without Diamox! =)
How it all began....
Wake-up call at 10pm, tea and cookies at 10:30, and at 11pm we started our final leg of the voyage up. The night was clear, and thankfully there wasn't much wind. the clinking of our steps and trekking poles on the slate sounded like breaking glass or clinking chimes. All I saw was the ground in front of me, Paul's back, and occasional tents set up along the route.
We started our ascent with our guide Godi in the lead and the assistant guide, Phillip in the rear. Vaughn and Laura quickly started to pull away, so Godi stuck with them and Paul and I stayed with Phillip. I started to tire out around 17,000ft, but some GU gave me new energy and we plodded on. For some reason, playing movies in my head helped me to keep a steady pace and keep my mind off the pounding of my heart, my gasping for air, and the headache starting
Devil's Tower
The gang at Devil\'s Tower...about 16,000ft up! We weren\'t all feeling so well, but we powered on! from the altitude and thin air.
The stars were bright and looking down the slope you could see the slow-moving headlamps of other hikers. Paul and I were the fourth group moving up the mountain, and we maintained that spot until the very end when we were distracted by taking photos of the ice. I kept the pace slow to conserve energy, minimize the number of stops (once you stop moving, you can start to freeze at such a high altitude0, and to convince my body that this is easy going and no problem at all (hah!). 3/4 of the way up I started to feel ill to my stomach, but fortunately nothing happened...others weren't so lucky!
This effort is very physical in that you need a strong heart and lungs, but more than that you have to have the mental determination to fight throug all the barriers altitude puts in your way. Headache, stomach ick, dizziness, shortness of breath (ie. gasping), and your heart pounding. You just need to grit your teeth between gasps and drag yourself upward. As we were nearing Stella's Point, my fortitude was decreasing rapidly. It was than 5:15am, a full 6 hyours
of climbing leading up to this point. This is where the wind picked up and buffeted us, making me stumble sideways a few steps, it was so powerful!
From there, it was actually a gentle slope up to the summit, and we made it about an hour later at 6:30am, exactly as sunrise hit. We were in a cloud, so couldn't get any distance pictures, but had fun posing at the signpost at Uhuru Peak! As we neared the peak we saw Vaughn, Laura, and Godi and we all started yelling and laughing and hugging each other! It was the best feeling in the world!
I can't put pictures up right now....I have to find an internet cafe with USB ports for the cable, but we will try our best soon. Today we are heading out on safari to the serengeti, the ngorongoro crater, and other locations, so you will be getting another large entry when we get back! We will be gone for 6 days, 5 nights, maybe with an extra day thrown in if we can work it out to see the wildebeast migration.
Love and hugs to you all!!! Thank you for your comments,
and i look forward to hearing from you all again soon! Much love,
Jen, Paul, Vaughn and Laura
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Kristine Lawrie
non-member comment
Whoo hoo!
I'm so proud of you guys. That is absolutely amazing - a feat very few can say that they've done. I can't wait to hear more and see pictures! Travel safe.