We got up at 10, well I miss my alarm so I get up at 10:30 and dress quickly.  I jump out of the tent and grab a few biscuits and hot tea.  The plan is to go from Barafu Camp 4700m (15420ft) to Kilimanjaro rim at Stella Point for sunrise and then on to Uhuru (Freedom) Peak, the summit of Kilimanjaro 5895m (19340ft).  We hope spend about 30 minutes at the summit, take some pictures then head back down to Barafu Camp where we will get some food, take a short nap and then pack up and head down to Mweka Camp 3100m (10170ft).  It is going to be a long day.

 

I have on my light thermals in my sleeping bag.  I put on another light thermal shirt and a light windproof fleece.  On my legs I put on a windproof fleece pants and insulated pants.  My feet get thick sock liners, expedition socks and chemical sole warmers in my boots.  As I exit my tent, I put on a light balaclava, a windproof fleece hat, light windproof glove liners and then my down jacket with hood.  I strap my down mitts to my wrists and put on my headlamp.  I put an extra fleece jacket and my glacier glasses in the pack and a camera in my down jacket.  Julius takes my pack and says he’s carrying that tonight.  We put in water for me, him and some extra.  Off we go into the night.  I am the #1 invalid so I take my position right behind the lead guide.  

 

We depart a little later than planned, 11:30pm.  Julius leads our group.  All I do is watch Julius feet.  When he moves one, I put my foot where his was.  We are moving slow, conserving energy.  I’m in no rush.  I tell myself not to look at my watch.  We keep climbing.  I look up and see a thousand stars in the sky.  I look down and see the towns far below.  I look at my watch, damn, it’s only 1:20am.  I am NOT going to look at my watch again.  I am a machine.  One foot moves, my foot replaces it.  Repeat, repeat.  My eyes start to get a bit blurry.  I don’t know if it is because of the cold or because I’m sleepy.  Every once in a while we stop for a break.  I fall asleep at 2 of the breaks.  Then back to being a machine.  

 

Peter is having a problem with his knees and wants to quit; he is wondering if he even makes it up how is he going to get down where the knees will really be tested.  The guide convinces him to continue on telling him that if he gets to the top they will help him get down.  Marek and Mark are cold from moving slow and not wearing enough, it’s around 5F.  They move ahead, led by Godfrey.  I consider going with them, but then decide that I have no reason to rush, I want to see sunrise at Stella Point not at the summit.  Marek and Mark summit at sunrise.

 

I start to see the sky behind me and to each side brighten with orange.  I look behind, no sun yet.  I look up, not too much farther.  Just kept on being a machine.  Just as we reach Stella Point about 6:30am the sun rises.  I’m able to take some pictures of the sunrise to the east with Mawenzi and also to the WEST with the crater and Western Breach!!!!  The sun starts warming things up immediately.

 

The entire crater rim and crater is covered with snow.  January 2007 had more snow than in over 40 years (and that’s a good thing if we want the glaciers to stay around on Kili).  Peter is having problems with sore knees, Charlotte is ready to puke from the altitude and is moving slow, Dot from the tour office has already thrown up from altitude.  I am no longer #1 invalid and move to the back of the line.  As we head to the summit, Tim is a bit lightheaded from the lack of oxygen and (not realizing his wife is having any problem) takes off ahead to the summit, reaches it around 7:45 and then heads back to meet us and then goes back up again.  The rest of us continue the slow pace that we had going up the mountain, slower than most people on this section.

 

The crater of Kilimanjaro is like being on another planet.  It is beautiful with snow, crater rim, inner crater, glaciers, and for those who venture to the inner crater an ash pit.  I had wanted to go to the ash pit but knew a few days before that I would not be up to it, neither was anyone else in our group, nor did I see anyone from any group venturing to the ash pit.  We work our way around the south part of the rim to the southwest corner on the edge of the western breach where we reach Uhuru Peak, the summit of Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa, around 8:10am.  Charlotte collapses.  Tim (who has now come back up to the summit with us) takes a couple of pictures of me before the group picture.  A couple of Brazilians, drunk with the lack of oxygen to their brains, jump in our group in front of the summit sign.  We take our pictures, exchange hugs, grab our gear and start heading down.  We are one of the last groups to leave due to our slow pace around the crater rim from Stella.  It is warming enough that layers must be removed or zippers opened.  The sun is relentless and I am glad for my glacier glasses and wish I had some sun protection for my nose and lips.

 

Now some people would not believe some of the things we witnessed on the summit.  The lack of oxygen impairs the senses, so even if you were with us you may not be lucid enough to realize different things happening around you.  I’m sure my recollections won’t be complete and I missed things that others observed.  One of the Brazilians would not leave the summit, wanted to lay down and go to sleep, a death sentence.  His small guide could not get him up so Julius got him going and Charlotte (a doctor) gave him dexamethazone, a seriously powerful drug to help with altitude sickness.  She had already taken one herself.  Descending the crater rim about 100ft down a woman sat down and started puking.  She was left behind by her group and had no guide.  More dexamethazone and a little help from our guides.  We saw another person without a guide who descended with our group.

 

Each in our group had their problems: intestinal, knees, altitude sickness, cold, sensory impairment.  But each was able to do what was necessary to overcome the additional challenge and make it to the top.

 

Coming down is a lot easier if you slide on the scree, it is easy on your knees and you move much faster.  It doesn’t take much more energy than walking but you can get a bit winded.  However, Peter and Charlotte were moving slowly, Tim would scree slide and then wait for his wife and I did not want to go ahead alone, so I would scree slide with Tim and then wait.

 

We arrived at Barafu around 11am and chose to have lunch before a quick nap.  I grabbed a quick bite and then fell into my tent and slept til about 1pm.  While I slept, Peter, Marek and Mark packed their gear and headed down to Mweka camp with Godfrey.  When I awoke, I still had to change out of my summit gear and pack up everything.  Then Tim, Charlotte and I started our descent with Oforo and Julius.  Charlotte was moving slowly (I think just used to pole, pole pace) and the guides said we would reach Mweka at 8pm.  I immediately took off ahead and Julius caught up to descend with me.  I am so thankful to Julius for all his help, taking weight from my pack when I was carrying 20lbs and sick, taking my pack and water weight on summit night, guiding me to the top, believing in me.  He became a good friend on this climb.  He thanked me so generously for the North Face fleece I gave him on summit night and how warm it kept him.  This was my extra fleece in case I got cold, it was new and he had misunderstood me.  But he had done so much for me and it is hard for guides to get descent gear in Africa at the equator, they depend on donations of gear to be comfortable.  After some thought, I wanted him to have it and hopefully remember his friend each time he uses it on Kilimanjaro.  And perhaps be able to tell some other strong client with stomach/intestinal problems of this determined guy in a similar situation who made it to the top of Kilimanjaro.  Now my North Face fleece will spend the rest of its days climbing Kilimanjaro.

 

It only took me about 3.5 hours to reach Mweka camp, even with the slow start.  When we reached the ranger hut we signed in and I bought a round of cokes.  We were in the rainforest and appropriately it started raining.  When we reached our group campsite, the Poles were already into the beers that can also be bought from this camp.  Though I really wanted to celebrate with them, I thought it best to let my stomach rest.  On the way down, I had told Julius that I wanted a couple of fried eggs for dinner.  We washed as usual.  When dinner was served, I ate a good bowl of soup.  Then when the platters of food came out, they brought me 2 fried eggs that were delicious.  

 

My tent had a couple of rivers running underneath on two of the corners.  They promptly brought a shovel and fixed this.  I had to use the longdrop a couple of times during the night.  If you touched a tree, all the water would come down on you.  The trails around camp were overgrown so this happened often.  The longdrop was filled with spiders, making it hard to get a hand hold while squatting.  In the morning, Charlotte and Tim showed me another longdrop in the other direction that was newly constructed.  But when they used it, it was filled, messy and smelled bad.  It was my opinion that this was the worst camp of all the ones we stayed at.  Mark said it was the worst camp in the world.