After a pretty excting Day 1, Days 2-5 of the trek were pretty uneventful. We had lots of hiking and lots of downtime. We started learning Swahili and even learned to sing some songs. If you'd like, when I get back, I will serenade you with a song in Swahili that basically says, "Avocado, Watermelon, Watermelon" to the tune of Fraireze Jacque.
Other than that, Kimberly, Sean and I became basically the annoying competitive hikers who would aim to beat our guides estimate of how long it would take. Guides and porters say, "Pole, Pole" on Kilimanjaro as a reminder to go slowly, slowly. Obviously, us cocky kids from Colorado ignored this for the most part.
We didnt hit serious altitude until Day 5, when we hiked up to approx 16,000 feet and camped at Arrow Glacier(as a comparison, Denver is at 5280 feet, and people talk about how the altitude has an effect there....)
Day 5 also happened to be my birthday. The camp cook managed to bake me a somewhat lopsided cake at 16,000 feet and the porters cake me a 1-liter bottle of Sprite. They all came in singing Happy Birthday and this little effort of a makeshift cake and bottle of Sprite was very touching. And the fact that I was there with 2 of my best friends made it even better.
We knew Day 6 would be a doozie, so went to bed early.
Day 6 was a doozie...we conquered the Western Breach, which entailed basically scrambling on rocks, very steep rocks, from 16,000 feet up to 18,500 feet. At normal altitudes, this day would have been fun, but it was a cold, long, day full of lots of breaks and sucking in as much oxygen as we could. We definitely went "Pole, Pole" but thankfully none of us expressed or really felt any discouragement with the hike.
We finally got to camp at the Summit Crater with huge glaciers all around. Since there was no fresh water source, we are pretty sure the porters got our water by chipping away at the glacier. I had some strong signs of altitude sickness...a big headache and feeling like I had been hit by a truck. But by tapping my emergency stash of Potato Chips and resting all afternoon, I pulled out of it by dinner time.
Again we went to bed early because it was another cold night. I slept in the tent with Kimberly and Sean, smooshed in the middle of the two like a toddler who is afraid of the dark. It was a cold night. We woke up at several points in the night to discover frost on the inside of the tent, frost on our hats, frost on our sleeping bags. It was a cold night. Kimberly and Sean both woke up in the night with splitting headaches, and the frost everywhere inside the tent didnt seem to help matters. They bickered for about 10 minutes as to who would sit up to get the bottle of Advil from the backpack (it was that cold) and I knew that the altitude was taking it's toll.
On Day 7, we woke up around 4:30am and began the climb to the summit around 5:15. It was a tough climb - steep, sandy and cold. We went "Pole, Pole" and reached the summit around 6:15 just as the Full Moon was disappearing and the sun was rising. There were hardly any climbers yet on the summit.
We were all slightly choked up as we made our way to the "official" summit at 19,340 feet (5895 meters). I hadnt felt this way during the whole trek, but I was filled with an overwhelming sense of both relief and pride that we had summitted Mt Kilimanjaro without 2 of my best friends, and without much emotional or physical difficulty.
At one point, I looked over and in front of this beautiful vista of full moon disappearing and sun rising was Sean down on one knee, proposing to Kimberly.
It was a private moment for them, but I managed to catch this shot of them right after she (presumably) said "Yes."
From there, it was all downhill (especially for Sean). It took another 24 hours to descend the 14,000 feet back to the pick up point. The descent was probably the most physically demanding part of the whole trek - well that and now Kimberly had to lug around a huge diamond ring.
We were never once sore from the ascent, but we were sore from the descent for days. Luckily those were days spent in the Ngora ngora Crater the Serengeti National Park, complete with real beds and showers, so we werent complaining much. Stay tuned for the next blog entry on the wildlife viewing in the Serengeti!
Photographs compliments of Kimberly Burdorf
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