Kilimanjaro Part II: Still Ascending
The guides had told us the previous
evening that we would need to drink and piss a lot on our way up to the summit
to counter the effects of the high altitude. At this point, nobody in our group
had pissed at all
By Shri & Firuza
Day 5: Keranga Camp (3995 metres)
The Kissing Rock
Welcome to Part II of the blog! If you have read the first part and were hesitant about this second one, then we want to assure you that there are no further episodes pertaining to or with heavy emphasis on diarrhoea. The Imodium was working well and as we left Part 1, we were about to make our way from Barranco to Keranga camp.
It was a steep ascent here and the route was packed with climbers, guides and porters all taking the exact same path. Unlike previous days, there was no real room to overtake here, so everyone had to wait for the person in front of them to move. At this stage, the altitude played its part and meant that we had to go slowly for the lack of oxygen in the air. The guides had told us in our briefing the previous night that we should not feel pressured to walk faster on this stretch even if people were coming up fast behind us. However, as it is when someone is bombing along behind you, one can’t help but feel pressured to move faster in such situations!
As we gained more elevation, gaining on this gigantic rock we noticed many of the porters helping each other along the way, stopping to help others behind them lifting the bags they were carrying where it was harder to climb without using hands. We eventually reached a point called the ‘kissing rock’ a portion of the trail where it is easy to fall unless you hug tight to the large rock as you pass a narrow stretch of rock beneath you to make it to the other side. Whether this is the reason it gets its name, or because the locals simply like watching tourists kiss a rock, we don’t know. All we were told is it is tradition to kiss the rock as we passed this stretch. And so we did – we just believed them and everyone passing kissed the rock (except the guides and porters). As you can see below, Shri was less than happy with Firuza’s engagement with this promiscuous rock!
The Porter Ceremony
When we eventually arrived at Keranga, it was dry! No rain! This was the first day that we had reached a camp without there being rain. As everyone was in such good spirits the guides decided that we should have the ‘Porter Ceremony’ that night at this camp so that we could be properly introduced to them all. 5 days after having lived in close quarters with them all, we would actually meet them officially. Not awkward at all.
As you’ll see from the videos, the ceremony involved about 15 minutes worth of singing and dancing of which we all actively participated. This is no easy thing to do at 4000 meters elevation, and you quickly lose your breath.
Once the songs sub-sided we were introduced by Masu to
the porters and given their background. Extra emphasis was put on whether or
not they were single or married. We then had to try and remember all 19 of the
porter’s names before introducing ourselves, with our name, reason for climbing
the mountain and of course whether or not we were single. There were huge
cheers from the porters as both Casper and the Townie (remember the nick names
from Part I) declared themselves single and after that day they definitely got
a lot more attention!
We managed to get some decent time-lapse videos at Keranga, both of the clouds below us, and the peak above. If it is clear, this is an excellent spot for any time-lapse enthusiasts. That night a storm raged below us over the city of Moshi and the sub-elevation portions of the mountain we had left behind. This makes for an unusual feeling, being that high that even the storm is below you. But not for long, over the course of an hour, the storm ascended and our camp was shortly engulfed in it. So much for a dry day!
Day 6: Barafu/Base
Camp (4673 metres)
Winter is coming
We don’t recall the climb from Keranga to Barafu Camp
(which is Base Camp) in great detail. But what we do remember is that as we
ascended there was no longer any rain. Just snow instead.
As we reached Barafu, and waited for our tents to be set up, we saw several people coming down from the summit, some being supported by two porters on either side. Watching this, and knowing that it would be us tomorrow never bodes well for confidence. But we had come this far so it wasn’t going to faze us!
We ate lunch and took a nap straight afterwards, as we
knew that we’d have to be awake by 11pm to have breakfast and start hiking
around midnight towards the summit. We woke around 5 or 6pm to have a light
dinner and then went straight back to sleep to conserve our energy. The storm
from the previous night had dumped a ton of snow on the summit and region
around base camp and we could now really feel the cold.
Celebrating Papa bear’s birthday on Mount Kilimanjaro!
Defying the Cold
Worth mentioning at this point that other than making you extremely cold, there are other consequences from sleeping in tents at these low temperatures. Firstly, your phone batteries are going to drop super quickly. Shri had kept his phone off the entire trek and it had been on 100% when he had turned it off. When he turned it on at Barafu Camp, it was already down to 20%. Even Firuza who had been using her portable battery charger was unable to keep her battery levels up at night. The cold has an effect, and it seems the only way around this is to sleep with your phone in your sleeping bag so it can take in some of that sweet human body heat to keep itself stable.
Another thing to note, throughout the trip was we had put partially wet clothes at the bottom of our sleeping bag (from Thomas’s recommendation) to help keep them warm and aid the drying process. The phone and the clothes technique are just little nuggets of Kili wisdom to help any future budding climbers on their journey and to make sure you have the best
possible experience.
Day 7, Uhuru Peak: The Summit (5895 metres)
Midnight Stroll
We awoke later that night, and had a light breakfast in preparation for what would be the most physically challenging part of the journey thus far. We were to climb for six hours to get to Stella Point, which stands at 5756 metres above sea level. It would then be approximately another hour before reaching Uhuru Peak, which is the summit of Kilimanjaro, and the highest point in all of Africa.
We began the climb, wrapped up in several layers, with hats, gloves, neck buffs and the Townie even had a hot water bottle accompanying her on the trek (which she had incidentally named George). The guides were trying to keep people energized by singing songs and shouting out slogans (“One team, one dream!” and “To the top, non-stop”). It was as if the higher we went, and the less oxygen there was, the more energized they became!
It can be a bit depressing hiking in the dark with nothing but a headlight to guide you (and everyone else’s headlights) and it’s also quite easy to lose motivation, not being able to see how much progress you have made on the hike or how close you are to your destination. Townie was starting to feel very nauseous and Firuza was struggling to stay motivated and was feeling a little cold – our pace quite slow meaning that her movement couldn’t entirely keep her warm as had been the case on previous days. She decided to listen to her Ipod at this point, which turned out to be just we she needed! Next minute she was dancing her way up the mountain, having also taken some momentum from consuming one of her isotonic energy gels.
Having climbed for nearly 6 hours, we were fast approaching what looked like the summit – an end to the vertical climb where the snow plateaued. Little of this time had been spent talking in order to allow for us to breathe and take in what we could of the thin air. Instead we had each spent a good portion of the climb inside our heads, willing ourselves to continue and allowing our minds to wonder in solitude. Indeed, there were times when Shri completely forgot where he was, lost deep in thought about other parts of his life, only becoming aware again of his surroundings when someone in front changed direction sharply, or someone looked like they were about to slip.
The sky was growing lighter now and we could see the sun
was about to rise over the mountain and over the continent of Africa. At
approximately 6:30 am, we had made it to Stella Point, ending our ascent and
reaching a peak that signified the end of our uphill climb, as to Uhuru from
here was more or less a flat walk. At this point, Firuza let out a scream of
what was probably a mixture of relief and euphoria of having reached this
point. Shri on the other hand looked out westwards, a single tear falling from
his eye onto the snow below. In that split second he had reflected on the
journey as a whole; the initial high spirits as they reached Big Tree Camp on
Day 1, the struggles with the rain the next day, the hours of cards which
re-lifted our spirits, the diarrhoea ordeal, and now standing here looking out
over the horizon where the heavens had opened and the sun was beaming over
Africa We hade made it!
Screw Dignity
While we were not quite at the true peak yet, with Uhuru about an hour away, we still celebrated this milestone, having reached one of the highest points on the continent in time to see a portion of the sunrise. This was a great place to take some pictures and pose in front of the sign for Stella Point. The guides also gave us some ginger tea to warm us up.
Having downed his drink quite quickly, and having also finished off half of The Townie’s tea (she was still feeling nauseous), Shri soon needed to piss as was only natural. The guides had told us the previous evening that we would need to drink and piss a lot on our way up to the summit to counter the effects of the high altitude. At this point, nobody in our group had pissed at all. Shri went over to the side to relieve himself, but was told to stop by one of the guides as he was nearing a ledge. There was to be no privacy for this matter. He decided it would be more polite to aim in the direction of people climbing up towards them who were a little further away rather than those closer to him.
And so, as dozens of people made their way up to Stella Point, feeling jubilant, accomplished and relieved of having got to this milestone in their journey, they were greeted by lovely fountain display, which painted the snow yellow before them. Whether they appreciated this or not, Shri certainly was feeling better.
The Summit of Kilimanjaro
By this point, Firuza’s hands had turned slightly blue as her hands had been ungloved taking pictures. Shri hastened his pace to catch up with her and some of the porters who had come along to support the guides up to the summit. In hindsight, this wasn’t smart as he quickly became out of breath – something that can quite easily happen at this altitude.
It felt like an eternity between Stella and Uhuru point. Although it was no longer uphill, the altitude alone was enough to make the homestretch a challenge. When we eventually arrived at Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa we were greeted by Casper, The Porter, Papa Bear and No One who had arrived before us. Unfortunately, the guides wouldn’t allow us to take photos together as they wanted to others to make their way down to Base Camp as soon as possible to avoid them being at this altitude for too long.
The euphoria we had encountered at Stella Point certainly didn’t transfer to Uhuru in the same way. We didn’t have the same scream from Firuza or the teardrop from Shri. There was no majestic sun hanging over us now and the snow was again falling. However, we had made it and despite the circumstances this really was mission accomplished now!
We had only a brief period to take photos here before Thomas told us it’s time to go down, again to avoid spending too much time at such a high altitude for our own health and safety. Having reached the ‘Roof of Africa’ as it is known, we began to descend in good spirits, spurned on by our achievement!
Abramovich Camp
We passed people heading to the summit who seemed deflated and tired, which contrasted greatly with us as we had a fresh spring in the step having summited and knowing that we were on route to go down. They’d surely get their spring once they’d reached Uhuru, but we gave them some encouragement to keep them going.
As we neared back to Stella Point Thomas pointed out a
camp in the distance and told us that it had been nicknamed ‘Abramovich Camp’
after Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich. It was apparently a
different Base Camp from another route. The nickname was coined after Abramovich
attempted to climb the mountain and this was the point he had made it to
according to Thomas. Admittedly we don’t recall the actual name of it now, and
it will be forever stuck in our heads that it’s ‘Abramovich camp’.
The Evil Castle
We made our way back down past Stella Point, sliding, running, falling and walking. It’s worth noting that the view at Stella was not as good as when we had first arrived so always take your pictures when you first get there, as the view may not last long.
We eventually caught up with Casper and the Porter and took some selfies with what looked like an ‘Evil Castle’ (The Porters’ words) in the backdrop. After this we all ended up moving at differing paces. Thomas helped Firuza get back down to Barafu, running at some speed, with Firuza thinking she was going to fall the whole time. Meanwhile Shri and the Porter where not far behind, following the people in front as the route became less obvious covered by the constantly falling snow.
Once we arrived back at camp, we had some lunch to eat before taking a nap. After this, we’d be descending down to lower altitude and spending the night at Mweka Camp. This would be another 4 hours of walking, which none of us were looking forward to but it was important to get down to a level with high oxygen.
When we finally arrived (it seemed to take ages), the
rain had invaded our bags again and our sleeping bags were wet once more. Not
great but at least this was the final night camping!
Day 8: Mweka Camp
(3100 metres)
The next morning we awoke feeling warm; a bizarre feeling having experienced getting progressively colder for seven days straight on the climb up. After breakfast it was time to tip the guides and porters and they had a whole ceremony for this to happen in.
We had been briefed by the company prior to travel, on what was a standard rate to tip for the guides, cook and porters and we believe most of the companies do give an indication upfront as to what you will be expected to give. It’s not a cheap part of the trip that’s for sure as it worked out as follows for the trekking group (not per climber):
$20 per day per guide
$15 per day per cook
$10 per day per porter
Given that we had 3 guides, one cook and 19 porters with us in our group of 7 you can work out how much it cost per person roughly. What one must remember though, is that although they do get paid a wage, the tips make up a large part of their income and have become more heavily relied on in recent years. Top Climbers is a good company and pays their team fairly but the tip is still important for them to make a decent living.
Once we had organized the tips between everyone in the
group we had our ceremony with the guides, cook and porters, which involved
more dancing and singing (much easier now at this lower elevation than it had
been at Keranga). Looking back through the videos it appears the Asian guy who
had joined our group for our Keranga ceremony had again somehow found us joined
in the dance and filmed us. But none of us had noticed him at the time…
And then, at the bottom we had one final group picture, a celebratory drink and signed out of the National Park, and with that the journey was over.
Looking back on this experience, it is easily our toughest challenge to date. While the physical demands were not as bad as expected, dealing with the constant rain, the wet sleeping bags, the diarrhoea, the lack of oxygen and the immensity of the mountain and conditions around you can take its toll mentally. But when we think back to the fun we had, the camaraderie we shared with the others and the guides, cook and porters, the adventure, the accomplishment and that moment when we emerged victorious at both Stella Point and Uhuru, it was all worth it! The experience had humbled us and made us grateful for many things but mostly we were grateful to the team that had safely got us to the summit and back down in one piece.
We had conquered the highest freestanding mountain in the world and stood on the ‘Roof of Africa’, something nobody could ever take away from you.
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T
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