Kibo Hut to the summit

10:45pm wake up call, tea and cookies and some aspirin. At about 11:30 we start the steepest and most demanding part of the climb, by headlight, in a line, under the stars, very, very slowly. poli, poli. Almost the entire 6 hours we are either scrambling over large rocks or we are trying to walk through loose volcanic scree on switchbacks. It seemed there was no air to breathe and I wanted to stop every 10 steps to rest. The first third, I really didn't think I would make it, I was so tired and mentally I was thinking too much, trying to analyze every step. Fijnally, I put on my ipod and started to listen to my workout playlist with Eye of the Tiger and the Rocky theme music and all of a sudden I felt better. Williams Point at 5000m was our first stop, then the hans meyer cave at 5150m, we kept walking over Jamaica rocks at 5500m and then we were at Gilman's Point, 5686m. I'm not sure how I got there, but I did and then I got this tiny spark of adrenaline. After hours and hours of watching tiny little light going up the mountain, we had made it... almost. What's even better is that all nine of us made it to Gilman's Point. The sun was just beginning to rise and it was a spectacular sight. It was 5:30am and now there were decisions to be made, to continue to Uhuru Peak or not. I may have looked like death, but I was roaring to go. So six of us continued the trek around the crater to the peak, watching the sun rise in the sky to reveal the beautiful glaciers all around us. Only 200 meters more to go and two hours and we'd be there! It wasn't so bad really, after all we had already done, we got to Stella's point and then it seemed the climb was on and was just going on and on and on and on. The headache I had had on the way up went away at Gilman's point. AT 7:40am we reached Uhuru peak! At this point we had 10-15 minutes to celebrate, take pictures, enjoy the scenery, the accomplishment, the emotion. At 19,340 feet, the air was so thin, we were told it was dangerous to stay too long. So....after all that, we hiked down....What took 8 hours to go up would take less than half that to get down, we were cruising. At Gilman's Point, I started getting a terrible headache, unlike anything I had experienced before. We were given some hot water, did I mention how cold it was on the mountain? Very cold. I had ski pants on with two layers of long underwear on undernneath, I had feet warmers in my boots and too many layers to count on top with my winter coat. We began going down the scree and it was fun! Its screeing...like skiing, except with little rocks and lots of dust. Straight down the mountain, I wish I had thought to video tape it.

After a short rest which wasn't so restful for me as it felt like someone had taken an ax to my head, we were given food for the first time in 24 hours. Ok, not completely true, I had subsisted on goo and chocolate and water until that point. I couldn't eat a thing so they had me start walking right away. Yes, you read correctly, we had to get to lower elevation, so it was back across the saddle, another 4.5hours from Kibo Hut to Horombo, 3720 meters. The habitat changed remarkably - from nothing but bolders to smaller rocks and shrub plants, a little river, then big bushy, green plants and trees. Sure enough, I hadn't believed Samuel, but by the time we got to Horombo at 12,204 feet, my headache was gone and I was able to eat dinner and fall asleep by about 7:30pm.

The next morning, our last on the mountain involved thanking all the porters and guides for getting us to the top, tipping, singing and laughing together, it was really moving. In 5 hours, we were at the National park Gate, signing for the last time and reliving the last 7 days together.

I'll post a bunch of pictures of the glaciers, they are remarkable.