The Kili Chronicles

I joined a group of two other American climbers: Brian, a meat cutter from West Virginia and Grace, a lawyer from New York City.  It is common for groups to be as a large as 12 climbers, but I was pleased that my climbing group was much smaller.  I have always gravitated toward smaller, more intimate settings, for example, Xavier vs Michigan State, and I figured that it would be much easier to keep three people on pace and together than twelve for such a journey. 

For each climber that goes up Kili, three porters also climb: one porter carries your bag, one your tent and the other carries part of the ‘trip's shared supplies’ (read dining tent, food, gas tanks, chairs, etc).  Additionally, there are two guides for every three climbers, so our tiny group of three had two awesome guides accompany us, Emmanuel and Andrew.  Finally, one cook, one waiter and one tent monitor (the person who watches the tents at night) also climb.  Thus, climbing is quite a production, to say the least.  There definitely were times when I felt bad about my desire to check this item off of my bucket list, as it required so many other people to work so hard.  I found my mind going back and forth between that guilt and the understanding that my climbing fulfills a financial need in Tanzania as a whole as well as support the individual livelihood of the members of our crew. 

We took the Machame Route, which can be completed in six or seven days.  We opted for six.  I have been putting off writing this entry, as it is really hard to sum up such an experience.  Quite frankly, each day of the climb could be its very own blog entry.  Part of me wanted to opt out of writing about the climb in its entirety since I know I cannot really do it justice, but I figured that would be unfair to friends and family at home.  So, I have decided to write a short recap of each day, including starting and ending points, weather description, and the high and low point of the day, accompanied by an assortment of pictures.  I should mention that I took over 300 pictures, so even trying to pick out just a few for each day was quite a challenge.  But, I did my best to include a combination of pictures that would give as complete a description as possible.  That being said, if you really want to know about the climb, do it yourself, for second hand stories (and pictures) just don’t cut it.

Day 1

Starting Point: Machame Gate (5905 ft)

Ending Point: Machame Camp (9840 ft)

Distance Traveled: 9 kilometers

We left the base of the mountain at 2pm and climbed until 7pm.

We climbed through the rainforest portion of Kilimanjaro (saw some monkeys!) to the beginning of the Morelands, which were freezing! 

Not actually freezing compared to the top of Kili, but as I was wearing shorts and profusely sweating from the hot rainforest portion of the mountain, I was shivering like mad for the last half hour when the temperature drastically dropped as we kept climbing.  Being cold was the usual reality for me on this climb, surprisingly though.

This day’s hike was fairly simple, and a straight shot.  Not too much of an incline and there was a man-made path for the entire climb. 

NO RAIN

High Point: Getting the climb started!

Low Point: Having to pee six times before we got to the base camp for the night. 

Right before we started our climb!

Can't say you weren't warned...

And I'm off!

The bottom level of Kilimanjaro: rainforest.

Our camp site for the first night. 

My home during our climb. 

Day 2

Starting Point: Machame Camp (9840 ft)

Ending Point: Shira Camp (12,600 ft)

Distance Traveled:  7 kilometers

We left camp at 9am and arrived at destination for the evening at 2 pm.  

At the time, this day felt very challenging.  It was SUPER steep (the steepest of all of the days besides the midnight climb to the summit), and it was steep for the entire day of climbing, as opposed to other days where it was steep for a short duration and then flattened out. 

The view on this day was absolutely beautiful: walking through the clouds, waterfalls as you look right and left and lots of elevated places where you could see parts of the rainforest from the day before’s climb.

POURED, freezing cold rain for 1 – 2 hours at the end of the day's hike. 

High Point: The views, including a breath-taking sunset at our camp site.

Low Point: That rain was an absolute bitch.

The terrain as we left the rainforest and moved into the Morelands.

Standing in the clouds. 

Body overheated; hands freezing. 

The only picture I got of any waterfall before it started pouring. 

Climbing is so much easier without rain!

Beautiful view after it finally cleared up. 

Sunset at base camp on second night. 

Day 3

Starting Point: Shira Camp (12,600 ft)

Ending Point: Barranco Camp (12,960 ft)

Distance Traveled: 10 kilometers

Left at 9am and arrived at our destination for the evening at 4pm.

This day seemed fairly easy to me, which was nice after the tiring day before! There were some significant inclines, but they were spaced out between long stints of flatter terrain.

We began to acclimate our bodies today by climbing up to 14,864 ft (Lava Tower) before settling back down at 12,960 meters to sleep.
The day was broken into two parts: reaching Lava Tower, a 300 foot amazing lava formation as the morning portion and the second stint of the day was spent getting from the Lava Tower back down to Barranco Camp. 

The initial hour climb back down from the Lava Tower was this awesome sharp decline, obstacle course of pure rock -- like straight out of a video game!

A lot of climbers choose the Machame route because of the gradual acclimation that happens on Days 3, 4 and 5 to prepare for the climb to Uhuru.  

LIGHT RAIN

High Point: Sitting under the Lava Tower for lunch, taking in the beautiful scenery

Low Point: Brian and Grace (especially) were having a hard time acclimating to the elevation so our climbing speed greatly decreased from here on out

Right before sunrise on Day 3.

My ROCK STAR guides, Emmanuel (left) and Andrew. 

From left to right: Peter (our cook), me, Brian, Emmanuel, Grace and Andrew. 

Alpine Desert. 

Finally beginning to see some snow...excited! 

Stopping to eat our packed lunch at Lava Tower. 

There I stand in my lime green waterproof pants. 

Time to make our way to base camp for the night. 

Peek-a-boo! After climbing through the desert all day, these bad boys appeared!

Day 4

Starting Point: Barranco Camp (12,960 ft)

Ending Point: Barafu Camp (15,100 ft)

Distance Traveled: 13 kilometeres

Left at 9am and arrived at the destination for the evening at 6pm.

This day was our second two-part day.  On Day 4, the main challenge is to climb the massive and super cool Barranco Wall. 

Climbing the wall was absolutely exhilarating and also the scariest part of the trip by far.  Mama, you would not be happy knowing how scary, but I am back alive, so don’t even give it another thought! ;)

REALLY BAD RAIN

Because of the type of climbing today required, the rain was not only cold and yucky, but it also made the second part of the day’s climb much more challenging.  We were climbing both up and down a lot of boulders, uneven surfaces, and stepping stones and they were all majorly slick because of the rain.  Thankfully there were no injuries, but there definitely were some moments that could have gone sour quickly. 

High Point: That Barranco Wall! I felt like a real life superhero scaling that bad boy!

Low Point: I was so uncomfortable during the rain on this day that I wanted to punch something.

Our dining tent; above, breakfast on the morning of Day 4. 

The Barranco Wall!  Those little specks of white and color are people climbing!

On our way!

Made it to the top of the wall!  So peaceful and calming up there. 

As we walked through this part, all I could think of was Pride Rock once Scar took over in Lion King!

DAY 5!

Starting Point: Barafu Camp (15,100 ft)

Middle Point: Uhuru Peak! (19,340 ft)

Ending Point: Millennium Camp (10,170 ft)

Left at midnight to climb to Uhuru Peak.  Arrived at Uhuru Peak at 7:30am.  Climbed back down to the same camp where we ‘slept’ (or rather napped at for 3 hours) the previous night, arriving there at 11:30am.  Took a two-hour nap, had some lunch and then climbed another three hours down to our camp for the night, arriving between 5 and 6pm. In case math wasn't your strong point, that was 15 hours of climbing after three hours of sleep after a 9 hour day of climbing.

How do you describe this day? We climbed in the pitch black, only able to see by our headlamps, for 6.5 hours to reach the Summit Point (second highest point) exactly as the sun was rising.  One of the most beautiful views of my entire life.  Such a surreal experience. Then, we climbed another tiring hour to the top of Kilimanjaro, Uhuru Peak.  It is crazy to think that you spend five days getting to this moment and point, and you spend maybe an hour there and then head back down. 

Around 5:30am, I had to separate from Grace and Brian and climb ahead with Andrew.  Grace and Brian are such troupers because they were having a really hard time throughout the night due to the increased elevation.  So, they had to climb extremely slowly.  After 5 hours of climbing with them at this slow pace, my calves were beginning to cramp up.   We were climbing at a much slower pace that I could have/would have liked, and it was making the trek harder for me.  Although I wanted us all to stay together, just as they couldn’t help that they need a slow speed, I couldn’t help that my legs were burning.  So, Andrew and I went ahead and got to the top about an hour before Brian and Grace.  Poor Grace had such issues with the altitude that she doesn’t remember being at the top.  At least she has lots of great pictures to prove she made it. 

Uhuru Peak is truly magical.  It is like a page right out of a story book: peaceful, pure and breathtaking.  That morning will be forever etched in my mind, and I feel so fortunate to have been able to witness that slice of God's masterpiece with my own eyes.

The path from Uhuru back down to Barafu can best be described as a gravel ski slope.  Cool, right? Not on your knees.  I literally had zero physical problems for the entire climb until we had to make our way down that gravel.  Your body wants to just run down it so fast, but your brain knows better, so you are constantly applying massive pressure on your knees in order to stop the momentum of your body.  This was the hardest part for me for sure. 

Arriving back at Barufu Camp was like Christmas morning for a young child.  My body was so exhausted and all it wanted to do was sleep.  Reaching Barufu and being able to rest for a little while was a heaven sent.  I have to admit, I was not geeked to climb for another three hours, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. 

Starting our midnight climb to Uhuru!

6:33 am, 19 February 2014. 

Awestruck. 

Chilling....literally!

On the way from Summit Point to Uhuru Peak. 

Viiiiccctttooorrryyy!

View from the highest point in Africa. 

Post midnight climb and gravel path back to Bafaru.  

DAY 6
Starting Point: Millennium Camp (10,170 ft)

Ending Point: Mweka Gate (4,920 ft)
Distance Traveled: 10 kilometers

Left camp at 8am and arrived at Mweka Gate around 12:30pm.
Before we left, we had a 'closing' ceremony where Brian, Grace and I had a chance to express our deep thanks and appreciation to our entire team before we began our last climb.  The crew also sang the official Kilimanjaro celebratory song, and had one heck of a dance party while singing.
We had a great, relaxing, light hearted climb back through the Highlands and Morelands into the rainforest, during which time I kept my eyes peeled for a rock shaped like Africa.  And, thanks to Emmanuel's help, I will be able to bring a piece of Kili (shaped like Africa) home with me!
About an hour into the rainforest, it began raining SHEETS of rain, which it proceeded to do until we got to the bottom about two hours later.  We were soaked through and through by the time we got into the car to head back to Moshi and had puddles of water in our boots (which had remained perfectly dry until the last two hours).

Our entire crew: wazungu, porters, guides, cook, waiter and tent watchman!

The highly revered Kilimanjaro celebratory song and dance in action!

One last view before we began our final descent.  

How people are carried to the base of the mountain when unable to continue on their own.  

Raining...again.   Photo taken before the SHEETS of rain fell upon us. 

Off the mountain and back in Moshi! We made it!

As it continued to rain, we piled into the van and drove back to the office of Kili Heroes (see picture above).  Here, we received our official certificates and celebrated our success! I couldn't wait to get back to Stella Maris and see my family, Teddy and Inno, who I had greatly missed that week.  School was just finishing for the day when I arrived, so I dropped off my bags and walked over to the school.  I always get warm and fuzzy when those about whom I care deeply miss me, or rather show excitement upon my return.  I felt such joy when I turned the corner into the school courtyard and the kids, as they saw me, started smiling, screaming and running to me --- I had only missed four days of school.  I wish I had a picture of the massive 'group hug' that ensued; thankfully that image will be engrained in my mind and heart for quite some time.  The perfect ending to a remarkable journey, I'd say.