The view from the top

The Return

After walking up hill for 5 days it was a breeze coming down. Abraham and I made it back to Gilman’s Point in an hour, and we made it down from Gilman’s point in another hour.

I was able to use my hiking poles for balance and do some “Scree Skiiing” on the way down. Really, all I had to do was lift my feet and gravity did the rest. I kept up the pace and the same loose gravel that nearly pushed me to quit became one of the highlights of the trip.

The adrenaline was back and I was having less trouble getting my breath.

The trip up took more than 5 hours but I made it down in about an hour. At one point I was nearly running down the side of the mountain.

As I got closer to the bottom I noticed someone pacing at the bottom of the trail. Ernest had been waiting for us to return.

He gave me a bear hug and apologized again for having to come down the mountain. Once he returned to Kibo, he started to feel better. He said he feeling like his old self again.

The plan was to stay at Kibo for a couple hours while I rested but I didn’t have much interest in staying in the cold stone hut.

I wanted to keep going.

We pushed past Kibo, beyond Horumbo and hiked all the way down to Mandara Hut.

We essentially hiked for another 12 hours until we reached Mandara.

I wanted to be somewhere warm – I wanted to get out of the wind.

Once we reached Mandara, I washed up quickly and went to sleep. My bunk was over the dining hall and there was a large crowd of Swiss climbers eating dinner, preparing to climb the mountain.

There was a lot of talking and laughter over dinner but it didn’t keep me awake.

I closed my eyes and didn’t move until the next morning.

I had done it. I could rest… I climbed Mt Kilimanjaro.

The Summit – Uhuru Peak 19,340 feet above sea level

The time had finally arrived. I woke up on time and hit the trail with Ernest at midnight. Everything was going as planned.

As I started the night was crystal clear and filled with stars. There was a half moon in the sky providing some light – my spirits were high.

Ernest and I kept a slow pace and started the ascent. I was getting winded but that was to be expected – I was starting strong.

After about an hour, Ernest stopped for a break. This was unusual, he hadn’t stopped for a break on any of the earlier hikes.

I didn’t think too much about it, I needed the rest so we just stood there in the dark catching our breath.

I noticed that the sky was starting to darken, there were fewer stars in the sky and the wind was starting to pick up.

I tightened my hood on my jacket and continued on with the words from Seamus ringing in the back of my mind… keep going.

Another 20 minutes passed and Ernest stopped for another break.

This was very unusual. I knew something must be wrong.

I shined my light on him and saw a pained look on his face. Despite the cold weather he was sweating profusely and taking quick short breaths.

He told me he may have to go back down - he was getting sick from the altitude.

Altitude sickness can get anyone at any time, no matter of their fitness level.

I told him I would go back down with him.

“No problem” I said. I’ll attempt it again later in the day. I didn’t want to leave him on his own and I wasn’t particularly excited at the thought of being alone on the side of the mountain.

He refused and changed his mind - picking up his pack and starting up the mountain. He was going to try it again.

I followed along but after another 20 minutes he sat down again.

“I’m sorry, sorry, sorry” he said.

“I have to go back down.”

“You go, and I’ll send Abraham to take you to the top”

I agreed and watched him walk back down in to the darkness toward Kibo.

There I was, sitting in the scree wondering what I had gotten myself into. I had two choices, I could ignore Ernest and go back down or I could keep going.

After a couple minutes I decided to keep going.

I eventually caught up with another guide making his way to the top. I greeting him in swalhili and he asked me in English if I was ok.

I told him what had happened and asked if I could fall in with him and climb with him until Abraham made his way up the mountain.

He agreed and off we went.

The guide’s name was Fred and he was charged with taking Bill, a man from Connecticut up the mountain. Their pace was slow, and that suited me just fine.

I was happy to be able to concentrate on my own climb. I put myself on autopilot, doing my best to keep my mind on other things.

I thought of my wife. In my mind, I replayed all the highlights we’ve had together… the day I met her, our wedding day, both days she told me she was pregnant with our boys.

Those images kept me warm even though my hands were going numb. I could feel the wind picking up, it was blowing bits of rock through the air like a large cold sand blaster rolling down the mountain.

At that moment, I realized there was no sneaking upon Kili. It knew I was here and wasn’t going to make it easy for me.

I walked with Fred and Bill for an hour before I heard someone yell my name over the wind.

“Mr. Chris!”

Abraham had found me. He made his way over to me and asked if I was ok.

“Follow me to the top Mr. Chris”

He was very confident but I had my doubts. I was tired, cold and ready to stop – I sat down for the first time.

“Don’t sit, you’ll freeze” said Abraham.

“Pulli Pulli, let’s go”

I got up and continued the climb going slower than ever - but I was still moving.

I had been battling the loose rock, cold, wind and my own doubts for about 5 hours before I started to see a little light on the horizon.

The sun was starting to rise.

At that moment I felt a charge of energy and my mood began to improve.

But Kili had one more trick in store for me. After fighting the loose rock for hours there was a final stretch of boulders I needed to climb over before reaching Gilman’s Point.

My legs were tired and my lungs were burning but with Abraham coaxing me on I was able to make it to Gilman’s Point by 5:30am. (18,651 feet) I had spent 5 hours and 30 minutes on that incline. Despite losing my guide, spending time alone and wondering if/when I’d find the second guide – I had made it.

By that time the sun was bright in the sky and I knew the trip to Uhuru wouldn’t be as difficult. I had been told there would be some inclines but nothing like the climb to Gilman’s Point.

I slowed my pace so I could take in the scenery. To my right was the crater, a vast open space in the top of the mountain filled with burnt red looking soil. Beyond the crater was the South Glacier and to my left was the North Glacier.

I had seen the North Glacier from Kibo but it had a different look as I walked so closely to it. I could see the details in the ice, the dirt hat had been caught in the permanent freeze for years. The glaciers were sitting like massive frozen spectators watching hikers scurry by for their photo opps at Uhuru peak.

I felt like a visitor in their home. They have been there for hundreds of years and I would only be there for an hour.

I made it across to Uhuru point at 7:30 am. I had officially made it to the highest point in Africa.

An odd feeling of peace, exhaustion and satisfaction washed over me as I got to the sign.

I decided to sit down for a couple minutes and take in the scenery.

The top

The crowd at the top had a Frat party feel. A group of Canadians had just reached Uhuru before me and by the time I sat down, several of them had pulled off their shirts and started handing out bottles of Kilimanjaro beer.

They were getting ready for their own photo opp.

At one point, someone pulled out a football and started tossing it around. It could have been a scene from any pregame tailgate party here in the states. Except this one was at 19,340 feet.

As time went by, more and more climbers appeared. There may have been 40 people jockeying for time with the sign. When you climb the mountain you get a certificate from the Tanzanian National Park to prove that you made it, but the unofficial certification comes from the photo with the sign at Uhuru Peak.

I ended up spending an hour there. There were no problems, I took my time and asked Abraham to take the necessary photos when I could jump in line.

I packed up the camera and we started back down the mountain at 8:30.

It was time to get down and I wanted to do that quickly.

Kibo Hut – 15,429 feet above sea level

Kibo Hut sits at the base of the mountain, just on the edge of the saddle. It is essentially a group of stone structures filled with bunks and a table. It’s for a short stay, you hike to Kibo, grab a couple hours of sleep, then head out to the mountain.

Though you are greeted warmly by the porters, there is nothing warm about Kibo. It’s a cold, unforgiving place that reminds you that this is a serious climb.

It was here that I wondered aloud why this trail is called the Coca Cola route. It felt more like the Jack Daniels route.

I made it to Kibo in about 5 hours but I was starting to feel the altitude. My pace had slowed a lot and I felt myself panting for each breath.

Despite it all, my confidence was still high as I wrapped myself in my sleeping bag to get some rest before attempting the summit. I decided to sleep in all of my warm weather clothes for two reasons. It would give me less to think about when I woke up and it helped to keep the cold at bay so I could sleep a little.

The plan was to get up at 11pm, grab a quick snack and hit the trail at midnight.

I went to sleep listening to other climbers who had just returned from the mountain. They made it, but it wasn’t easy.

After a few moments, I decided it wasn’t a good idea to listen too closely.

Horombo Hut night 2 – 12,204 feet above sea level

I was scheduled to spend an extra night in Hormobo to help get acclimated to the altitude. The climb up from Mandara was about 5 hours but I was still feeling pretty good.

When I woke up in Horombo, I could hear the chatter of the porters and tourists as they started their day.

It was an interesting mix of Swahili, French, English and German… though there may have been others that I didn’t recognize.

Kilimanjaro attracts people from around the world. In my short travel, I shared a bunk room with a Medic in the Israeli Army named Avi and a pair of Austrian Librarians from Vienna named Chris and Martin who were trying their luck on the mountain.

Avi had been traveling in Tanzania with his girlfriend when he decided to stay a little longer and attempt to climb Kili. He was very fit and had just enough equipment to pull it off.

There were few on the trail who were in better shape than him. He kept an extremely fast pace, there was no Pulli Pulli for him.

My Austrian friends were taking it at a different speed. They were taking in the scenery and seeing the adventure as something that needed to be documented. I later found out that they were writing a book about the trip.

They would stay up late at night discussing the details of the book. I couldn’t understand them but when asked, they told me it was going to be an adventure story - like Indiana Jones.

I wished them luck. If you see a book about adventuring librarians from Austria, maybe Vienna Jones, remember – you read about it here first!

The training hike

I decided to take a short 2 hour hike up past an area named Zebra Rocks where I could get a good look at the mountain.

It was a steep and tiring trail but when I reached the top I was able to get my first look at Kilimanjaro. I stopped in the middle of “the saddle”. The saddle is an area of high desert at the base of Kilimanjaro.

It’s dry, windy, cold and unforgiving. There isn’t much growing in that area… it reminded me of photos from the lunar landing.

But it did offer me an incredible view of the mountain and the trail ahead. I was able to see the steepest section of trail that leads to Gilman’s Point.

I had heard of this from other hikers. Yes, It’s steep… but it’s also covered with loose rock called scree. I’ll get to that later in the post.

It was an impressive view but it was a little intimidating. When I turned to hike back down to Horombo for the night, I started to worry a little.

Was I strong enough to do this?

I’d find out soon enough.