Kilimanjaro Day Four/Five

Days four and five were are merged into one, and were two of the most difficult of our lives… We awoke early on day four and set off at 0700 tackle the Baranco Wall – a sheer cliff, rising about 200m from our campsite. The porters nicknamed it the “Breakfast Wall” as apparently it’s common for people to bring up their breakfast once they get to the top. Our group suffered no such fate however and all reached the top after an hour and a half of clambering and scrambling over the rough rocks and jagged edges. A few minutes to relax on the top, then we were off again slogging through the dust and the mud to our next hurdle – Baranco Valley. This is a deep rift in the ground that you have to pass before stopping for lunch. It is a steep path down to the bottom of the valley where a small stream runs down to the hillside, then up again over unforgiving terrain, until finally you reach the top – a flat windswept plateau where we rested and ate lunch.

Many of our group were feeling the effects of the altitude at this point – headaches, nausea and sickness was rife, and many of the group had lost their appetites and couldn’t eat. We forced down as much as we could, and took the opportunity to re fill our water bottles before the remainder of the days hike. Once lunch had finished we began the hardest part of the trek so far. A steady incline over dusty paths, through mist and cloud with the temperature gradually dropping told us we were getting higher. The day dragged however, and every time we thought we must be getting close to base camp, another hill rose through the cloud and we knew that we still had a good way to go. Eventually at around 1630, base camp materialized into view and we pressed on, eager to get there in good time and rest our weary legs, exhausted from the days march.

We rolled in at roughly 1730 to find our camp literally in a cloud. Visibility was near nil and we huddled in the mess tent, waiting for our dinner and to hear what the plans were for our summit attempt the following morning. Once dinner was eaten, Herman addressed the group and informed us that we would be leaving for the summit that same night… We had a few hours to sleep and would be woken again at 2230, aiming to leave at 2330. The climb would take roughly seven hours and if we stayed on track we would reach Uhuru Peak in time for the sunrise.

We “slept” that night in all our clothes we had, and when we awoke, we found the cloud had lifted to reveal a beautiful starry sky and the mountain illuminated by a brilliant white full moon. We forced down some food then set off into the night, our path lit by the moon and each of our little white head torches, snaking up the hill in single file. The next few hours are blurry… no one speaking, each person concentrating on putting one foot down in front of the other and trying their best to block out the effects of the altitude and the bitter cold which got down to -17. We ascended at snail’s pace and tried our best to stay together, although after a while we split into two groups, one slightly ahead of the other.

The cold was relentless and the night seemed never ending. At one point one of our group showed signs of hypothermia and only some quick action from the guides prevented her from being carried down in a stretcher. At 0400 our group stopped to rest. The thinness of the air meant it was impossible to catch a full breath, and the effects of being so high meant everyone had splitting headaches and were either being sick or were huddled by rocks trying to concentrate on the task in hand over next few hours. We soon set off again as we couldn’t stay still for longer than five minutes due to the cold, and pressed on to Stella Point, a peak from which the summit is visible.

When 0500 arrived, we found ourselves walking up what seemed like a giant sand dune. Each step was laborious and it took every ounce of concentration to stop yourself from slipping back down and ruining the last 15 minutes hard work that had taken you about 10m closer to our goal. Suddenly, the ground leveled off, and we saw in front of us an inconspicuous wooden sign, inscribed with the words “Stella Point”. We had made it! At 5756m Stella Point is the last stop before Uhuru Peak, the top of the mountain. Through the night we had travelled over 1100m and we knew our goal was just over 100m higher! That was an emotional moment and nearly everyone in our group had a tear in the eye as we hugged and congratulated one another on our achievement. We had a teary photo, and looked to the horizon to see the sky a lighter shade of blue and the first signs of a perfect sunrise in the making.

After a short break, we headed off along the ridge to Uhuru Peak to try and make the summit in time for the sunrise. The walk was no longer steep, but each step was labored as we fought our way to the final goal. It took almost an hour to walk what appeared to be only a mile or so, but eventually we made it and it was all worthwhile. The famous sign informed us of our height (5895m), and our location at the highest point in Africa. We congratulated each other and smiled for photos as evidence of our great achievement. Our guide delightedly informed us that the rest of our group was making good progress and would all make the top, meaning we would have a 100% success rate! We were delighted with this news as it was our goal that no one would fail, and standing on the roof of Africa it hit home what our group had managed to achieve. Life was good as we looked over the blanket of clouds as the sun rose, shining its warmth and light on our frozen faces and on the rest of Africa, sprawled out below us.

Kilimanjaro Day Three

Day three began well, as we ascended towards Lava Tower (4600m) where we were to have lunch. The Machame Route that we were taking is favorable due to the fact that whilst you climb quickly, you sleep lower so that your body has a chance to adjust to the change in altitude. The surroundings were now more like a desert, and we took care to apply factor 50 at every opportunity as the group we met before we departed had horror stories of blistered faces and lips. As we got close to the highest point we would reach that day it was clear that the altitude was starting to affect some of the group…

A few had lost their appetite, some were feeling nauseous or had headaches, and a couple were just totally green in the face! Thank goodness, once we had reached Lava Tower, we descended to our camp at 3900m to recover. We had the moral victory however, as that evening whilst huddled in the mess tent, Herman informed us that Lava Tower was indeed the same height as Base Camp, our destination for the following day and the starting point from which we would attempt the summit the following night.

Kilimanjaro Day Two

Day two began with our morning mountain ritual… Awoken at 6am, with a cup of Milo (the drink of Champions, as it says on the tin) from a far too chirpy porter, then to the mess tent for sloppy porridge, which became a staple throughout our time on the mountain. We took to the trail once again, legs feeling strong and no sign of symptoms of altitude sickness…

The terrain had now changed from rainforest to dusty moorland, and the campsite that evening was truly breathtaking. We camped in a valley just above cloud level, and all you could see around you was a thick carpet of fluffy clouds. There were literally hundreds of tents, as many groups flock to the same campsites each night, and there was a buzz of porters hurrying around preparing dinner for us ravenous climbers. Those of us, whose sleep was interrupted by the amount of water consumed that day, were greeted by the most ridiculously starry sky, and the brightest moon I have ever seen that illuminated the peak of the mountain that towered menacingly above.

Kilimanjaro Day One

Day one started with checking in at the gate to the Kilimanjaro National Park where we had to give our names and passport numbers and sorted out our kit that we would be taking up the mountain. We met the porters who would be carrying our bags and also our tents/food/mats and generally anything else that we would need for the next six days. The porters and guides were amazing during the whole climb. Whilst we toiled up the mountain one step at a time, moaning about the altitude and how far we had to walk, the porters would literally run by, carrying impossible amount on their heads and on their backs without even breaking sweat. Without them helping us there was no way we could have even got to the 1^st camp!

Day one was a steady incline through rainforest. It was sweaty and hot but a good chance for people to get to know each other and get in the swing of things. As anyone who has climbed to altitude before will know, one of the key ways to beat altitude sickness is to drink an unnatural amount of water… We’re literally talking about eight litres of water a day – which I’m sure is great for keeping you hydrated, but does also mean that you are required to “water the plants” or as the porters called it “send an email” almost every half hour… This took a bit of getting used to, but the group adapted well and we reached our first camp at around 1600 hours at an altitude of 3000m. We ate dinner in the “mess tent”, a long tent big enough to fit all 30 of us in which was greatly appreciated! For any Harry Potter fans, it reminded us of the Weasly’s tent from the Quidditch World Cup…

Morale was high and we headed off to bed early in preparation for our next day’s hike which would take us to 3800m.

Passport Panic

After a few more days relaxing in Uganda, and a surprisingly comfy 13 hour overnight bus ride to Niarobi, we started the final leg of our journey in Kenya, as we met the rest of our Kilimanjaro team at the airport. We also met our tour guide for the climb, a man called Herman in who we would trust our lives to, 5895m in the air! As responsible, experienced and trustworthy team leaders, we shepherded everyone onto our shuttle buses that would take us to Tanzania. So far so good, the team were in good spirits (if a little jetlagged), everyone was accounted for and the border crossing  into Tanzania was going to be easy as pie as we were experts, having negotiated many border crossings on our travels already… Not so… It was when we actually reached the Kenya-Tanzania border that we encountered our first hurdle of the trip, however it was not one of our innocent, fresh faced team members… our very own team leader Katie had managed to leave her passport in Nairobi!!

As panic began to set in, “The Hermanator” (as he had dubbed himself) stepped in to save the day. After a series of frenzied called and jabbering in Swahili to Nairobi the passport was on its way – his reaction instilled us with confidence as he was obviously well equipped to deal with crisis situations! And so as the day came to a close we made it safely to Moshi at the base of the Mountain, our home until the real challenge began.

The following day we headed out to School Project to see where the money our group had raised would be going to benefit the local children. Our group had raised over 70,000 pounds (a phenomenal sum) and the children welcomed us with singing and dancing before showing off their impressive school facilities that Loughborough Students had helped to provide. Then we took to the playing fields, and whilst typical Loughborough competitiveness was evident, both our Football team and netball team were beaten fairly convincingly by small African School children…

The night before the climb was spent relaxing at the hotel, packing up kit and chatting to another Loughborough group who had just descended that day. They had many horror stories of altitude sickness and blisters and reminisced with glee about how awful the climb had been and how they wouldn’t wish that on anyone… A little taken aback we headed to bed that night, looking forward to getting cracking the next day, but also apprehensive as to what the next 6 days would bring…