Day 2 of climb : Long arduous climb

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I am beginning to lose track of dates and days by now.

Woke up early for two reasons - Wanted to see sunrise, and wanted to be the first one to use toilet. I realized I am a toilet nazi, who would sacrifice sleep for slightly cleaner environs in bathrooms 😊 It was cloudy, so watching a sunrise was not possible.

After greeting Sue and Barbara a merry christmas, had a quick breakfast. Ambrose was on the door at 8:15, so I said goodbye to the two ladies. Sue had an extra bottle of water and gave it to me. 1.5 L of clean water was a great christmas gift, because it meant less chance of stomach problem. But it also meant carrying 1.5 Kg of extra weight too.

We started in rainforest, but withing 30 minutes, scenery changed dramatically to grassland and then moorland. No more monkeys, and very different set of plants that I had never seen. The hike was alright, with burst of tough climb followed by gentle incline. Thankfully it wasn't sunny, so I didn't get tired.

We covered more than 15 kms. I stopped 3 times during the whole time. Just around the half-way, the climb became very steep. As the climb became steeper, my steps became shorter. The path didnt have many zig-zags, and went up straight. To look up while walking meant staringat a straight steep climb - so i kept my eyes down 😊

I had a nice, person-to-person conversation conversaion with Ambrose. He told me about his old girlfriend, his current love interest (who was his client and climbed Kili ), HIV and other social issues.

It started raining around half-way mark. I was tired or rain already. Despite water-proof duffle bag (that my porter carried) and backpack, moisture would creep in - making everything seem wet and cold.

We reached Horombo Hut (3720 mts) around 12:30. I was happy with my pace, because the guidebook said tha it takes 5 hours to climb. so far I had consistently kept good pace and didnt feel too tired.

A quick nap made me feel well rested. I shared my hut with two Germans from Bavaria - Matthias and another guy (forgot his name). They were both musicians and were very friendly.

I had read that passing gas at this height was a sign of acclimitization. So I wasnt really alarmed at the frequency with which i was passing gas 😊

Initial plan was to spend a day at Horombo hut to get acclimatize. But I felt good and had no signs of altitude sickness yet. So, after dinner I told Ambrose that I wanted to skip acclimitization day and ascend to our next camp - Kibo hut the next day. If I felt sick on the way, we would return. It was a big gamble, considering that I could have jeopardized my entire climb if I fell sick next day.

I wantd to climb higher that evening to get myself acclimatized a bit, but my roomies left me with the sole key to the room, and I had to wait for their re


Horombo camp was much bigger than Mandara - because most people who summit stop over there overnight. That meant bathrooms were in worse shape. So i slept early .. for obvious reasons. I heard thunder (and rain) all through the night, and prayed that next daybe dry


We finally arrived at Mandara Hut

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