Day 8, Sept 26, 2010

After breakfast, we were treated to a song and dance routine by our guides, cooks, and porters. It was obviously geared to our group and mentioned each person by name, but it was in Swahili so who knows what they were saying about us. Joe recorded it all on his iPhone.

The itinerary called for a 3 hour hike through scenic forest to get to the gate and the bus back to the hotel. But descending almost 7000 feet on steep steps just like yesterday actually took me more like 5 hours (everybody else ran on ahead and Johnny walked with me, "pole, pole"). I was already sore and not moving too well; I had expected the going down to be hard, but this was pretty awful (and this lactic acid took another two days to clear!). But I did finally get to see blue monkeys!

At the hotel, we met with Johnny who gave us our certificates and we gave him the tip money to distribute. Some folks had told us not to trust the head guide to give out the money judiciously, and others said who would know better who deserved what? And someone said if the guide is fair, he'll have a consistent group of porters working with him. Which Johnny did, so we trusted him.

END OF STORY!! And thanks for following along.

Pics: (1) Porters led in song and dance by Johnny (2) Johnny (3) For Papa Joe (4) Blue monkey (5) The smelly bunch getting the certificates

Day 7, Sept 25, 2010

We slept and were awakened periodically by a fierce wind which had sprung up and was shaking the tent. Nicholas came at 10:30 with tea and cookies and I choked down two or three. Yuck. The wind was howling, and we started up with Jesse and Sean tucked in behind Johnny, and Nicholas assigned to be my personal servant for the night. About 1/2 hour into this, I was cooking inside all that clothing, and we all stopped while I peeled off a layer. We were the only group on the mountain at that point. The wind was ferocious and my nose was running like a faucet and the moonlight was pretty strong but I kept my lamp on (mostly so I could see my tissues to swipe at my nose). More people embarked on the journey and the lights below us were beautiful. They started passing us as we were really, really slow, but Johnny kept faithfully to his pace. We stopped again awhile later and Joe put chemical warmers in my boots as I couldn't feel my toes. That worked OK, I suppose, but the things are activated by oxygen, and there is only 55% of the sea level oxygen at that elevation, so they were kind of lame. I had no sense of time, no way to check my watch and I was all bundled up in gloves and mittens and a rented down jacket and very, very busy wiping my nose every 30 seconds. At some point we stopped and I checked my watch and had a drink -- shocked to see it was 2:45! Almost 4 hours and it felt either like 1 hour or 20. I thought Lilli thoughts to keep me going: winter mornings by the fire, reading stories and drinking hot chocolate. I started checking the eastern sky for signs of dawn. People kept passing us, and there was an unbroken chain of lights from camp all the way up to "the top." Our footsteps weren't even an entire footlength, only about 5 inches. Finally, after what felt like 3 days, the sky started to lighten and we could see the glacier on our left and "the top" of the 3-4 mile climb from camp (up 4000 feet). I decided I had had enough -- I was cold and tired and miserable and my nose wouldn't stop running -- and tried to turn around. I had, after all, paid darn good money for this and I could decide to turn around if I wanted to. Joe of course talked me out of this and we pressed on. We got to "the top" and Johnny was gesturing toward some ridge to our left. We found a bit of shelter from the wind. Nicholas handed me a mug of hot tea and I almost cried. I drank the tea, had a great nose-blowing session, got the mittens etc back on and pressed on. I thought we had to go up to the ridge Johnny had pointed out -- I thought that was Stella Point. Part way there, I lost motivation again, and Joe cajoled me and I said no way I could make it to the top, we hadn't even gotten to Stella Point yet. He said no, that was where we'd had the tea and we were half way to the real top, Uhuru Peak. That cheered me up and very soon after that we saw the sign. We got there, the sun really strong now and warming us up, and peeled off some clothes for pictures. I looked around and said, hey, where's everybody else? We were the first ones of our group to make it to the top, and the others were pretty close behind. After a few pictures, we all headed back down and saw Jesse not far behind us at all -- so we all made it to the top! Nobody had altitude sickness, nobody was dizzy or nauseous. AND we passed a whole lot of people still on their way up that had passed us early on (and gotten tired as a result). Johnny did a great job of making sure we all got there in good shape; and I noticed that quite a few other groups had taken his lead for the pace and tucked in behind us on the way up, so he helped a lot more folks than just our group of 6.

Next came part 1 of the third thing that terrified me about this whole adventure: Coming down. We came down a slightly different way -- all scree and dust and we sort of skiied down it, taking big steps and sliding. I got to going pretty fast, and Joe said, hey, why are you going so fast? My legs were so tired from going up, that they weren't much help slowing me down, so I was sort of falling down the mountain. We made it back to camp in around 2 hours (forgot to look), and went to sleep for a couple of hours. Then we packed up, got some lunch, and headed another 4 miles or so down to Mweka Camp. That was hard because everyone comes down the mountain the same way, so the trail gets lots and lots of use. They cut steps reinforced with logs, and some of these steps were 2-3 feet steep. Very tough on the thighs which had already taken a beating. I wore my sneakers for fear of having my toes slam into the front of my boots, and the going was slow over rocky parts, but we eventually made it, had dinner and collapsed for the night.

Pics (1) The first part of the trail up to the top, in daylight on Day 6 (2) Dawn just before Stella Point (3) Moon setting behind Stella Point (4) Johnny and "Mama" at Stella Point (5) Going to the top (Johnny taking pictures) (6) Joe and me at the top (7) Our group (minus Jesse) at the top

Day 6, Sept 24, 2010

We left camp around 8:30 (nothing happens in a hurry here). We walked about 4 hours or so, only a couple of miles but a 2200 foot ascent. Barafu Camp was really crowded and everyone was very excited. I had asked Johnny to track down the other people we had originally intended to climb with and he said we'd see them at Barafu camp -- they'd be coming down as we arrived. And sure enough we ran into them! They had summited successfully the night before and were tired and happy and headed downhill.

This camp was the highest at just under 15000 feet, and I could tell it! We had some lunch and they told us to go get some sleep. I didn't think I would be able to sleep for all the noise, but I dropped off really quickly and slept for an hour. Then we sorted through all our stuff and got packed up to go to the top later that night. We had an early dinner at 5 (a mix of spaghetti and potatoes; food has kind of degenerated), and Johnny told us that instead of leaving at 11:30 as the itinerary called for, we would be awakened at 10:30 because he was worried about Jesse. He said we would be going really, really slowly and we would all need to stick together. Off we went to try to sleep, although an afternoon nap (something I never, ever do) made sleeping difficult. So I lay awake worrying. The second of the three scariest things was facing us, and I just kept thinking, OK, you just have to do what all the rest of them do, get up, get dressed, get your headlamp on and stumble on up the mountain. Left to my own devices I would have stayed in that cozy tent and skipped the whole summit deal!!

Pics: (1) En route to Barafu Camp (2) Meeting up with friends at Barafu Camp (3) Barafu Camp

Day 5, Sept 23, 2010

Up with tea at 6:30 in the tent, breakfast at 7:30. Facing the dreaded Barranco Wall (one of the three things about all this that made me most nervous). Just before we left (poles stashed because you need hands free to haul yourself up), I asked Johnny if the path we were looking at WAS the Barranco Wall, or if it was at the top of the path. Turns out the path was the wall, and I felt better as it looked easier than I had imagined (see pic below). It took us two hours to get to the top because we waited a long time for porters to pass. I think Johnny was annoyed with me for stopping for them, but there was no way I wanted to compete with them for the limited space! We later learned that a new porter, aged 25 with two young children, died by falling off this trail. He apparently had never climbed the mountain before signing on for this job, got altitude sickness (dizziness), and fell off.

We were told the rest of the day was all downhill to Karanga Camp with a bit of uphill at the end. So we clambered over a bunch of glacial moraines, a stark vegetation-free landscape until we came to a very steep downhill to a river and then up the other side. The downhill was mostly scrambling down boulders and very steep, and I took 2 ibuprofen at lunch because my knees hurt for the first time since I started all this! The promised 4 hours turned into 5+ and then we got to clean up and rest for the rest of the afternoon. Total of 4.5 miles and net 1000 foot ascent.

Pics: (1) The Barranco Wall (2) Barranco Camp (3) at the top of Barranco Wall (4) Our group at the top of the wall (5) Approaching Karanga Camp

Day 4, Sept. 22, 2010

We started the diamox this morning and I peed every two hours all day (nice side effect of the altitude drug). We started out about 8:30, and climbed about 2600 feet to the Lava Tower. A bit chilly, but clear and beautiful. Joe and Johnny climbed the tower, while the rest of us enjoyed a rest in the sun after a fabulous lunch of carrot and cucumber soup, grilled cheese sandwiches and incredible fried potato balls (yeah, carbs are the thing!). After the Lava Tower at 15,135 feet, we came down to about the same elevation as last night, about 13,000 ft, via a hard (I thought) descent to Barranco camp. A kind of long day of 9.3 miles, no clue how long it took us. Saw a lot of Dendrosenecio kilimanjarii, endemic here.

Pics: (1) Trail out of Shira 2 camp to the Lava Tower (2) Everyone enjoying that great lunch: Joe, me, Shane (structural engineer from San Francisco), Sean (lawyer from Dublin, Ireland), Kevin (behavioral therapist), and Jesse (nurse) (3) Joe and Johnny at the top of the Lava Tower (4) The bunch of us at the base of the Lava Tower (5) Part of the down-and-up after the Lava Tower (6) Coming into Barranco Camp

Day 3, Sept 21, 2010

VERY cold last night . The tropical sun warms quickly in the AM however. We had to wait a bit for breakfast as the porters were alseep in the mess tent. After eating, all of us but Jesse head off across the Shira plateau to climb to the Cathedral, which adds nothing in elevation but puts an extra 3-4 hours hiking in the day. Jesse is exhausted and going with Masai directly to the camp at Shira 2. Johnny worries about him. Jesse's stated goal for this climb is to get some certificate which nobody else even knew about, stating that he made it to the top.

It takes us about 3 hours to get to the top of the Cathedral. We cross the Shira plateau, a caldera left by the first volcano in this area. And then climb up the lava formation, a short but steep and for me kind of scary and I worried out loud about getting back down (for which I took a ration of you-know-what from Joe), and some of the others are now starting to tease me about how many times I am going to say I'll die on this trip. In fact, by now I am feeling pretty confident that our training will pay off. We get to camp after 5 1/2 hours, only a little behind Jesse; climbed 1200 feet today with some up and down. Very cold again at night, peeing is a pain but at least there's a full moon. 40 degrees inside the tent at 7 PM.

(1) Shira plateau (caldera) from the top of the Cathedral (2) On top of the Cathedral (3) Emergency evacuation vehicle. There is a road near the Cathedral (4) Full moon over Kili

Day 2, Sept 20, 2010

Nicholas, our personal assistant guide and waiter (!) delivered tea and washing water to our tent at 7. Almost all the people had left the camp before our group, as they were all going to camp at Shira 2 and we were going to stop before, at Shira 1 (for better acclimation). On the trail by 9, and Johnny made Jesse walk behind him. Jesse and Kevin are the two smokers and yesterday they lagged way behind everyone else. Today Johnny has them on a short leash. We stopped for lunch in the mess tent: hot carrot soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, boiled egg, nuts, muffins, tomatoes and cucumbers. Won't be going hungry on this trip! Johnny assigned Laraha (the Masai, as most referred to him) to take care of Jesse, and then rest of us took off through more of the same kind of forest. We were all alone (except for our porters lugging our junk up) as Lemosho is one of the newest and least traveled routes. After dinner, Johnny informed us that what should have been a six hour walk (about 7 miles up 2500 feet) actually took us 8 hours, and said the mama (that's me) is strong and isn't holding anybody back (long looks at Jesse, who moaned that this day was really hard work). Camp was at 11,500 feet and we scarcely felt it. Good training!

Lots of pictures! (1) Our entire group of climbers and guides and porters before embarking on Day 2 (2) Johnny and lots of old man's beards in the trees (3) The group taking a break (4)Jesse, Joe and Shane at happy hour (5) Joe and I with Kili at sunset (we are obviously approaching from the west) (6) Wow!

Day 1: Sept 19, 2010

Up at 6:30 for breakfast, very few other people awake yet. Bags packed and by the departure area, weighed in at under 15 kg (33 pounds), the limit per bag. Nobody bothered to weigh the bags before loading the vehicles, though. Apparently the guides turn a blind eye to the tourists' bags, and if the porters complain they lose their jobs. After making a stop to load up on junk food (go figure) and cigs for two of our group, we drove to the Londrossi Gate, the start of the Lemosho and Shira Routes. There was mass confusion as our 20 porters/cooks/guides plus several other groups sorted out their stuff and had it weighed (they still didn't weigh the tourists' bags). We had a box lunch under a tree where it was surprisingly chilly at 6500 feet. We got back in the vehicle and drove to the actual starting point, now more than 3 hours after we left the hotel. Finally, we start the hike. I had heard and read that the pace was slow (or in Swahili, pole pole) but I thought that meant at the top. No, we started at this pace. We strolled for two and a half hours through dry, very young-looking forest and saw two troops of colobus monkeys, and porters passed us constantly. The itinerary said we climbed 2500 feet, but it sure didn't feel like it. Camp was chaotic with about 10-12 groups and all their stuff. Somebody had arranged for our little band of 6 climbers and support staff to have a private toilet, which was very nice. Dinner began with tea and popcorn; later we had cucumber soup, fish with vegetables, fried little potatoes, cabbage salad, cucumbers and tomatoes, and tiny bananas for desert. It got quite cold, and Johnny our head guide kept us talking in the mess tent until 9:30. Took a long time to get feet warm after that. This is 3 degrees south of the equator! Colder than I would have thought.

(1) Packing up the vehicle at the hotel (2) Our group about to take to the trail. Guide Johnny in blue at left (3) Colobus monkeys

Sept 14 - 18, 2010

We got to the airport in Reno early, which was a good thing because Joe soon discovered he had left his Kindle behind. Se he jumped in a cab, went home, couldn't find the thing, and was on the verge of taking an old one he had given to Sydney when he saw it perched on top of the garbage can. Familiar old story, no? $100 later, he was back at the airport, which was now on backup generators because the power was out everywhere in downtown Reno. The flight was delayed by 45 minutes, and as we were en route to Dallas I ask, how long is our layover in Dallas. Oh, about 4 hours. Until he dragged the itinerary out and discovered he had read it wrong, it was only -- yikes -- 45 minutes!! Fortunately we were in the first two seats on the plane, and raced through the airport to arrive just before they started boarding. In London we were told the bags were there and all was OK, but they lied. We arrived in Nairobi and the bags finally showed up two days later, about an hour before we had to leave for Tanzania. Everything was intact except for the luggage tags which were missing.

We spent the next day relaxing at the hotel and trying to get our heads into the local time (10 hours earlier than home) and readjusting all our stuff for the climb.

No exercise for 5 days, not a good thing at all.

Pics below: (1) Arriving at Kilimanjaro Airport Sept. 16 (2) Springlands Hotel our home base for the next two weeks (3) The arrival and departure area of the hotel, always very busy