Africa - Day 8 - Monday September 30
At 11 PM Bobos, our campsite
manager, came and woke us up. I have
never been so cold in my life. It was so cold in the tent that I had to change
in the sleeping bag. There was even ice
frost on everything inside the tent. I
wondered what in the world we were thinking when we thought this would be a
good idea. After finally getting dressed
and packing my bag, I met everyone in the mess tent for our pre-hike meal. None of us were hungry so we took a few bites
of porridge and that was it.
At 12 PM it was time to hike
although by the time we got our act together it was more like 12:40. We put on our headlamps, grabbed our hiking
poles and started up the mountain. One
foot in front of the other, we hiked and then we hiked and then we hiked some
more. We kept on hiking. Our guide had
suggested that I shouldn’t wear my base layer because I would be hot. I didn't wear it. I wasn't hot. I was freezing. However, it was too cold to
take my jacket off and put the base layer on so I kept going.
Along the way I made one very
big mistake. I didn't drink water. My camel pack was full with 3 liters of
liquid ice. I could feel every sip go
through my body and super-cool my insides.
Because of the super cold water and the fact trying to pee on a steep
incline in sub-zero temperatures wasn't fun,,,, I stopped drinking. Around 18,000 feet the headache set in. About 100 feet below Stella Point (the first
summit point, just below 19,000 feet) my head was pounding. At this point I was taking 3-inch steps just
to keep moving. I knew that if I
stopped, I wouldn't start again.
Let me back up a second to
describe what we thought this was going to be.
We knew we had to go 4,000 feet from camp to the summit. We were told it would take 6 hours. We were told it was a hike along a
trail. 4,000 feet in 6 hours didn't
sound like it would be steep or even that difficult. For example, on our first day we did 5,000
feet in just a few hours along a 'not so steep' path. The summit hike was steep. Very steep.
It took 6 hours because each step was so short.
Another thing to note is the
top of Kilimanjaro. Picture a volcano with its top blown off and a big crater in
the middle. That's exactly what Kilimanjaro
is. The first Summit is Stella point at
just less than 19,000 feet. Then, you
walk around the rim of the crater to the highest point at 19,340 feet. We were told a lot of people get to Stella
point and then just turn around.
When we arrived at Stella
point just as the sun was coming up, we were exhausted. Jamie and I had raging
headaches that crippled our bodies. We each popped a handful of Advil, drank
some warm tea they brought for us and did our best to prepare for the final
hike to the summit. We were told the
hike from Stella to the highest point was an easy 1-hour hike. It did take an hour but it wasn't easy. Even though the vertical ascent was only 500
feet, with the headache, each step was torture.
As bad as my headache was, I
could still appreciate the beauty of our surroundings. There were glaciers all around us. I had never seen glaciers like this before.
Piles of ice, some 100+ feet thick and 100s of yards long and wide,,,,,
amazing. As we slowly made our way to
the highest point, people that were there before us were barreling down
quickly, happily and with ease. I envied
them. After two false peaks we finally
saw the famous sign, just sitting there not too far away. Another 5 minutes and we were there. Finally.
Finally. We made it.
The first thing I did was
call Katie. Hearing her voice shot
emotion through me like I've never felt before. I had just completed the most
grueling physical challenge of my life and my favorite adult in the world, who
had supported me every day of this journey by writing a bundle of letters, one
per day to open and read, was on the other end of the phone. I lost it.
I couldn't even talk. For safety
reasons they only gave us one minute at summit for each day of acclimation we’d
had prior. We were told we had 8 minutes
before we had to start down. I had to
get it together enough to say goodbye to not only Katie but also my loving
Mother who had stayed up late enough with Katie to congratulate us. Jamie, Evan and I took a few pictures at the
summit and then prepared for our hike down.
After 7 hours of intense
hiking, it was time to start our 3 hour controlled fall back to base camp. Jamie and I were hoping that our headaches
would subside as the altitude decreased.
We walked back past Stella Point and then we stepped off the rim on to
the steep side that lead back to camp.
On our equipment list were told to wear gators. Gators are guards that form a seal between
your hiking pants and your shoes to keep rocks out. We didn't need them or use them up until this
point. I'm extremely happy we had them for this decent.
We were in 6 inches of gravel
& dirt as we slid down the mountain.
We each had a guide who we locked arms with as we descended. Locking
arms was as much to help us as it was to help them. With our inner arms locked
together and our outer arms holding one hiking pole each, we slid and stopped
as one. While theoretically the descent
should of helped my head, the constant pounding on my body made it much
worse. My guide and I had to stop
multiple times just so I could rub my head to avoid throwing up. I'm not a sickly person so it was frustrating
for me to be so weak. We made it back to
camp about 30 minutes after Jamie and Evan.
I popped another 4 Advil and drank some salt rehydration medicine that
Evan had with him. About an hour later I
was back to myself.
At this point we had 2 hours
sleep and had hiked over 10 hours. We
were beat and it was only 11 AM. We ate
lunch and then started our hike down to our next camp. 4 hours, 4.5 miles and 5000 feet later we
arrived at our camp. The constant
downhill was a lot on everyone's knees but being back in the warm weather and
oxygen rich atmosphere made it all worth it.
We chatted with some neighbors, ate dinner and called it a night.
However, there was one
surprise at dinner. Because it was
Evan's birthday, the crew surprised him, and us, with a custom made birthday
cake with festive decorations including candles. Most of the crew came in to the mess tent and
sang Happy Birthday both in English and in Swahili. The BO just about beat Evan to smothering the
candles. They finished singing, Evan
blew out the candles, we ate cake and called it a night. We all slept very well that night.
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