Rubinations…

One last 2:45 descent took us from Mweka Hut to Mweka Gate and off Kilimanjaro.

There was a nice ceremony at a little bar where we tipped out our porters (47 of them) and bought them all a beer. Then they sang us the Kilimanjaro song (yes there is one) and we were off back to the Keys Hotel for a much needed dip in the pool and shower.

After that we headed into Moshi to do some shopping, visit an internet cafe and have a few beers.

After being fleeced by the locals at the market we decided to add insult to injury and walk back to the hotel from town. Took about an hour and no it was not my idea. (liz-what’s another hour stroll on top of the app 40 we already did)

At 7 we had our last dinner together. Craig (the lead guide) is heading back to the states and Monique and Graham were climb only and are heading on their own safari (that’s so private school). 3 of our local guides also joined us to celebrate.

We had a little ceremony/roast where craig handed out our summit certificates and then the cool kids headed back into Moshi for a night on the ‘town’. The first club (see the pic) looked a little sketch so our local guide james redirected us to a diff local pub/disco. Then back to Keys for the last time. We leave tomorrow on Safari.

We woke at 11 pm to what seems to be a nice clear night. Had a quick breakfast of biscuits and tea before strapping on our packs, which are the heaviest yet (carrying all our warmest gear). We left at 12:08 to a new freezing, pefectly calm and relatively bright night.

It’s the first day of the full moon and at 15,000 ft it’s like a spotlight in the sky helping to light our way.

We had 4 breaks en route to Stella Point, at the far side of the crater rim, opposite Uhuru Peak (our final destination). The crater looks like a sea on the moon backlit by the actual moon (I’ll post pix soon). We made Stella Point at 5:15.

An hour later, just as the moon was setting, the sun was rising and we reached Uhuru peak. All ten of us got there with very little problems. Liz had some nausea around 18k (as did some other team members) but they pushed thru.

We really couldn’t spend much time at this altitude (19,400 ft) so we snapped as many pictures and video as we could and enjoyed our time there for about 20 minutes.

At that point we started our descent back the way we came shedding clothes as we went. The change in temperature with the sun up and us descending was significant.

At 9:30am we were back in high camp dropping our packs and collapsing into the mess tent for lunch. As exhausted as we were there was still another 6-7 miles to go and 5,000 ft to kill.

At 11:00 am (12 hours after we woke) we strapped our packs back on and started our descent to Mweka Hut. That took another 3 hours down a steep and slippery path. But we got there, cracked open a bunch of celebratory beers, had dinner and I was asleep by 7pm while liz played cards with some team members and porters.

All in:
12:25 of climbing
15,000 ft of vertical
~17 km

Oh, and Charlie, unless I get eaten by a lion on Safari, I’ll see you on Tuesday.

Details to come soon…

So we arrived at High Camp after a short 2:45 climb. Barafu is at 15,235 ft. The same altitude we briefly reached at the Lava Tower on Day 3. This time we were able to do it without the negative altitude effects of our first foray above 15k. I guess we are acclimatizing properly.

At this altitude the landscape has become quite barren (see the pic). Not much grows up here and there is a lot of shattered shale. Sometimes when we are hiking it sounds like bells are ringing underfoot. I think I captured some of it on video.

We had lunch at 1 to review our pack for summit day tomorrow. Dinner is at 5pm and then its off to bed at 6pm. We wake at 11pm to try and make Uhuru peak around sunrise.

After summit we return to Barafu before contiuning to Mweka Hut which is at around 10,000 ft.

All in tomorrow is 15,000 ft of vertical covered, approximately 18 km and around 16 hours of climbing.

Hopefully our next blog will have a picture of us at the top of Kilimanjaro’s Uhuru Peak.

Today’s 4 hour climb didn’t see much net change in altitude ending at 13,133 ft. However, we were up and down quite a bit, scrambling up the Great Barranco Wall to 13,808.

The wall, right at the beginning of the day, is a lot of fun (might have been overall the most fun climb day) requiring a lot of use of hands to scale the wall.

After that it’s down into the valleys and then trudging back up again as we traverse the southern side of Kilimanjaro and get into position for the final ascent.

Again the climbs are painstakingly slow when we ascend but none our bodies are capable of much more and overexertion can cause pulmonary edema. As the local guides say “pole, pole” (“slowly, slowly”)

Into camp early (today and tomorrow) for our first hot lunch. Exciting!!!

We are both feeling pretty good right now after yesterday’s high/tough climb.

Oh and it just started pouring. So glad we made camp first.

7 hours of climbing today. If you are counting that’s 17:10 climbing, 60 hours without a shower and 2 pairs of underwear (James only)

We climbed past the Lava Tower today to Baranca Hut camp. At it’s highest (at the Lava Tower) we hit 15,200 ft. That’s 800 ft higher than Mt. Rainier!

It wasn’t a perfect day tho, Julia was suffering from acute mountain sickness (AMS) and almost had to turn back to Shira camp, one of the few places you can actually get a ride off the mountain.

However, today was a climb high/sleep low day. So she decided to stick it out to the lower altitude of Barancco (12,900 ft).

We all are feeling the effects of the altitude. I had intermittent dizzyness and a throbbing headache that subsided as we descended into Baranca. The rest of the team has similar issues. Liz who can’t take diamox is concerned about future climb days but is feeling pretty ok so far (keep fingers crossed) I guess we’ll see.

I took diamox for the first time this morning. It increases respiration and should help to minimize the effects of the altitude.

We’re all sitting around in the mess tent now, talking about the day, eating popcorn and drinking tea. Dinner is typically around 7pm.

Side note: we love the comments… Thanks!

The wind is howling outside our, Liz is sound asleep and I’m having a little trouble sleeping again so I thought I’d tell you a little about the team. We are:

Jim and Julia: Father/Daughter team out of N Virginia (DC Metro Area). The have some experience with rock/ice climbing and mountaineering.
Ed and Reenie: Husband/Wife from Portland, Oregon. Reenie has significant mountaineering experience and this is Ed’s first big trip.
Robert and Nikki: Another husband/wife team from the UK. They must be getting tired of dinners spent talking about American history, politics, old movies.
Graham and Monique: the engaged couple are getting married on Sept. 22, 09. Congratulations! If you can do this I suspect you can handle most anything. Graham an Monique are also climb only; they won’t be on Safari with us.
Liz and I: I’ve done some rock/ice climbing and have some mountaineering experience but this is my first significant trip (at altitude). Liz too has some mountaineering experience but this is her first major trip.

Craig: lead guide – has summited Everest multiple times. probably know every word to every western ever made (he is even reading a western on the trip) This guy knows his s**t.
Eben: training guide – after this trip Eben will lead his own Kili expeditions. Eben was the first bust out a deck of cards and we play each night (mostly a$$h*le without the beer).

Eric, Reggie, James and Emmanuel: local guides – Eric has over 200+ Kili summits. These guy know everything and anything about the mountain and are the final say on how/which way we travel.

OK, thats it for now… Going to try and get some sleep before our longest climb day (excluding summit day) that will take us thru 15,000 ft.

We woke up to another beautiful morning. After breaking camp and having a hearty hot breakfast we were climbing by 8:15. We hiked for 5:10 up to Shira camp which is at around 12,500 ft.

At this altitude we are constantly passing in and out of cloud cover. It’s totally different than the way fog feels. Bright and clear one minute and the next a cool moisture is condensing on you. (decent pic of liz in cloud cover)

We’re already quite exhausted after 2 long days of climbing but thankfully we are not quite as light headed as yesterday – though liz is starting to feel the effects too.

I couldn’t sleep last night which is one of the signs of mountain sickness (but also could be due to jet lag and excitement) so the guides want me to start diamox tonight. Liz slept alright (and is allergic to diamox) so she is taking ginko billoba which sometimes helps people.

Tomorrow is our last long climb day –until summit day — ~6 hours before 2 shorter climb days into high camp (around 15,000 ft). The next three days, without a lot of altitude gain, are neccesary for our acclimitization before we summit.