'Aint no mountain high enough!

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the internet is infrequent and unreliable in africa. much like telephones, roads, public transport and prices.

enough said as to why this blog is delayed i think.


so we arrived in moshi mid afternoon, having caught a local bus from arusha (where our taxi driver from the airport had categorically told us that if we caught that bus we were going to be mugged and killed so of course we must take his taxi all the way. he even roped his friends into going along with the story. we ignored them all and it was fine) where a mountain guide called nick insisted on telling us all about the tours he did and about his friend that ran tours and that we must meet the friend.

stepping off the bus at moshi was pretty much my worst african experience to date. we had been travelling for 9 hrs solid, clearly had our big backpacks on, and was very obviously tired. that didnt stop the onslaught of a million hasslers trying to buy our business in the form of a mount kili tour. we walked to our hotel and were pulled and separated and yelled at and all sorts. then they tried coming into the hotel with us! at that point i started losing my temper and shouting at them all to get lost in no uncertain circumstances. nick managed to weedle his way in though. humph. he told us he would meet us back in the front room at 7 with his friend. great. the hotel was nice enough and had a great roof top view of mount kili that got us all excited to be climbing it.... we could actually see our mountain. it was becomming very real.

unfortunately, so was nicks promise to bring his friend back. he bought 2. neither of them seemed very enthused by the whole thing and couldnt even give us the name of their office. (you are by this point no doubt thinking the same thing we were). luckily there was a power cut when they turned up so we didnt have to look them in the face for them to see our highly unimpressed expressions. they left shortly after.

the next day was spent doing possibly the most research ive ever done for anything... including exams! we went to several tour companies, some in the guide book, some reccommendations. we assessed prices, guides, equipment, food, itineraries. we went back and debated, looked the companies up on the interweb, went back to them, checked their registrations and qualifications and did absolutely everything we could. we had narrowed it down to 2 and were nail biting about which one to go for right up to our deadline. we're girls, so naturally we did what any girl does on their instincts and went back to the first company. we were so sure but agreed that what would be the icing on the cake would be if someone else had come to join us. it would be reassuring at the very least. our prayers were answered by yvonne. and irish volunteer who had been looking round for a group to join and were told about us! hurrah! we gathered equipment and went back to pack and sleep for the imminent mount kili climb!

24/04/09 DAY 1:

rocked up to the office at 7.30am... loads of people running around us, all the guides and porters piling up stuff and themselves into the mini bus for the off.

drove to marangu gates, the park entrance and the beginning of the 6 day marangu route hike to the summit. (also known as the coca cola route, which means easy in swahili... we were told not to be fooled.. its actually one of the hardest coz you're body has less time to acclimatise, although we had chosen 6 days not 5 to allow an extra day) we met our 2 guides, simon and paul, and were given a quick briefing which consisted of 'drink lots of water and 'pole pole'...('slowly slowly')... the buzz words of the next 6 days). the porters and our cook, hassan, had already gone on ahead up the road route to get to the first day huts before us... yes, we got to stay in huts, not tents, huts. and im so glad we did.

the assent starts at 1800m. we walked for 3hrs in total through beautiful rainforest, bearly seeming to go uphill, stopping for lunch half way which consisted of bannanas, muffins, a burger, chicken and a deep fried veg sandwich. v good. highlights were seeing black monkies and a little rainforest frog.

it didnt rain the whole day and we got to the mandara huts in perfect time. the huts looked like they were straight out of scandinavia, wooden and pointy and tall. they were small and cosy inside. perfect. popcorn, tea and hot choclotate was waiting for us in the dining hall (consisting of us, our echoes and a small resident mouse!)

in the afternoon we walked up with simon (a very pleasent very quiet man who always giggled to himself when we asked him how much harder it was going to get) to maundo crater, coming into very close contact with white collaba monkeys (really cool white tails) and I even spotted a wild camelion!!! it was tiny and i was the most excited person ever... in fact i think that might have been the best bit of the whole thing.. almost! from the crater we looked out over the tanzania and kenyan border, an awesome site, before meandering back down for dinner, a wash in a bowl of warm water, and bed.

25/4/09 DAY 2:

up at 7.15am. its cold but my borrowed sleeping bag is toasty. i dont want to get out of it. our breakfast was massive.. porridge, fruit, egg, sausage (well, frankfurter), tea, toast.... and water. dont think we'll be under fed here! good job we decided not to insist on giving them more money for food!

8.15am started walking again. slow incline, bit of forest, mainly moorland and rolling hills. looked a bit like sun island on lake titicaca. not too steep but got a little out of breath. the porters cleared up then went bombing on ahead of us, with everything on their heads, it was a sight to behold... their necks must get crushed! we went over bridges and crystal rivers. it was misty and sunny, not too cold. the flowers were all red hot pokers, all shot up from were a big forest fire had burnt and blacked a lot of the landscape a few years ago (blamed on a cigarette butt.)

11.30am. lunched at picnic benches on top of a hill. food was similar to yesterday but had chocolate,salad sandwhich and a drink as well.

all put our ipods on and cut the last bit of our journey down by a 3rd! the guides said we had probably walked too quickly and they had struggled to keep up with us! ha! the powers of modern technology coming together with tunes in your ear!

yvonne is great, very talkative and spirited and well into the game. keeps our morale up (not that we need our morale up at the mo, coz its been quite easy so far. simon keeps laughing to himself! his bag weighs a tonne.. we just take day packs and the porters carry our big bags. we have 3 porters each. not that our bags are that heavy before you get ideas we were on a mission to break their backs! they have to carry all the food and stuff too. but its ok, we tip them at the end.)

1.15pm arrive at horrombo huts. 3780m. same type of huts as before. solar pannelled and only 1 western toilet this time. boo. horrombo is bigger than mandara huts as there are more people were staying to acclimatise and its the way all the routes take to come back down. there are 12 different routes you can take up the mountain. so far we have only met a few people coming down. they all look tired and wish us luck! eek! it had made us more excited and determined, but a bit scared. we asked everyone we see as many questions that occur to us at the time so we can be as prepared as pos. we've mainly heard the last day is v v hard. (you start walking at midnight... vertically for 6 hrs in the pitch dark. and its well below freezing). but the people were mainly positive and the comments book was funny... escalators and ziplines had been forcefully reccommended, hehe.

the altitude is fine a the mo, although there are many disussions over the benefits of altitude tablets, prescribed of course. kate and yvonne are taking them. im not. mine are for the effects not for preventing them in the first place. but ive been roaming around south america at up to 4900m for some time now. hope it will be enough.

more tea and popcorn, even though still full from lunch. had a snooze. its a tiny bit colder here.

dinner at 5.30 (even though still full from lunch... and popcorn) is massive.. soup, rice, veg, beef stew, advacado for desert. there is mounds. but we eat on our own, the guides and porters eat separately. we dont know why but there is much speculation over the inequalities that the porters face and how much they get paid and how much we should tip (supposedly 5usd a day, coz its an unsaid part of their wages... but we only thought we had 2 porters each. problem.)

the cold is getting to us a bit. we drink bolied water now... only got real water on the first day. we must carry 3litres on us all the time. and attempt to drink 3l a day (virtually impossible... the most ive drunk is 1.5 and i was impressed with myself!). the water gets delivered to us still boiling hot, which is brilliant. we use them as hot water bottles until they get cold and we can drink them. a common kili trick so we're told!

sun 26/04/09 DAY 3:

sunday, a day of rest. and our acclimatisation day. up at 9am. again a massive breakfast (no chance of losing a few pounds on this trip!) and out into the sunshine and warmth of the day. simon walks us to zebra rocks. they do what they say on the tin. its 4000m. we walk up the rocks and there infront of us lies kili summit and kibo huts... the last point before the final assent, ever closer to our grasp. it looks do-able and we're overcome by a sense that we're actually going to be standing on top of the worlds highest free standing mountain within 24hrs, no matter how tough its going to get (the summit is topped with glaciers and is incredibly steep). yvonne decides that she wants to go to kibo today and walk the summit in the daytime tomorrow during the day. we decide to still to the original itinerary and go tomorrow to walk it at midnight (supposedly the only reason for starting at midnight is so that you can't see how slowly you're going up, and so that you see sun rise. we want to see sun rise.) Yvonne will see us tomorrow at kibo huts as we arrive and she has decended. we've told her only to tell us the good bits, even if its horrific. hehe.

we got to drink cadburys hot chocolate today, that was nice.

the only problem with so much food and drink is that you constantly need the toilet. its a pain!

we got a bit excited this eve coz we somehow made all our tasks last until 8pm. until now we'd been having dinner at 5 then run out of stuff to do and been in bed by 7 thinking we must sleep lots. but we def have to sleep well tonight... tomorrows the big day! can't wait!


................................... to be continued .....................


mon 24/4/09: Day 4, day of reckoning!

and so it has arrived, the start of the summit assent. first we have to get to kibo huts... we eat a humongous breakfast and leave at 8am. we can see the huts in the distance, the terrain today is alpine desert, which means its sunny but v windy. this hinders us a little and its hard to walk downhill even! get a bit out of breath but get to the huts in good time, with a lunch break of course!

its freezing at the huts, we're the only ones there,m they're right at the bottom of the summit climb and we see just how steep the hike is going to be... vertical scree which you have to zigzag across to climb up. but we can see yvonne coming down in the distance... she made it! there is hope for us all.

more popcorn and hotchocolate and discussion with yvonne, she looks tired but surprisingly fine. its all possible.

dinner is at 5 then we are told to promptly so to bed as we have to be up again at 11pm to start the walk at midnight. like we can sleep! we tried on all our gear: on the bottom we'll wear 2 pairs of thermals and big ski pants.. no need for waterproofs coz they're so thick. 2 pairs of socks. on the top 2 thermal tops, 2 long tops, 1 big fleece and a massive puffer jacket. take an extra jumper incase it gets v cold. kili is coldest between 2am - 6am when the wind picks up on the slopes. we have 2 pairs of gloves, a scarf type thing, a balaclava and a hat. i think we'll be warm enough.

just a quick check that the ipod is set up with a playlist of banging tunes to keep us going and then into our massive sleeping bags (theres a mouse in our room, it keeps jumping in and out of oru bags and shoes!!)

i didnt sleep a wink, the adrenaline was pumping through me at a million miles an hour. and so our wake up call came far too early as i was concerned and it felt like the beginning of an exam, that i hadnt slept for... oh god!

on with the gear, although we only wore 1 hat and a small pair of gloves, it was surprisingly warm outside. on with the head tourches and we gathered outside.. me, kate, simon and the cook hassan, who was coming up with us as the other guide had just gone up with yvonne.

12pm: leave kibo huts for the 6.5hr journey to oblivion. all we could see was directly in front of us, and the aim of the game was to walk SLOWLY! pigeon steps, literally. there's 3 main point breaks on the way to the craters edge... gilmans point. if you take to many breaks you stop altogether, so we had to keep going. first stop was ok, we made good time and weren't too out of breath. and it still wasnt too cold. we had half a snickers and made it to the second point, a small cave at 5100m. then the hard part. more vertical, more scree, more rocks, more slipping, more altitude. the hardest 2hrs were upon us. thankfully the weather could not have been better for us, it bearly went below freezing as there was no wind.. result! that was v v lucky and hardly ever happens. yay!

and then... the altitude sickness kicked in. 5400m, 500m from the summit and i started to feel the terrible nausea and the dizziness. it was not pleasent in any way. up and up we went, i had to stop for a few more breaks and we climbed over the last few rocks. one foot in front of the other, the only way is up! and just as i wondered how much further, how much longer, we did it. or the first bit anyway... GILMANS POINT! the rim of the crater! 5681m. 'welcome and congratulations' it read on the sign. it was pitch black still but it was immense. we were so nearly there, we were going to do it! 1.5hrs left to go, a walk round the crater, still steep, another 200m and we'd be at the summit. i couldnt believe it. smiles all round. so we carried on, minus 8 by this point.

but i started feeling worse and worse, near collapsing i was stopping nearly every 10mins and more or less passing out for a few minutes. didnt throw up but the urge was great. god damn it... there was no way in hell i was going down... was i going all the way even if i ended up in that woebegone category of 'died trying'!

the glacier creeped up to our side, stilmans point. 100m to go, i could see it, it was just round the rim, 20 more minutes. slowly slowly. it was getting light but the sun wasnt up. we would make it for sun rise.

one more sit down. one more last rest. left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.

and then, finally, after 4days, 6.5hrs, a lot of sweating and full to the brim of emotion we f***ing did it.

6.30am : CONGRATULATIONS
YOU ARE NOW AT

UHURU PEAK TANZANIA 5895M
AFRICA'S HIGHEST POINT
WORLD'S HIGHEST FREE STANDING MOUNTAIN

that was the best sign i've ever seen. we were flighting back the tears, just standing there with the sun coming up behind the clouds, the quiet all encompassing landscape of glaciers, snow and moutain was breathtaking. we were on top of the world.. nearly! it was minus 15. and we had stopped, and for all the relief and emotions that we felt we could only spend 10mins there before the cold set in and we had to leave.

and so we climbed back down, faster than we came up and seeing everything we had just walked up. crazy! up in 6hrs, down in 2. but i have to say, it killed my knees and toes going down, far more than the aches of going up. back at kibo, tired smiles on our faces we made the executive decision to battle our way back down to mandara huts, where we had spent the first night. by this time we had had no sleep and been walking for a day and a night already. but we thought it was best to get it over with, and we wanted a shower and warmth!

tues 25/05/09: DAY 5

the rest of the journey is pretty non descript, we got to maranda huts ok...well, i lagged, i could bearly walk by this point. my toes had gone numb up the mountain and i think i bashed them more than i thought. (the nails are still purple even now, but they didnt drop off which is the main thing). another night at the huts, where we had now become the ones telling our story to those on their way up.

wed 26/05/09 DAY 6: 11.30am marangu huts and the end of our mount Kili experience. we thanks and tipped our guides and porters and headed happily back to our hotel room.

i survived the mountain, i didnt die trying, i surpassed my expectations and never looked back. but knowing that i did it is a great personal achievement that i will never forget (i even got a certificate for reaching the top... which made it all the more worth while!lol).
i have given myself a pat on the back, just like every other person has done before me and so too will all those who follow in our footsteps!

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