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Thanks for the vibes K9 - not sure why, but felt loads more positive Today.
Regarding hairwashing - I have a photo of H (brother's girlfriend) washing her hair on day 4 using the washing water so it is possible (be very tight with shampoo and water)
I used dry shampoo which was donated by Holly (she took the wet option) and was definitely worth taking along - was quite impressive and definitely made me feel slightly less tatty.
I've bought some dry shampoo, and will just tie my hair back and enjoy being scruffy and stinky for a bit - it'll be liberating!
Big Dave - glad to hear it!
We should work up to this.
I bid one molehill.
K9, a friend of mine is leaving on 4th Jan, climbing the Rongai route with Exodus - if this is the same trip you are doing, email me (you're not email enabled on your profile) and I'll pass you her name. Might be nice to know somone else on the same trip.
Hello Sweetest Thing...
Going a bit later in January - shame!
Hope she has fun
ST
Western Breach - thats the route I went - from Lava Tower to Arrow Glacier camp then straight up in the dark.
I have the best photo ever of the sunrise as I went through the crater wall - looks like an oil painting it is so full of colour!
Shame its closed now, it was said at the time to be a little more risky than the other routes though so I'm not surprised, especially as the glacier itself receeds.
Well, here I am, back in the UK, alive and well albeit a few pounds lighter!
So, as promised...a potted report of the journey...
I think already some of the details are starting to fade, in particular how hard I found the final ascent as I had BAD altitude symptoms. i wish i'd kept a diary now!
Anyway, here goes...
Day 1: journey from UK
Had been so busy at work I'd barely had time to get anxious about the trip, and it all hit me at once in the 48 hours before going. For a while I wasn't even sure the trip would go ahead as we were flying via Nairobi, and with all the political troubles...
Finally squashed everything I needed into my Exodus kit bag and set off for Newcastle airport. Starting to feel very stressed and worried!
Due to the recent plane crash at heathrow, all the domestic flights were being delayed so we set off over an hour late and were delayed in landing, spending 15 extra minutes circling Heathrow. Realised on board that I possibly wasn't going to have time to collect my luggage and get from terminal 1 to 4 in time to check in my luggage for Kenya airlines. Arrived at terminal 1 at 1720h and needed to be in terminal 4 by about 1800h at the latest for a 1900h flight. Anyway, my kitbag came off the flight last, and after just missing a train to terminal 4 I didn't get to the check in until 1830h by which time the check-in had closed and all the staff had disappeared to the boarding gate. In fact the flight was actually boarding by this stage. After desperately looking for someone to help and being pointed in the direction of KLM as they look after Kenya airlines in the UK, I promptly burst into tears thinking I was going to be spending the next 2 weeks at home.
Anyway, fortunately the KLM girls took pity and persuaded Kenya Airlines to take one more passenger, and they pushed me through the fast track departure checks. I heard them call my name as 'the final remaining passenger for flight KQ...' as I was told to take my boots off for the X-ray machine. I then ran in my socks to the check in in a hugely flustered state to get on board the plane with minutes to spare...
Needed a couple of G&Ts to settle the nerves after that. The flight was very empty due to the Kenya troubles so I had 3 seats to myself and stretched out. Couldn't sleep though - too excited.
Finally got to Nairobi in the early mornng the next day, and then took a 2nd flight on a very small plane with propellers and worryingly flat tyres to kilimanjaro 'airport' where I was astonished to discover my luggage had actually made it, and i met up with rest of the group.
6 of us in the group: 2 couples, me and one other bloke.
Day 2: Marangu Lodge
2 hour journey to our Lodge from kilimanjaro airport in a minibus.
The lodge well exceeded my expectations - I think I was expecting some kind of very basic youth hostel, but this was a lovely hotel with a pool etc. The food left a bit to be desired, but that's a minor matter.
We were then given a trip briefing, and told about how, and how much we would be expected to tip our guides and porters. Shocked to discover that we would have a team of 25 looking after us including 3 guides, 2 cooks, and umpteen porters.
Had some lunch, a shower and sleep, and then spent the evening getting to know the others in the group before a fairly early night..
Day 3: setting off
Also my BIRTHDAY so even better...
Set off after breakfast by rather dodgy 4WD to the starting point. The drive took over 2 hours on dodgy roads through plantations of bananas etc. Puncture on the way unsurprisingly held us up a bit.
Starting point was at Nale Moru 1950m right beside the kenyan border.
After registering, we set off through fairly tropical rainforest at fairly frustratingly slow pace (I was soon to discover why!) noticed that even at this slow pace I felt oddly and disproportionately short of breath!
Passed by all sorts of plantations - fruit, veg including potatoes, bananas, spinach, beans, cabbage etc. I think we must have collected some of these to eat later in the journey. This later evolved into a more Alpine terrain with pine trees etc
Stopped for a strange packed lunch of decidedly dodgy boiled egg, cake, banana, biscuits and jam(?) and bread that had been prepared by the hotel, then continued slowly up the slope. Lots of cloud around Kili at this point so couldn't see the summit. Finally reached our 1st camp by about 4pm at 2600m.
We were sleeping in tents throughout the trip, usually on a slope (strangely enough) that resulted in us migrating towards the tent opening overnight! Anyway, we set up our mats and sleeping bags and had a break before heading off for a short 'acclimatisation walk' for 30 minutes - where we climbed to a higher altitude and then descended again to the camp to sleep.
We were then given hot drinks of tea/ coffee/ milo/ hot chocolate and snacks of peanuts or popcorn. Yes, the coffee wasn't quite what I might have imagined Kilimanjaro coffee to be (think fairtrade coffee from Tescos), but somehow it tasted wonderful in that setting. Nasty coffee with powdered milk and several sugars in a plastic beaker - just the ticket! I started to really look forward to it!
We then were given our evening bowl of water to 'wash' with. Yes, the babywipes came in very handy, and all things considered i kept fairly clean for the trip - apart from my hair which i normally wash at least once a day, but never mind.
After the obligatory 'wash' we gathered again in our dining tent for an evening meal. Again this totally exceeded my expectations every day - I was expecting very bland and basic food, but our chef - Johnson - totally surpassed himself. Every night we had soup and bread, then a good meal including meat/fish/chicken withrice/pasta/potatoes and vegetables. Always followed by fruit and more tea/ coffee.
The food, given our circumstances, was truly excellent - it's a pity we didn't always do it full justice as we gradullay lost our appetites as we ascended.
After dinner, it was always dark, so we had fairly early nights and early morning starts. Our toilet facilities were truly VIP compared to Sweetest thing's! We had a toilet TENT! - a green tent with a stool with a toilet seat over a big blue bucket that was emptied and cleaned between camps (pity the poor sod who had to do that)
Off to 'bed'. Slept with ear plugs every night as the porters generally stayed up late chatting and listening to their radios. Not too cold that first night - slept in my London Marathon t-shirt in my 5 seasons sleeping bag. Woken by screeching monkeys at 3am, then drifted back off again...
Interestingly, all 6 of the group were runners, and 4 of the 6 had done at least one marathon...
Day 4:
Steady slow climb through forests and finally moorland up to a place called 2nd cave where we stopped for lunch. Our astonishingly hard working porters had zoomed on ahead of us with their very heavy loads and set up the dining tent and had a hot lunch of soup, bread, CHEESE, and fruit waiting for us.
After a break we set off again, slowly winding our way up and around the side of the mountain - we had a fantastic view of Kibo - the main peak from here. It really looked very frightening and imposing as well as incredibly beautiful...
Heavy rains descended in the afternoon, so on with our raingear which we carried at all times. the weather generally was very unpredictable, although mainly good.
Reached our 2nd camp in the late afternoon in a sheltered valley. We'd already climbed to an altitude higher than that which we'd be sleeping at so no need for an aclimatisation walk.
So, tea, washing, dinner and then another early night....
2nd camp was at 3600m - I still felt great, but one member of the group was feeling rough with altitude symptoms already...
Anyway, just popping out for a quick run before the weather gets too bad - will be back shortly!
Day 5: ascent to Mawenzi Tarn
Woken as we were every day with a cup of 'bed tea' brought to our tent - actually a plastic beaker of sweet Kili coffee as described above. Then a bowl of water to 'wash', then into the breakfast tent whilst our own tents were swiftly dismantled by the porters.
Breakfast was always a bowl of hot porridge - a rather watery affair made from ?wheat or maize and made palatable with a big gloop of Tanzanian honey. This was accompanied by toast or bread with blue band margarine/ honey/ jam/ peanut butter, and then followed by bacon and eggs and usually fresh fruit...again totally exceeding my expectations every time.
We then set off up the increasingly rocky and sparsely covered side of the mountain - through an area damaged by a serious forest fire a few months ago. Probably set off just a bit too fast as I felt just a bit too out of breath and later started to feel waves of nausea.
We reached out third camp at Mavenzi tarn 4330m by lunchtime feeling pretty ropey with a hint of headache by now. Very inmpressive campsite in a little sheltered area at the foot of the towering Mawenzi peak beside a small 'lake'
Felt even worse after lunch and a rest, but perked up after an acclimatisation walk to 4550m to a ridge where we go an incredible view across the barren plains of the saddle separating mawenzi and Kibo.
Temperatures that night were utterly freezing - I slept in my thermals, padded trousers, 2 fleeces, wooley hat and polar sleeping bag drawn tight around my face - and I was still cold!
Day 6: crossing the saddle
Very short (5km) walk from Mawenzi Tarn to Kibo huts - now at a snail's pace - it took nearly 5 hours I think including rests. Arrived early afternoon feeling strangely exhausted for such a pitifully short walk. By now had quite a bad headache - aspirin from the guides had shifted it the night before but didn't seem to be doing the trick anymore.
The 4th camp at Kibo huts 4700m, lies just at the foot of the crater and is the case from which the final ascent is made.
Spent the rest of the day attempting to stomach lunch and dinner, and resting in between.
After an early dinner we were briefed about the night ahead and then went to our tents supposedly to get some rest, but in fact I just lay wide awake worrying about the final ascent to the summit. I had on all of my clothes that I planned to walk in inside my sleeping bag in an attempt to stay warm - once I get cold i struggle to warm up again.
Day 7: final ascent
Woken up at 11:10pm to get ready, have a final cup of sweet tea, ginger biscuits to settle the nausea, aspirin and paracetamol for the lingering headache.
Water bottles filled with warm water and wrapped in socks to prevent freezing (the usual platypus bladder was no good as any water in the tubing just froze)
Finally set off at about 0045h - it was supposed to be midnight, but Tanzanians don't really do punctuality!
Walked painfully slowly, one foot after another, like a row of Michelin men and women, with our head torches on, weaving in a zig-zagging snake up the side of the crater. We knew the journey would take at least 5 hours of painstaking plodding - in fact I think we took 5 and a half in the end.
We were told that we would only take a small number of five minute breaks to avoid getting too cold....I think we only had 3 in the end at 1/4, 1/2 way and 3/4-way up - those 'breaks' couldn't come fast enough!!
I think those 5 and a half hours were (physically) the hardest of my entire life - not because it was a hard climb - at sea level it would have been a doddle - but purely because of the altitude. I felt increasingly nauseated and had a worse and worse headache. I recall seriously questioning why on earth people paid such huge sums of money to put themselves through this torture...this was far harder mentally and physically than any marathon i'd done!
I do remember having a little mental 'lift' at the half way point - 5151m - set in alittle cave from where we got an utterly incredible view across to Mawenzi peak, however..
by the time we got to the 3/4 of the way up 'break' I was wondering if I could actually carry on and was very close to tears! That was shortly before I had 2 impressive vomits - pebbledashing the side of the mountain in bile and iodised water.
Felt a lot better after vomiting - and after the anti-sickness meds they gave me - and soon we were at the top. Gilman's Point on the crater rim - 5681m. I think we were supposed to see the sunrise from there - but I actually don't remember it at all. it was dark during the climb and daylight at the top - I don't recall any transition at all. I was still alive and for that i felt strangely thankful! The view was not at all what I expected - the crater was vast and totally filled with snow...there were huge glaciers and this little wooden sign perched there saying Gilman's Point...quite surreal actually!
At this stage we had to make a decision as to whether we wanted to proceed to Uhuru Peak - the highest point on the actual crater rim - a 3 hour round trip from Gilman's Point. 2 of our group were keen, and feeling very revived i decided i would join them. The other 3 descended the mountain at this point - one was showing clear signs of pulmonary oedema (and was given no option of continuing) and the other 2 had both been vomiting too!
After a cup of hot tea that one of our guides miraculously produced, and after rest I felt a whole lot better. At that stage we had to
Day 7: Uhuru Peak
The walk to uhuru was ever so much easier than that up to the crater rim....not a lot of ascent, and we completed it relatively quickly - walking past an astonishing array of vast glacirs and ice fields, pecariously close at times to the crater edge.
Arrived finally at Uhuru Peak - 5895m - the highest point in Africa at 0750h 26/01/08.
The weather was closing in in a somewhat worrying manner with clouds, snow, and worsening visibility, plus the snow was starting to melt and become slippy in the day light - despite the temperature being -20!!
Spent only minutes there - photographed Jackson my guide by the sign, didn't get one of myself stupidly, and then turned and sped back towards Gilman's point. By now starting to feel very exhausted and worrying if i'd manage the walk back down. Jackson pointed out the Kibo huts below - just dots, way way down in the distance - it looked impossiby far away - but there was no option but to keep going!
We clambered gingerly over some pretty slippy rocks and ice and reached a huge area of scree - which we basically 'ski-ed' down with our feet - and ran quite a bit too...my first run for a week!
Very hot by the time we descended - I was still wearing layers and layers of clothes, and stupidly wore no sunscreen - only my face was exposed - but boy did I get burned (despite your advice to wear factor 50 - very stupid). My face later fell off as a crispy fried face-shaped shell...
Got to Kibo huts, exhausted at 9:40....collapsed unconscious in my tent, head pounding and heart racing for 40 minutes - before being woken up for food - didn't think I could stomach it, but felt a whole lot better after some soup and something akin to fried bread!
No rest for the wicked - we then had to pack up our gear and set off immediately on a 3 hour walk to camp 5 at Horombo 3720m. Head still pounding and feeling a bit sick, but a lot better than earlier. It was a pretty easy and quick downhill walk, passing people coming up in the opposite direction. Once at the camp - we were all desperate to sleep but were prevented to by repeated calls to get up - tea, wash, dinner...
Finally settled in our tents by about 7pm, knackered, but actually starting to feel well again - my headache had GONE.
Slept like a baby for over 10 hours before being woken at 6 with bed-tea.
Day 8: final day
Early breakfast was followed by the opportunity to thank our wonderful porters and guides for their incredibly hardwork and to give them their tips - which they all deserved every penny of.
The final day I felt SO much better - positively euphoric as we descended! I guess that's the point at which I started to appreciate what we'd done and feel satisfied!
The walk was 5 or 6 hours but downhill and easy - legs felt surprisingly fresh - the vegetation was fantastic - evolving in reverse order through moorland, alpine and then very tropical rain forest. Bit of heavy rain descended in the early part of the day, but it was warm and good. Stopped for a picnic lunch at Mandara huts 2700m, then continued, arriving at the Marangu national park gate 1830m by about 1:30.
Signed ourselves out, received our respective certificates and then a short drive back to the hotel for a very much needed shower - it was awsomely good - and then a few Kilimanjaro beers, plus a belated birthday party for myself and 2 of the others who'd also had birthdays on the mountain.
It was a tremendously good feeling to smuggly sit there enjoying the memories of our trip. We were joined by our cook and head guide for beers which was nice, and we got to thank them again - they really were fantastic and looked after us SO well.
So, that was that...
The next day we got a morning flight to Zanzibar for a bit of R&R - it was nice - relaxing, good food etc but possible a little too short to really get into, and not the true focus of the trip for me. Managed one run along the beautiful beach outside the hotel - joined 2 Italian tourists training for a triathlon, which was fun. Spent the last day in Stonetown for a bit of shopping and more chilling out before the long journey home...
One of the most satisfying moments of all came during the flight from Zanzibar to Nairobi when we actually flew right beside Mawenzi and Kibo - and we were level with the crater rim in the plane! We had a fantastic view of it - and it really looked monstrous rising up from the ground that we could barely see - I couldn't quite believe we'd actually been there on that summit - it was too huge to get my head around!
So....finally - as I wallow in satisfaction, i'd just like to say thankyou to you all for your advice and stories - which helped me no end. (yes, I should have listened better to the sunblock advice). Hopefully also some of you may get around to reading some of this and remember your own journeys again...
Hi K9
Welcome back.
I will read through all this properly tomorrow.
K9 - absolutely awesome!! A fantastic adventure.
Thanks Iron Snorks and NZC
Hello Big Dave - hope you are well.
Hi K9
I am not too sure on the well question at the moment.
At least the days are getting longer.