I think Godfrey came calling for me around 11pm. It was cold and I was exhausted because I had hardly slept. I slept in most of what I wanted to wear so all I really needed to put on were my windproof guide pants over my mystery pants that were over my Cap4 pants that were over knee high Patagonia sock liners. I also wore a pair of wool extra support Keen socks and pasted toe warmers between them before putting my hiking boots on. On top, I had on the same sports bra I wore all week, under long sleeve cap 1, under a long sleeve Cap2, under an R1, under my big yellow Patagonia DAS jacket. On my hands, I wore glove liners, and Black Diamond gloves.
I was a little confused (probably due to lack of sleep) regarding what was ahead. I started to pack up my sleeping bag not remembering that we were returning to Barafu for lunch after the summit before descending all the way down to Mweka Camp. After wasting a bit of time and energy there, I went to the kitchen tent to try to eat breakfast with Godfrey. Chew, swallow, chew, swallow, chew, swallow... it was hard to even look at food, let alone consume it. I really regret not making time to find some goo or Cliff Blocks before I left home.
Tonight, I'm heading to the peak with both Godfrey and Willie. The first part of the hike requires scrabbling over some boulders, so we won't be using our poles. The mountain was bright, bathed in the light of the full moon. We didn't need to use our headlamps. In fact, headlamps made things more difficult because the LED light just reflected off the snow and right back into your eyes.
There were some people way ahead of us. I wish I hadn't looked up to see them. The best advice I can give anyone attempting something like this is: don't look up, just put one foot in front of the other, and you'll get there.
My pack was as light as I could get it, only carrying water, GPS, camera, and warmers to keep the batteries from freezing. I had some cookies and candies that Godfrey stuffed in my pocket too. I was warm with all of my layers, almost a little too warm, but I wasn't to the point of sweating out.
The first part of the hike over rocks and boulders was far more difficult than I would have expected. It was cold and there was really no trail that could be seen easily. I had to be pulled and hoisted along for part of this stretch. It certainly wasn't easy, and just a little bit scary.
Once we got beyond that point, it was a long stretch of zigzags up to Stella Point. I wouldn't necessarily call them switch backs, because the path was more irregular. There was a thin layer of snow on the ground from the day before, but the trail was easy to see because the contrast of nearly black earth next to bright white snow glistening in the moonlight was very striking. There were also many large rocks along the way that served as resting points when I really thought I could go no further without a break.
There where times when we let teams pass us, and then there were times when we caught up to them and passed them, but ultimately, they all passed us in the end. I was going pole pole in the extreme sense of the Swahili for "slow". I took a deep breath with nearly every step I took which resulted in some kind of "Indy specific" rest step. The air pressure was... well, there was no air pressure! I'm kidding, I'm kidding...but seriously, the air pressure was so little that it was pretty difficult to fill up my lungs. I was also exhausted. I really wanted to just sleep on top of one of those rocks along the way.
The sun was beginning to rise before we even got to Stella Point. Mwenzi Mountain to my right looked beautiful in the early sunrise colors. I was way too cold and exhausted to take a picture though. I climbed all the way to Stella WITHOUT poles. About half way up, Willie took my pack because I was really laboring to get up that mountain. My poles were strapped to the side, and Willie was always just far enough ahead of me to stay out of reach and out of shouting range. Godfrey, on the other hand, was right behind me up until Stella and he did quite a bit of nudging when I slowed down to a crawl. It really was a test of will. One foot in front of the other. Breath.
When I did have my pack, I was trying to take a sip of water every few steps, but you just can't after awhile, and then the water in the tube freezes. You're never really thirsty, but you know you should be drinking as much as you can.
Once at Stella Point, Godfrey took my camera and became the photographer because he wouldn't let me take my gloves off. I'm telling you, these guys kept me a live the last few hours when I could have easily curled up on a rock and went to sleep in the snow without batting an eye. They told me it was only 45 minutes to Uhuru Peak from there, but I didn't believe them at my pace. They finally admitted that it would likely take me an additional hour and a 15 minutes. Which it did.
I saw "Team South Africa" on their way down and one of them hugged me and congratulated me, letting me know that I was almost there. Of course "almost" was a relative term. I did finally make it to the famous sign around 8:30am I think. It's really interesting because it takes awhile before you can actually see the sign, and once you see it, you'd think you'll pick up the pace a bit due to excitement. But no. You just can't. There's no energy to draw upon. I could see Godfrey ahead, taking pictures and getting his picture taken as if he himself was a client. Then Willie went ahead of me and the two of them were carrying on like tourists: taking lots of pictures, yelling, singing, having a great time.
Then there was me, dragging my self along, one foot in front of the other, but I made it! The guys were cheering for me the whole time, and when I finally reached the sign, Willie picked me up with unexplainable energy.
I sat down for a few minutes and rummaged through the snow down to the bare earth to find rocks to take home from the summit as gifts for some dear ones back home. All the while, Godfrey took photos and we hooted and hollered for a little while before deciding what to do next.
We had planned to go down into the crater to get a few more photos of the glaciers up close, but it started to precipitate and I elected to get out of there as soon as possible. I really had no extra energy anyway, but I really appreciated Godfrey's offer to take me further to touch the glaciers.We took photos of the ones at the top, and then began our descent back to our last camp; Barafu.
Wow. It was soooo long and difficult. Down was equally exhausting. Godfrey had my camera, so I didn't take pictures going down, but I can tell you that it's unbelievable to see the way you came up in broad daylight. It looks so impossible. It's absolutely amazing that I made it up. Going down, you try to slide a bit like snow shoeing through soft soil, but it's just tiring now matter how you negotiate the descent.
We rested periodically, and I really wish we had taken some pictures of how we rested because it was truly hilarious. There were times when I just climbed on top of rocks and slept while Godfrey didn't even bother to climb on a rock. He layed down right there on the ground in the middle of the trail in the dark earth, completely unphased. Willie was the only one prodding us along at this point. We would ask to rest for five minutes. He would give up two minutes before he was calling out "twendai, twendai... pole pole sasa, hakuna colala" which means "let's go, let's go - slowly now, no sleeping".
I thought we'd never get there, but we finally did reach Barafu and Godfrey sent a text message to my friend Peter in Nairobi to let him know I made it to the peak. It was after 12:30pm at this time. Godfrey expected us back at 9:00am, meaning it took me an extra 3.5 hours to get from Barafu to the peak and back! I'm getting a special Kilimanjaro Sunrise company t-shirt that says "Slowest Client".
We slept a couple hours, had lunch, and then started the hike down to Mweka Camp after 4pm I think. Surprisingly, my knees were totally fine, but my toes felt like they were going to fall off! We had about 7.5 kilometers to go and most of it was over rocks. My toes pressing into the front of my boots was nearly unbearable, so to alleviate the pain, I walked down sideways for several kilometers. It really helped. We saw a few stretchers along the way, left out to assist those that succumb to altitude sickness. I'm glad I didn't need one.
Here we are being silly, checking to see if Willie is OK...
I have to say, my Keen hiking boots were spectacular. Seriously. My guide Godfrey had on the exact same ones too.
We stopped at the Millenium Camp on the way down to say hello to friends of Godfrey's, and it started to get a little cold. From there, we kept on for another couple hours I think, passing protea along the way. The way down was rocky and murder on the toes, but sideways really did help.
By the time we reached Mweka camp, it was dark. The guys brought me some hot water to wash up with, and dinner was served soon after. Yes - the same giant meals as always. Everyone was excited to congratulate me. Tonight was our last night of camping. Tomorrow, I'd be taking a shower for the first time in a week...sounds like paradise!
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