iBlog: September 2014

After six months of planning, changes and then some more changes, I finally made it to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro yesterday, September 7, 2014 at 8:20 AM local time. More importantly I made it back alive and in one piece few hours back.

Six days without shower, cold, scratchy throat, literally dizzying heights, smelly clothes and stinky socks, crowded sleeping bags and tents, unbearable toilets, not to mention the physical and mental toll it took! It is easy to ask whether this was all worth it. But then again it is hard to put price on something so beautiful, so gorgeous, so pristine, so ethereal, and so magnificent! Six days trying to summit Mount Kilimanjaro made me realize, rather realize again what it means to go through lot of pain to get those fifteen minutes closer to heavens, and be blessed to be able to do it and be able to come back to tell the tale!

In strict mountaineering terms, this wasn't a technical climb. Nevertheless this was undoubtedly one of the physically hardest and mentally challenging things I have ever done. I still remember the day we first came to Weru Weru River lodge last week, all happy and giddy, not quite knowing what we have gotten ourselves into. Speaking with Abel (Ahsante Tour operator with whom we were communicating over last six months) and the head guide Bruno Akira (A jolly fella and a marathon runner who wants to beat the Kenyans and has quite the mettle to do it!); made us realize that this ain't no monkey business.. When they took us to see the mountain for the first time from the top of Moshi tower; we all looked at each other in disbelief and utter shock. And, Shit! That thing is huge!! Are we seriously going to climb that? were some of our first thoughts…

That night after packing our gear, clothes and snacks for the next six days and having a nice table dinner (where everyone was somber like ‘the last supper’); we tucked in our beds with an element of nervous anxiety and a bit of excitement for the unknown.

Day 1: (Machame gate – 1800m to Machame camp 3000m)

We reached the Machame gate early in the morning. Foggy weather and lush rainforest welcomed us. Entry to the mountain was guarded by a soldier with AK-47, which made us realize that they take their mountain seriously! Promising not to mess around with anything, we headed through well-trodden trail surrounded by gorgeous flowers, trees that looked exotic and familiar (perks of staying in the Northwest) at the same time. We reached the first campsite – Machame huts sometime late afternoon. Musa, our assistant guide was wearing Seattle pride – Pike Place Market on his t-shirt; which was quite a pleasant coincidence :)

That night, I woke up way at the middle of the night, looked up in the sky and suddenly realized that I might not have seen these many stars in the sky at the same time. I told myself - If I stare at this for a minute, I'd see a shooting star.. I had to wait for thirty seconds or so. Whoa! Couple shooting stars flew over my head! How many times in your life you look up the sky, wish for a shooting star and find one flying over?!

Day 2: (Shira Huts: 3840m)

We made headway to Shira huts starting early morning.

Rocky terrains, gorgeous views, sheer cliffs and ever-changing weather from tropical sunshine to Monsoon rains in a flash of seconds. We finally saw the African brother of commonly seen crow. It’s like they say – Everything is big in Africa! The African raven came close to looking like a majestic American bald Eagle with white neck-band!

As we reached Shira huts, we were surrounded by clouds. The weather suddenly changed into bright shining sunlight. Once again we began to realize how fickle weather gods are here. An evening acclimatization jaunt to the Shira caves and beyond offered a breathtaking sunset and view of magnificent Shira plateau!

Day 3: (Lava Tower – 4600m, down to Barranco camp – 3900m)

We left early (which was something we'd gotten begrudgingly used to) to Barranco camp site. Before that though, we planned to go to Lava tower to get acclimatized.

For the first time we really started ‘feeling’ the altitude. The mild thumping headache, extra breaths to pull more oxygen in the lungs in addition to sometime gradual and sometimes rocky terrain, snowy cold weather; almost makes you think that you are heading to Mordor. The Lava tower itself was quite an unattractive red rock standing in the middle of nowhere, which made the whole process of acclimatization a bit dry and mechanical. For the first time here, I felt like pumping all the engines and seeing how I fare against the altitude. With a moderate success, I was left high and dry and was welcomed by snowy rain at the top. Our guide (I made a mistake of telling him that I ran a couple marathons) started expecting ‘runner’s pace’ from some of us. It was a fun challenge and although somewhat against the conventional wisdom of ‘pole pole’ (go slowly slowly); made a boring hike little more fun under his watchful and experienced supervision.

Anyways, as we started heading down to Barranco camp, giant groundsels came blooming all around us. A weird mix of coconut tree trunk, cactus leaves, and cotton plants – giant groundsels stood like the sole king of the fauna world on Kilimanjaro at that altitude.

After reaching the Barranco camp, we were greeted with the cleanest toilets among all the campsites! What took our breath away (smelly toilets can do that too, lolz!) was the 800 ft tall wall behind us protecting the roaring giant and views of Mount Meru through the clouds! It was almost like getting caught in the middle of the tussle between two warriors!

Day 4: (Barafu Camp: 4600m)

After breakfast, we started climbing an astoundingly difficult looking wall which required ‘kissing the rock’ at times! (You are on all fours facing the rock, praying that you don’t fall into groundsel jungle below). After making to the top, we met with bunch of folks from US. Probably in the state of slight delirium, I found myself convincing somebody to move to Seattle and trashing bunch of other US cities. I bit my tongue and made headway to Karanga camp for lunch. For people who chose seven day trek, this was the campsite before heading any further. It looked like a refugee camp and we were only glad that we were staying there for lunch.

After a heavy lunch, we headed to Barafu camp through cold and snowy desert. Rocky campsite where reaching a toilet itself was a hike, was definitely the worst of all the campsites. Looking at the Uhuru peak though was enough to hold the ground despite the worst physical state due to altitude and inhospitable weather!

Day 5: ( Stella – 5700m, Uhuru – 5895 m)

After a brief dinner of fries (!) and a three hour nap; I started on one of the hardest days of my life (which is something I didn't quite know then!). First the Cosovo rock scramble on icy treacherous terrain, followed by a nice walk looking at the night skies and shimmering Uhuru; we hit the steep, icy and excruciatingly long trek to the Stella point. Our water pipes froze and the snacks became like rock, which left us with energy gels and water from porters and guides!

The altitude and cold weather was making every step an effort to remember. The first sigh of relief came when the sun showed up over the horizon with thousand shades of golden right behind Mawenzi peak and above clouds that we were now looking over!

There are times when you doubt yourself, you think you might give up at some point, and the only way to get through it is to get through it. The way up started feeling like that. When we reached Stella point I was dizzy headed, heavily breathing and my legs were running out of juice; which was a common sight all around me. After resting at Stella point for a moment, getting up itself felt like an ordeal. But looking through the snowy valleys and huge glaciers, I saw the tallest point in the entire Africa; and that was enough motivation even at that time.

It was one of those out of body experiences, where your mind is dead tired, and somehow something is instructing your body to keep going. I don't know how I went through those forty-five minutes. As I reached closer, I felt almost an invisible pull towards the summit signpost!

When I did finally reach there, a sudden surge of dopamine probably helped me get through next few minutes. I clicked a bunch of pictures, looked around and felt a strange peace - the kind where all you focus on is subtle nature sounds and put the cacophony around you in the background. It was one of the few moments in life when despite what is going on around you, things align completely in your head. It is like a story that finds a perfect ending, or a song that hits a perfect note, or maybe just a sketch with perfect strokes..

Back to the resort..

Just some time ago, while we were going through all the pictures we took (we took little too many!), and reminiscing the crazy things we did in the name of altitude sickness; I silently prayed for the guy who had a secret hand in making it all happen and spilled my favorite drink as a small tribute to his amazing part of the world and the memories he shared!

In pictures: