Friends Family, We are sorry that communications on the mountain was not as we expected.  We are now down safe and sound after successfully summiting the roof top of Africa.  It was simply amazing.  We hope you enjoy reading about our journey.

(Al) Day 8 – Final Day!

Today was supposed to be a light day of four hours of hiking coming off the mountain!  I can tell you that descending 4,500 feet with a pair of legs that feels like jelly is no small feet.

We woke up at about 6:30 am after a pretty good night’s sleep.  Although there were numerous other groups in camp, I think everyone was so exhausted, that they just fell right to sleep.  After our breakfast, the porters all gathered together for one last rendition of song and dance for us.  We were told to say good bye to our porters and guides here at breakfast because the park gate where we would end up would be very hectic. We had gathered up a tip pool for everyone the night before and presented it to all of them as a group.  The lead guide then determines what the distribution will be depending on the person’s position on the trip and performance during the climb.

We then started our decent down 4,500 feet which was supposed to take about 4 hours.  The first few steps were a stark reminder that we had just decended 10,000 feet the day before and given our bodies no time to recover.  We once again broke into some smaller groups who had differing paces of decent. The early ones arrived down at the entrance gate in about 3 hours and the later group came in about 4 hours.  The porters were there to greet us with cold sodas and we officially signed out of the park with the ranger’s office.

The cooks had prepared one last lunch for us off to the side of the park ranger station and we all reminisced about various parts of the climb and how much we looked forward to getting to the Mount Meru Game Lodge for a warm shower.  All in all an unbelievable experience.  Do it once, it is a trip of a lifetime. Do it twice, you are a fool!

(Al) Day 7 – Summit Day

Day 7, Summit Day has finally arrived! After a brutal climb up the western breech yesterday, we started with a 5:30 wake up call and breakfast.  Surprising for as cold as it was, we all slept pretty well.  The temperatures last night got down into the low teens and the winds were really howling all night long.  We all knew it was going to be a cold and blustery climb to the summit.  Our 6:00 start was a real luxury compared to most of the other groups who slept a lot lower, but had to wake up at 11:30 pm to start a 6 hour hike up to the summit, then 9 hours down that same day!  We ended up passing many of these groups on our way down and they litterally looked dead as they tried to get to the summit.

Though we only had 600 feet to climb today,  which took about two hours, it was a really challenging climb.  The breathing was much more difficult for all of us.  Stopping along the way was bitter sweet – we could finally catch our breath a little bit, but we got cold instantly.  Towards the end, when the summit ridge was in sight, we just kept pushing each other to make it up.  We finally made it up to the summit ridge about 8:00 am and had a 15 minute walk up a slight incline to make it to the actual summit.  We had all seen literally thousands of pictures of the Uhru Peak Sign, but it was so awesome seeing it out in the distance and knowing that we were going to make it.  Along the way, we were walking past a giant iceberg which offered pretty stunning views as well.

When we finally reached the peak, amazingly our cold and tiredness disappeared for a bit and we all hugged each other, high-fived and started the photo barrage.  We each took individual photos and then had a group photo with 8 of the 9 of us.  Our one climbing partner who was really struggling the day prior was again struggling to make it under his own power this morning.  After about 30 minutes of pictures, we could see our 9th partner emerging from the clouds in the distance the arms of two porters.  Knowing that we left as a team, we wanted to finish as a team.  So, despite our tiredness, we all walked back down part of the summit to meet him and prop him up the last 15 minutes of the journey.  IT was so awesome to see team work develop in such a short period of time with people who didn’t know each other just one week ago!  We once again posed for a group picture with all 9 of us.
The climb down was pretty incredible.  In this same day, we were to decend approximately 10,000 feet!  The first part was through a scree and rock field which was more like skiing down.  With our poles in hand, each step that we took, we slid about 9 feet.  It was a fun and exhilarating experience to drop a lot of altitude quickly.  After decending for about 4 hours, we made it to a lunch camp, which also served as the camp where a lot of the groups left from to make their ascent at midnight.  We had a nice lunch and took off a bunch of layers of clothing as the temps became warmer.  The breathing also became a lot easier as we dropped in altitude, but the hamstrings were another story.  WOW, did it hurt putting so much pressure on them for over 7 hours of decent.  Everyone was really sore when we finally got into camp for the night.

Dinner was a little more appealing to everyone now that we had dropped so much in altitude.  While the temps were warmer, there was little post-dinner activity as everyone was so tired and just wanted to go to bed and get off this mountain!

(Al) – Day 6 – Climb to Crater Camp

Today was a very early start with a 4:00 wake up call, breakfast at 4:30 and departure at 5:00 am – all in the dark.  It was about 15 degrees outside which made everyone’s movements a little slow. Breakfast was pretty simple toast and porridge. At this point in time, none of us are feeling like eating, but we try to force something down. Most of us are now feeling some effects from the altitude – mild headaches, nausea, etc. In addition to this, everyone is a little apprehensive about today’s climb given the fact that we spent yesterday afternoon static at the very imposing western breech.

The first 90 minutes of the hike were in the dark so most used headlamps. I decided to hike by the natural moonlight since it was so bright. Even though we had learned a new slow pace yesterday, it seemed like our leader was going a little bit faster. The main goal was to get through the dangerous area of the western breech before the sun hit it. The reason to get up this section before the sun hits is that the overnight temperatures are low enough to freeze the rocks into the glacial melt, but as soon as the sun hits this western side of the mountain, the rocks have a tendency to let loose.  For this reason, it is required that we were helmets for the entire day of hiking.  We were about 2 hours into the hike when a rock about the size of a basketball broke loose and started tumbling down the mountain.  Fortunately it crossed our path about 200 yards behind where we were at the time.

The morning hike was very steep through fields of scree and lose rocks. As we kept climbing it was amazing to see how much altitude we had gained.   As the sun began to rise on the east side of Kili (we were on the west) we saw the most spectacular sunrise. While the sun began to light Mt. Meru in the distance it also cast a full shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro right next to it almost making it seem as if the two mountains were right next to each other.  After climbing until about 11:00 am, we finally stopped for lunch the porters had gone ahead to a beautiful peak and set a picnic lunch for us. Again no one was that hungry, but we all ate a little nit is hard to describe how much effort it takes to do anything at this altitude.

The afternoon hike was only three hours up to the rim of the crater, but it was an absolutely grueling rock climb -mostly on all fours. The afternoon hike completely drained all of us and it took our reserve tanks to fight through headaches and nausea, but we finally made it to the cheers and support of our porters.  From the crater rim we had an easy 20 minute hike into camp. The hike into camp was flanked on our left with what is left of two giant glaciers. Unfortunately, they have melted quite a bit and are now only about 15 feet tall and about 200 yards long.

When we got into camp, Gautam and Alfie decided to walk another hour to the ash pit – the center of the volcano, but the rest of us decided to save our energy for tomorrow’s summit.  Our camp sight was right at the foot of the last stretch of Kilimanjaro that we have to hike in the morning.  600 feet to climb tomorrow morning and we will be on the top of Africa!

(Al) – Day 5 – Climb to Arrow Glacier Camp

Since today’s hike was scheduled again to be a shorter hike, we were treated to a later wake up call and departure.  Since we opted for the 8 day hike, our itinerary allowed us for two short days (Day 4 5) to help with the acclimatization to the altitude.  Unlike the previous day’s hike in which we were not able to keep up with the time estimates, the group did better on today’s hike.  While there was a fair amount of vertical incline, it did not feel too bad for most of the team.  I think we are all starting to settle into a rhythm.

When we arrived into camp around 1:00, once again the porters had lunch set up for us.  The views from this camp were simply stunning – looking up at the western breech that we were scheduled to climb tomorrow.  We all quickly realized that the short, and relatively easy days were behind us and the real climbing lie ahead.  The western breech is a very imposing looking face to the mountain.  When standing at the bottom, it looks to be almost impossible to climb without ropes and technical gear.  It is too bad that Arrow Glacier Camp no longer even has a glacier.  The glacial ice cap on the top and sides of Kili has significantly diminished over the last ten years.

After lunch, most of the group took a 1 hour acclimatization hike along a ledge that overlooked the Baranco Wall.  While we were on this hike, we passed many of the porters who were going to collect water for the evening.  Every time when we got to camp, the porters were sent out to collect water for cooking and our drinking.  Most of the time they had to hike for at least 30 minutes up and down the mountain with a 45 gallon bucket of water on their heads.  When they would bring the water back into camp, we would all take our Nalgene bottles over to Ima, the Water Man, and he would pump the water out of the 5 gallon bucket through a filter and then into our individual Nalgene bottles.  After this, we would have to take our own bottles and treat them again with either charcoal drops or chloride tablets.  While there were many different variations of solutions, all seemed to work effectively well.

After dinner, people turned in pretty early knowing that we had an early wake up call and a lot of climbing ahead of us the next day.

(Al) – Day 4 – Climb to Lava Tower

We had an interesting start to our climb today.  When everyone gathered together for breakfast, it was pretty clear that most of us had lost our appetite and exhaustion was starting to set in.  Our guide continued to tell us every morning; “It is very normal to feel sick to your stomach and throw up, but even if you can keep 10% of your food down, this will help give your body energy”.  Somehow this was not very reassuring.  About 1/2  of the group starting taking Diamox last night and they seemed to be feeling a little better this morning.  Others will likely start during the day today.  The only real drawback to taking Diamox is that it is a diuretic which is pain in the middle of the night when you are nestled in your warm sleeping bag and it is below freezing outside!

We started our climb today with the Assistant Guide, MJ in the lead.  While MJ is a really nice guy, his tall, lanky frame makes his stride a lot longer than ours and his pace wore us out pretty quickly.   Today’s hike was supposed to only be 3.5 hours, but it ended up taking us 4.5 hours.  We arrived in camp by about 1:00 and the porters had lunch set up for us there.  The team was pretty exhausted from the hike.  Despite the shorter time, we still gained almost 2,500 feet.

Lava Tower, as the name would imply is a 90 foot tall structure which is sticking up from the face of the mountain.  It reminded me very much of the rock in South Dakota which is a sacred Indian burial ground.  Lema suggested that it would be a good idea to climb Lava tower in the afternoon to acclimatize to the higher elevations.  Most of us, myself included were so wiped out that an afternoon nap in our tents sounded like a much better idea.  Guatam did climb the Lava Tower and came back stating that it was a pretty technical climb with some pretty scary maneuvers required to get to the top.  Some of the rest of us decided to take a short hike around camp to check out the different sights.  We were told that we could catch a cell signal if we climbed up to a few specific rocks, but after crawling around for 30 minutes looking like we were filming an ATT “Can you hear me now” commercial, we gave up.

Dinner time was pretty relaxed as we were in camp all afternoon.  The nights are getting noticeably colder now as soon as the sun goes down.  We played cards after dinner for a while, but once again turned in by 8:00.

(Al) – Day 3 – Climb to Moir Hut

The morning wake up call today was a little colder as the temps last night got down to about 25F.  There was some frost on the tents this morning as night time temps dropped below freezing.  As we have grown accustomed to, the wake up call came at 7:00 with hot tea and chocolate followed by our wash water.  When the porters set up our tents, they strategically placed the openings so that our first sight was Mount Kilimanjaro.

It was a very clear morning and we had stunning views of what lie ahead for the next four days.  Everyone seemed to sleep a lot better last evening.  I think it was a combination of being tired and some of the anxiety levels dropping – although the sight of what lie ahead still left plenty to the imagination.

The cooks decided to set up breakfast outside today so that we could enjoy the magnificent view of the Shira Plateau leading up to Mt. Kilimanjaro.  It was a spectacular view and something that pictures cannot do justice to.  We all had a great time talking at breakfast and marveling of what lie ahead for the next few days.

The hike today was supposed to be three relatively flat hours in the morning followed by 2.5 hours of climbing in the afternoon.  The beginning of the hike was indeed gradual, but then it turned steep in a hurry, and the 3 hour time estimate to lunch did not materialize.  On the way to lunch, we stopped at what used to be called Shira II Camp, which has now been called Fischer Camp, after the famous Scott Fischer who was a famous mountaineer who summated Everest multiple times without oxygen.

We ended up arriving at the lunch spot after about four hours and each one of us was pretty tired.

(Al)- Day 2 – Climb to Shira 1 Camp

This morning’s wake up call was another pleasant surprise in SPS service.  I was awaken to a knock on my tent by one of the porters, Stanley who was kneeling at my tent’s door asking if I would like tea, coffee or hot chocolate to start my day. This was to come every day on the trip and was the 30 minute call to breakfast time.  None of us got a great ngiht sleep as some of the other groups rolled in after dark and were loud setting up their campsights and cooking their dinners.

Breakfast this morning consisted of eggs, bacon, tomatoes and green peppers.  It tasted again really good.  Today’s hike was slated to be about 6-9 hours.  We started out with a pretty steep section coming right out of camp.  After about 1 hour of hiking, we were out of the wooded forest zone and entered the heather zone.  The trees quickly disappeared and gave way to shrubbery.  We did hit one rather flat section in the morning before another pretty steep decent to our lunch spot.  We climbed about 1,300 feet before lunch today.  We had lunch at a peak that overlooked the Shira Ridge that we would be climbing in the afternoon.  Lunch today was hot soup and a tray of cold cuts for sandwiches, and vegetables.

The afternoon hike was about 2.5 hours up and over the Shira Ridge.  This was a pretty serious climb up, especially the last section to the top of the ridge.  We were hoping when we got to the top of the ridge to get our first glimpse at the peak, but when we got there, there were too many clouds.  However, during the last section of our hike in which were hiking across the Shira Plateau, the clouds began clearing and we got our first sight of the magnificent mountain.  We learned a little bit more about the history of the mountain.  There have actually been three volcanic eruptions.  The first was the Shira volcano which erupted 750,000 years ago, followed by the Mowika Volcano, and then followed by Kibo 300,000 years ago.  Kibo is where Uruhu Peak is – the highest point of the mountain.  So the peak will be climbing to is called Kibo, but Mt. Kilimanjaro comprises all three of the volcanoes.  We all stood in awe and took a lot of pictures!  All in total today, we climbed 7:15 minutes.

Once again when we arrived in camp, we were greeted by the porters, but this time they were all singing and dancing to our arrival.  It was really fun to see their enthusiasm and get to know each of their personalities a little better.  After our afternoon snack and clean up, we had another nice dinner of potato leek soup, , Fried tilapia, oven roasted potatoes and salad.  We all were in awe of how you could cook so well up on the mountain.  The lead Chef, Darrel, is Lema’s brother, and the lead porter who takes care of filtering everyone’s water, Ima, is Lema’s cousin.

We all realized the previous night, we went to bed way too early, so we stayed up and played cards until 8:30 tonight.

(Al) – Day 1 – Climb to Forest Camp

After eating breakfast at the Mt. Meru Game Lodge and meeting the remainder of our climbing group, we set off for the mountain.  We first had to drive about 1.5 hours on the main highway to the point in which you turn off on a small road leading to the Lemosho Gate.  The drive on this road got progressively worse as it was not even paved for the last one hour or so.  All in total, we spent about 3 hours getting to the Gate.  When we got to the gate, we had to formally sign into the park, explain how many were in our group, what route we were taking, when we expected to summit, etc..  It was a little daunting that there was another registration book right next to the one we signed into which was a listing of all the climbers that had to come down off the mountain, how high they got and what sickness they were suffering from.  There were well over 600 entries since July 1, this year!

As we came to the “end of the road”, our Jeeps were met by porters who had set up an awesome buffet lunch at the trailhead.  They had set out a nice table with a picnic style lunch.  They served us vegetarian pizza, sandwiches and fruit.  We were impressed to see over 20 porters there, only to find out that another 23 had already started up the mountain to set up our tents.  All in, we had 43 porters and guides with us on this trip!

The climb up to camp tonight was not too strenuous or long.  The guides made sure that we kept a very slow pace to ensue that we got off on the right rhythm. Pole Pole they kept saying which means slowly, slowly.  They also were pushing us to drink lots of fluids.  Our goal was to drink 4 liters of water on the trail and then one more litre of liquids in camp.  We climbed for about 4 hours in 75 degree temps.  The entire climb was spent in the forest zone so we were walking through dense trees.  Our guides pointed out a variety of local flowers and talked to us about their significance in the local culture.  We also saw blue monkeys in the trees above us.  Blue monkeys are small monkeys about 10 pounds in size.  We also say Colombo monkeys, or white faced monkeys which are a little bigger, have a white face as the name would imply, and a very long, bushy white tail.

When we got to our campsite, we were greeted by the entire team of 43 porters who showed us each to our tents.  This is where our first pleasant surprise came in.  We were pretty sure that we were going to share tents, two to a tent.  After having the porters put our gear into the tents, Lema, the head guide corrected them and said that we each had our own tent.  The tents were really nice three person, Mountain Hardware tents.  This allowed us to spread out our gear a little easier.  Next came a nock on the tent with a bucket of hot water and soap for us to clean up with, followed by our late afternoon tea and snacks (popcorn).  The camp ground was quite full, almost 300 other people in very tight quarters and we had quite a few other groups coming over to admire our set up, our dining tent, our freshly made popcorn, and yes, our flush-style toilets (2) that we reserved and guarded only for our use.

Dinner for the evening was great – Tomato ginger soup, peanut butter chicken, rice, tomato and avocado salad, green beans and mushrooms.  Everyone ate very well.  We sat around and talked for a while after dinner and turned in about 7:30 for bed.

(Dave) Sept. 19
Today dawned cool and misty. Probably about 60 degrees.  We still haven’t seen Kili. Our team of 9 was all together for the first time at Breakfast this morning. The 4 of us, Rick from LA, Greg from Detroit, Alphie from Iceland, and Pete Trisha from near Portland, Me.  The group seemed to immediately be comfortable with one another.
Next was a climb briefing and a gear check.  It’s been cold so I didn’t take anything out of the bag in spite of my suspicion I had over packed.
After lunch we met Kisklee Gilliance who is the office manager for SPS and very knowledgeable about the water issues in Uraki.  We visited the school and then walked the entire line on the proposed system. The need for an adequate system was immediately clear.  The population is growing and the current situation is terrible.  It was good to see it first hand.

Tomorrow is day 1 on the climb.  The porters left today and will meet us at the gate.  It’s exciting and we’re all anxious to see how we’ll do on the mountain.
More when cell coverage permits since since we’ll be leaving the comfort and security of the hotel wireless.
Dave

(Al) Saturday, September 18th:

Everyone was scheduled to meet for breakfast at 8:00 am which was not a problem for me as I was up at 5:00 am and ready to go.  Part of it was jet lag, part of it was excitement.  A light continental breakfast is served in the main lodge, but they will also cook anything you like to go along with it.  Last night Thong, Gautam and Dave could not see anything of the property when they arrived, so they were in for a treat this morning when the private game reserve opened up before their eyes.  Less than 75 yards from where we ate outside last night, the reserve is filled with zebras, ostrich, elunds, and flamingos.  All of these animals (none are carnivorous) are only separated by a small 3 ft. wall.  I think MMGL is a pretty special place.  The rooms are clean, and very colonial looking, the grounds are really beautiful and the staff is so friendly.  Please remember to go to the photos tab on the web site (under Project Details) to see more.

After breakfast, Lema Peter, our lead guide, held a climbing briefing with us.  Here we met the other three climbers who are joining our group.  While there was nothing completely new in the briefing, it was interesting to hear Lema’s perspective.  I am not sure that collectively we could have prepared any better than we had, but reality is sinking in that we are less than 24 hours from pushing off!  After the briefing, Lema came individually to our rooms to check our gear and clothing to make sure that we had enough, but not too much.  It is amazing how little you end of up taking for a 8 day hike that will cover over 30 miles, 12,000 feet of vertical gain, and 5 climate zones spanning 90F to 0F

(Al) Arrival Evening:

My (Al)  trip over from Milwaukee via Minneapolis, Paris, Nairobi, Kilimanjaro was long, but pretty uneventful.  I was flying by myself as Gautam and Dave were on a flight from Detroit to Amsterdam where they met up with Thong (from Beijing) and flew direct to Kilimanjaro. The fact that I had been here before helped with some of the peculiarities of arriving in a new location.  I was most nervous about my luggage not arriving, as our guides told us that as much as 20% of the time, luggage gets delayed by a day.  This is why we are not starting our climb the first day we arrive.  When I got to Nairobi there was some uncertainty as to whether or not my luggage would automatically transfer all the way.  The line to clear customs and collect my luggage would have taken over 1/5 hours to clear and I only had an hour, so I just hoped for the best – and all worked out.  My flight from Paris to Nairobi was operated by Air Kenya, and the attention to service by those Kenyan flight attendants was as good as I have ever had on Singapore Air.

When I arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport, the first thing we had to do was show our Yellow Fever vaccination card.  Having not understood the importance of this 8 weeks ago when I was here, I was well prepared this time with card in hand. Next was on to the luggage collection where both of my duffle bags showed up!  Kilimanjaro International Airport is a bit of a misnomer as most planes are longer than the airport itself!  I was met by a friend of our guide company, also named Allan, as the SPS van had already been to the airport to pick of Dave, Gautam and Thong a few hours earlier.  The ride to the Mt. Meru Game Lodge is about 40 minutes.  When we pulled in the driveway, I could see all of my friends and climbing partners sitting outside finishing their dinner (at 11:30 pm)!.  It was so great being back and re-connecting with friends I had met just 8 weeks ago.  It is strange, the ability to form meaningful friendships seems to happen more naturally and quickly here than what I am used to in Asia.  Our lead guide and owner of SPS (Serengeti Pride Safaris), Lema was the first to greet me followed by his father, Buba Lema who is the head chef at the Mr. Meru Game Lodge (MMGL) and some of the other staff that remembered me from last time.  Although a bit tired, Dave, Gautam and Thong looked so relaxed sitting outside by the fire eating by candle light.  They were also joined by two of our climbing partners, Rick and Alphie.  Rick is from Los Angeles and I had met him two weeks prior when we climbed Mt. Wilson (5,100 ft) in Pasadena Ca. together.  Unfortunately, Rick was part of the 20% whose bags did not show up.  We will hope for his sake they are on the next flight today.  Alphie was the last entrant to our team.  She is originally from Iceland, but has been living in the United States where she studied at Yale and now works as an investment banker for CitiBank in New York.  She had just completed a preparation climb of Mt. Blanc  (18,000 ft).

After a great buffet dinner with so many different choices of local food we turned in at 12:30.  Tomorrow is gear check day, followed by a walk along the water line and some meetings with MajiTech, the local water engineering firm.

Article source: http://www.summit4water.org/?p=500