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.

Kikelelwa Cave and up and up and ....

Day 2 began with a guide waking us up and offering us tea or coffee. They actually delivered the tea to the tent, asked how we were and brought us 'wash wash,' a tub of water. We packed our stuff up, headed to the meal tent and enjoyed a great breakfast of eggs, fruit, bread (and for the meat eaters out there, lots of that too). We began hiking, through moorland, stopping for a hot lunch along the way at 2nd cave. The terrain was pretty steep today, lots of rocks, lots of ups and downs, scenery has changed so much in just two days of hiking. After lunch, it seemed we began heading straight to Mawenzi, one of the three peaks, which nobody climbs, it is too steep and rocky. One of our fellow hikers, Michael, had a GPS with him, so we could see our progress. We had climbed 12.6 kilometers, just under 8 miles, finished the day another 900 meters higher than we began. Flowers were abundant, including two diferent kinds of gladiolas, impatients, many yellow flowers. I saw many birds, mostly Arctic chats and Ravens. In fact, Ravens were even found at the very top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I saw wild dogs and buffalo...poop. We saw a path where the elephants walk through, chipmunks an even beetles. I was excited to be able to see the clouds below me and above me. We even got just a bit of rain in the afternoon. The next day we traveled for only 3-4 hours, between breakfast and lunch climbing 750 meters to Mawenzi turn. In the afternoon we took a short hike of about an hour climbing another 150metes up and back down, a bit of an acclimitization climb. That day was also very exciting for everyone on the mountain, inaugurtion day. As the day went on, those with iphones were checking to see how the party was progressing, I hear it was incredible, I'd love to hear some stories (hint, hint). Anyhow, the acclimitization walk took us closer to Mawenzi, so beautiful, we got to see just how steep and rocky it really is. About ten minutes later is when the rain and then snow began to fall. As we climbed back down, the snow turned to rain. It was a good excuse to sit in the mess tent and play cards, eat popcorn and chocolate and drink tea.

In the morning, the base of Mawenzi and a beautiful tiny lake were our welcome as we climbed from our tents into the cold, cold, cold. We walked over a ridge, crossed an area of the mountain and then across the kilimanjaro saddle the entire thing, a very gentle climb, in fact I didn't even notice we were climbing at all, it just seemed to go on forever, its what we all imagine walking on the moon would be like, nothing but dirt, craters and big bolders. 370 meters was all the elevation we gained over the course of about six hours.

We made it...to Kibo Hut, the first hurdle at 4700 meters, 15, 419 feet. We were asked to sign in again. We were fed...again and then rested for a few hours until dinner and then rest again, preparation for the midnight start.

Rongai Route

Jambo means hello in Swahili. Isn't that a great word?

I am back in Nairobi after an incredible 12 days on safari. I had such a great time, I'm already trying to figure out how to convince all of you to join me next year :) But first I've got to tell you more about Kilimanjaro.

There are quite a few routes you can take, one of the most popular is the coca cola route, named that way because its so popular and very crowded, with huts you can sleep in and stuff you buy. That is the route we took down, it took us a day and a half to get down.

We took the Rongai Route, only tents and not many people. Going up the mountain we started at the national park gate (Nale moro village, 1950m), where we met our porters, assistant guides, cook and the head honcho, our guide Samuel, who has been climbing the mountain for 30 years! We climbed up 750 meters the first day 'poli poli.' That's one of the secrets. The guides tell us over and over and over and over...poli poli. Slowly, slowly. The slower the better, gives your body time to acclimitize. That and drinking 4-5 liters of water and that PMA (no dad, not PMS, PMA, positive mental attitude). We climb through farm land, mainly corn, on up through the forest to simba camp which is just about at the edge of the moorland zone. We camped at Simba Camp (2700m). Keep in mind that while we are carrying day packs with cameras, rain gear, warm clothes and water, the porters are basically running past us, or so it looks that way, they are so fast AND they have 20kg on their backs or heads! Unbelievable how fit these men and woman are. We walk into camp and to our utter amazement, the tents are up, the loo is up, the porters are just hanging out waiting for us and that's where it all began. We signed in, no turning back now.

I talked with our guide in training. Elli is a very nice guy. He told me that they go to school to be a guide, take a test and then spend 12 days on the mountain. They do everything to make us comfortable and successful, such great people here on the mountain. The food was amazing and we were off to bed early, yes even for me. Georgi and I shared a tent and around midnight we both were awaken to the strangest sounding animal. No, not really, it was just one of our new friends snoring. Don't worry, we totally got used to it, by the end I was wondering if I'd be able to sleep without hearing him snore (turns out it wasn't a problem).

Photos of Kili before and after

Kilimanjaro...Tanzania

What a fantastic week! I had thought about staring this post from the beginning, taking you through every moment, each detail, leaving you hanging until the very end...did she make, didn't she make it, what happened. Then I thought...no way, I can't hold it in, I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and I want to scream it from the rooftops!

I flew into Tanzania last Saturday morning and by the evening had met the other 8 members of 'the group.' I just happened to be the only American surrounded by English, Irish and French, sounds scary? More like highly entertaining. Not only did I learn Swahili, but I learned English as well. Pericetimon, loo, bugger, I could go on for days, but that's for another day. Anyhow, Sunday morning it all started...camping, no showers, no running water...we did get a bowl of hot water for 'wash wash' almost every day. We were woken up each morning with hot tea or coffee in our tent, we had our very own green room (loo...toilet) in camp each evening and we had by far the best chef known to mankind. Honestly, the food was amazing and even though we were burning thousands of calories a day, I'm pretty sure nobody walked away any lighter than we started. The guides were incredibly knowledgeable, never wrong, very kind and oh so helpful. Oh, back to the food thing. The guides talked a lot about signs of AMS, acute mountain sickness...saying lack of appetite was one of the signs...not a problem with our group...who ranged in age from 25 to 50ish (I think)...Georgi and I were the only girls and I'm happy to report we held up our end up just fine.

The higher we climbed, the colder it got...duh. But 'brrr, its cold outside' has new meaning. Each morning we were up around 6:30 and on the road by 7:30 or 8, climbing poli poli (slowly, slowly). We soon figured out that our chief and guides (Samuel, JT, Elli and Joseph) knew what they were talking about and if we listened to them we'd be just fine, it seemed to really work that way. If you are familiar with the mountain, then you know that there are many different routes and timetables you can follow to get to the top, so remind me to tell you all about that in the next posting. Its super late (ok, not really), its about 10:30, but we were going to bed around 8 or 9 most evenings and then there was the final push...we hiked for a very, very, very, very long time. Besides, if you've read this far, you must be falling asleep, so next time...the route, the scenery, the nitty gritty....until then here's your second Swahili word of the day...Jambo! Anyone know what it means? Here's a hint...it should have been at the beginning of this post, not the end.

Good night!

Nairobi!

Hi everyone! I made it to Nairobi! I had a great flight to London, flying will never be the same...the great seat did not continue on...but the flight to Nairobi, 8 hours wasn't bad once we left...two hours late. The 8 hours to London was sheer bliss! It took about an hour to get my VISA last night, but hopefully it shouldn't take that much time on the way back through next weekend. I got a good nap beginning about 1:30am and I woke up every 20 minutes to make sure I didn't oversleep and miss my flight to Kilimanjaro :) I repacked all my stuff, stored a giant bag at the hotel and met Jimmy, to drive out to the airport...it rained pretty hard this morning and they say its cool out...It's supposed to be hot, hot, hot! There are maribou storks flying all over the place, they call them scavengers out here. Oh, get this, on the flight to Nairobi, I met someone that knows Sarah Higgins, the woman taking me in come February! He thinks the world of her and says she is great. He is putting together a film, a documentary on a friend of Sarah's who was murdered. Ok, it's time to get some bottled water and find my gate...which is admittedly a two minute walk...but how much would it suck if I missed my flight because I was busy writing all of you?! Now that could be quite a sotry! Miss you all, take care...

British Airways

Aha! I bet you were thinking...finally, a few minutes of peace...not so much!! No, I am not in London or Nairobi, I am in The Lounge at DIA (denver int'l airport). Thank you 'dad.' It appears I will be flying in a class that I've only dreamt about until now- at least to London. Hey, I'll take it!

Now that I have a few minutes to eat whatever I want, drink whatever I want and sit in giant, plush chairs, I can think back over the last 48 hours and breathe....finally. It's amazing how I planned ahead, wanted to be packed days ago...and was. And yet, I repacked about a hundred times. What is up with that? Like I'm going to make more room? No, because every time I thought I was packed, I found more stuff to take...what started as one backpack, morphed into two when I wasn't looking.

Aaron wrote me the nicest note, he's the best brother ever! Really, I am making it public... no take backs... do you see that Aaron? Ok, what that means for you...you must keep Shadow alive... play nice you two! And take care of yourself too! (hey aaron, you can put the 20 dollars in my dresser drawer :))

To all those wonderful friends who have sent me well wishes over the last few days, thank you. It is so nice to know I've got such incredible energy coming from you all as I embark on this adventure.

I'm not sure how often I will have internet access, but I promise to keep everyone up to date as often as I am able, feel free to keep me up to date as well, I'm only a few clicks away. I love you all!

Melissa