The Ascent of Kilimanjaro

---

Day 1 - To the Rongai Gate



Our expedition was about to begin. At 5895 metres, Mount Kilimanjaro is Africa's highest peak, and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. This was gonna be awesome! We left Marangu hotel and were off on an hour and a half journey to the Rongai gate, right along the Kenyan border. Oscar, a Finnish traveling vagabond, would join us on our seven day climb. We decided to do it in seven days to ensure we'd have adequate time to acclimatize, because at nearly 6000m it would be the highest any of us had ever climbed. We met two of the main guides for our group, Santorin and Joseph, both riding along with us in our vehicle. We witnessed more amazing Tanzanian scenery with small villages peppered along the way. Rongai gate was about 2000m elevation. The first part of our journey would consist of moorland. At the base of the moorland lay large coniferous forests and many interesting flowers. The day was hot and sunny but we had plenty of shade thanks to the trees. We walked for about four hours until we reached our first camp named Simba at 2700m. At one point Dad became dizzy and threw up a few times along the way. Once we reached camp the porters dropped all our stuff and we organized our tents before going to the dining tent for a much needed meal. Oscar and I went up with Santorin for another 200m on an acclimatization hike. We all passed out very early as night came.



Day 2 - To Second Cave



Continuing through the moorland, this day would prove to be much more difficult as the incline got steeper. We awoke, packed up our gear, ate, and then were on our way. Our initial pace was quite good, but after a while Dad beganto get dizzy and needed to take increasing amounts of breaks. Joseph told us to continue going at our pace and he would stay behind to help Dad. We arrived at second camp amid some scorching sun and then washed up as we waited for him to arrive. He arrived about a half hour later as we were about to eat lunch. He was in pretty bad shape and collapsed in his tent for a while. Apparently he had thrown up another six times and was very dizzy. We encouraged him to lay down until the dizziness subsided and then drink some fluids. Joseph decided Dad would need to come down as he was not handling the climb very well. This would be our group's first casualty. Mom was quite saddened by this. Late afternoon came and I went on another acclimatization hike with Santorin and Oscar about 200m up. When we returned down we found Mom was either suffering from AMS at 3400m or this was a reaction to the diamox tabs she was taking. In any case she missed dinner and we all slept soon after.



Day 3 - Kiklewa



Dad left in the morning back down with Joseph. Luckily Mom was feeling much better. We got our gear together and left after breakfast, continuing to the valley rift for another 4 hour hike to 3800m. We made good progress and once we arrived we washed our feet for the first time and enjoyed some great food. Another acclimatization hike was done with Mom coming along then after dinner I chilled out for a bit in the dining tent and before getting some much needed shut eye.



Day 4 - Mawenze Tarn



Mawenze is a 5100m jagged, snow covered peak on Kili. Most do not summit this peak as it requires technical climbing and the government no longer allows it, but it sure as hell is beautiful. We blasted through this section of the climb. Our camp was mawenze Tarn, right by a greenish oval "lake" overlooked by Mawenze peak. At 4200m we were finally beginning to see some progress. After lunch I continued sitting in the dining tent and Santorin showed me some east African Swahili music called Bongo Flavour. Following this I took a quick nap, and then Oscar woke me up so we could go on another 200m climb to hopefully further acclimatize. We were treated to an unbelievably beautiful view of Mawenze Tarn and its green lake. On the way back to camp we needed to be very cautious to avoid slips as the scree was really lose. That evening I got an altitude induced headache and my appetite was practically gone. I didn't initially want to but to be on the safe side I took half a diamox to help me out and then tried getting some sleep. Thanks to the diuretic effect of the pill, I had to wake up four times during the night to piss! Brutal...



Day 5 - Kibo



I woke up in the morning, having not slept for more than a few hours at a time, but at least my headache was gone. Today we'd be crossing from Mawenze and towards Kibo peak. We began by climbing up a steep rock wall and then crossed through a long stretch of alpine desert as we braved the scorching sun. We trekked and descended into the valley before gaining some elevation, halfway through stopping to eat our packed lunch amidst some scattered boulders. Continuing on, we encountered wreckage of a crashed Russian plane. Apparently the crew had come down to take pictures of Kibo but encountered terrible weather and went down. There were no survivors. We continued up towards Kibo and then up the slopes to the approaching camp. After 6 hours we were there. Kibo camp was where both the Rongai and Marangu routes converged, thus this camp seemed to have much more activity going through it as many were making preparations for the summit assault. At 4700m I was expecting some altitude related issues but luckily none came. At least they hadn't yet. I waited around as my anticipation built. Our cook prepared an early dinner consisting of pasta and meat sauce and I happily ate with appetite. We then returned to our tents where I layered up. I had three layers for my legs, four layers for my upper body, mittens and heavy gloves, a balaclava and goggles, and heavy boots that could resist temperatures of up to minus thirty celcius. I figured cold would be the least of my issues. I lay down and tried to get some shut eye for a few short hours. It was difficult to fall asleep.





Day 6 - Summit Push



Santorin had told us that we looked strong on our ascent so far, so we would be starting an hour later than most groups, at midnight. I finished layering up, grabbed my backpack and Mom, Oscar and myself were off. I already felt like I was overheating and I was hoping the cold would kick in already. The beginning stage was fairly easy, long switchbacks with only moderate steepness. At one point I had an overwhelming sense of hunger and had to stop to eat a bar. Another issue was the fact that I had to remind myself to drink often as I wasn't really getting a thirst response, but it was so easy to become dehydrated with such exertion. We continued on and then passed by Williams point, marking 5000m. As we continued on, expectedly, my breathing was becoming more laboured as my lungs were now only receiving half as much oxygen per breath as on sea level. The switchbacks were becoming increasingly steep. Our pace became much more slowed and methodical. We were still passing many of the other climbers but I felt as though I needed to start taking more breaks. Mom was falling behind as the steepness increased and Oscar was getting cold and needed to keep moving. I continued on with him and our two assistant guides Frank and Simon. Mom continued on with Santorin. Our guides urged us to take short breaks and keep moving, easier said than done. The switchbacks turned to bottle necking boulders that we had to navigate and climb over. This was the toughest part. Muscularly I had no issues but I felt I was building too much of an oxygen debt. I was slightly frustrated by this but I just slowed my pace a little more and then carried on.

Hours passed and finally at around five thirty in the morning we clamored over the last of the boulders and were at Gilmans point, 586m above. We stopped for a rest and tried to rehydrate. From then on it was a more flat pace for a while as we walked along the crater rim. Within 45 minutes we arrived at Stella point, another 100m up. Almost there. I was feeling my head expand and was wondering how the altitude was affecting me. The trek to our final destination consisted of mostly gentle upward slopes, but at this point I was moving quite slow, taking small but even steps. The sun was creeping up from below the clouds, a beautiful sight but I was way more focused on getting to the summit. I had no problem with the cold but my water flask was freezing up and I figured I hadn't been drinking enough water. Finally at around seven fifteen I stumbled into Uhuru Peak, 5895m at the top of Africa. It hadn't really kicked in yet and I was so tired. Nevertheless I got my camera out and we got someone to snap some victory pics of us and I took some surrounding scenery, which included the glorious glaciers at the top. The altitude was making me quite sleepy and we had to get down. Way more easy! We ran into Mom as she was heading back from Stella point, still a very impressive feat. I felt my dehydration as we descended but luckily I had some ice cold water now. It took us about two and a half hours to make it down amidst the dusty scree. At some points we were able to "ski" down the rocky slopes.

We arrived back into camp at around ten in the AM. Exhausted, but regaining strength as I descended. Our cook had some food for our return but despite the physical trials we had all endured, I had no appetite. We packed out stuff back up and headed down through the alpine desert to lower altitudes. The descent from Kibo but to Horombo at 3600m was three hours of spectacular hiking. I was mostly on my own taking pictures of landscape and vegetation as we moved back into Moorland. Once at Horombo we unpacked our gear and rested. It had been a long day. We had an early dinner in which I ate copiously and then we all passed out hard and slept uninterrupted until morning.



Day 7 - Back Down



All downhill from here. I traveled mostly with Oscar and we covered about twenty clicks, through Mandara hut and all the way back down to Marangu gates at under 2000m. Once I arrived, Dad, who walked all the way from Marangu hotel, met us. Mom took much longer to get down as she was having issues with her toes and we had to wait about two hours for her. While we waited, a drunk guy approached and sluringly tried to chat with us until park security came over and began beating the shit out of him and then dragged him off for interrogation. Finally she arrived and we were all together again. We shuttled it back to Marangu Hotel and tipped out guides and they sang us some song about Kili. To be honest, I was too tired to care. After my first shower of the week, I went to the bar where I met everyone for cold beers. The quick descent had caused the bursa in my right knee to become inflamed and I was limping whenever I walked. As the days passed, the expedition sunk in more and more and I was pleased with my accomplishment.

---