Mount Kilimanjaro

On the morning of December 21, 2005, we arrived in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. A few days before I contacted a hotel in Nairobi by email and they promised to send someone to pick us up for a good price. After spending 40 minutes looking for our ride who didn't show up, we ended up with a taxi driver who seemed knowledgeable and would take us to the city for a lower fee. His name is Dennis, a tall, easy-going man from the Kamba tribe. We went with Dennis and he hooked us up with a travel agent in the city that would arrange for our excursion trips to Mount Kilimanjaro and the big game parks in Tanzania. Our tour operator in Tanzania would be Zara International, a company with a good reputation according to our research. For lack of cash (Dirk had problems withdrawing cash from the local Barclay bank ATMs) we didn't book our Mount Kenya trip which was to happen later. Nairobi was hot, the two of us stuck out like a sore thumb, but we weren't hassled as much as I would have expected even when we were unaccompanied by locals. Dirk decided to cut off his long blond hair, so Dennis took us to a hair salon. The cost was a bit high but according to Dirk the head massage was really good.
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro My first impression of African landscape was the dusty, semi-arid plains surrounding Nairobi. Despite it being dry season, it looked rather improbable that this dry land supports such a large population. Later on we learned that Kenya was experiencing a serious drought which was killing people (notably the Massai) and their livestock. As we rode the bus south across the border to Tanzania, the scenery was that of long stretches of semi-arid scrubland with islands of lushness, notably near Arusha, where 4566-meter-high Mount Meru is located. When we got close to the little town of Moshi at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, this huge volcano's majestic shape enveloped the horizon as if hugging the earth from above, its body looked incredibly broad once we discern its faint outline in the hazy warm air. We settled into the beautiful Springland Hotel operated by our tour company. It's very comfortably furnished and run like a tropical resort. Outside the gates of the plush hotel however, is a slice of normal rural Africa with trash heaps, (free-range) chicken running around, and vultures hovering. Every morning the prayer calls of the mosque in town woke us up, something we hadn't experienced before. Dirk found it rather uncouth that German tourists in the hotel walked around in their briefs in public. This was amusing to me since Dirk has German ancestry and speaks fluent German.
I didn't respond well to the hot sweaty bus ride from Nairobi to Moshi; I came down with a cold soon after arriving. It immediately cast doubt on our Kilimanjaro climbing plans, original scheduled for 6 days starting on December 23rd. I had heard about the dangers of often fatal pulmonary or cerebral edema when people go to high altitudes with a cold. We decided to ask for a delay from our hiking guide, Joel. Joel is a handsome young man from the Arusha tribe, around 29 years old, bald headed like most guys over here. His English is so-so, and he is a man of few words, but he exudes an air of calm control. He said fine, we can do it in 5 days via the Umbwe route. This meant no change in the end date of our climb, so we wouldn't have to pay extra for this change. Although originally Dirk had ambitions to climb one of Kilimanjaro's glaciers, it would have been logistically very difficult and I didn't feel I had the skills to do it safely. We ended up choosing the Umbwe route, it is the shortest and most direct route to the summit, and also the steepest, so it sees fewer climbers than other routes. From the Umbwe route we would be attacking the summit via the Western Breach, a class 3 path. The Western Breach is more difficult than other routes to the summit, but we felt we're in better shape than most tourists. By taking this approach we would save 2-3 days from the regular tourist itinerary. A week after our successful climb we heard on the news that 3 American climbers were killed by falling rocks on the Western Breach. We count ourselves very lucky that we got through here safely.
Exploring souvenir shops, restaurants, dance clubs and buying some medicine took most of our free day in Moshi, a fun and relaxing experience. We met many fellow tourists from different countries. By December 24th, we had to start the trip even though I didn't feel 100 percent. Joel brought in his assistant guide John, a cook, and 5 porters, so a total of 8 people would help the two of us make it to the summit. Most of the porters are from the Chagga tribe native to the Kilimanjaro region. I rented hiking poles before taking off in the jeep heading for the Umbwe trailhead. The jeep navigated muddy dirt roads up into the increasingly lush foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro with many banana fields. After an hour we arrived at the park gate, completed paperwork while our porters quickly sorted the provisions. To our surprise they didn't have the type of lightweight camp stoves we use for backpacking in the West, they would be carrying a heavy household gas stove up the mountain with us. At the park entrance there were a number of climbing parties each with numerous porters, and much gear were strewn about.
The first day we were going to gain about 1000 meters elevation, from about 1800 to 2800 meters (5900-9200 feet). We started out on a wide dirt road in the tropical forest surrounded by tall tree ferns, and the weather was quite warm. Our guides Joel and John walked with Dirk and myself while the porters soon barrelled ahead to make camp. After the initial flat stretch I started to fall behind, and John stayed behind with me. In the late afternoon it rained for about 2 hours, so I put on my rain-proof parka. The weather wasn't cold, the ground was very muddy and steep, and our pace was fast. Around 6 PM we reached the Umbwe Caves camp site, sheltered by huge boulders. There were about 3 other parties already there, and Dirk was relaxing with our porters. Most of the porters are physically small but they are very fit. We saw porters from other parties practically running up and down the trails bare-foot while carrying huge bags on their heads. Once at camp they started a festive party, there was non-stop conversation and portable radios playing music and news, all in Swahili, the lingua franca of east Africa. We were served meat stew and potatoes with vegetables, then we enjoyed hot tea. The porters slept in large communal tents while the two of us slept in Dirk's backpacking tent. The first night was quite comfortable. There was an enclosed squat bathroom behind the camp site, its floor was leaning quite a bit so it was rather uncomfortable to use it. We were advised about the presence of leopards at this elevation, but with this many people at the camp site the risk of attack was almost nil.
The second day we climbed out of the forest and into moorlands covered by shrubby heath about a man's height. The signature giant groundsels (a giant herbacious plant only found on high African mountains) with their huge rosette formations started to appear. As we climbed up a steep ridge we were greeted with our first sight of Kibo, the main volcanic cone and the highest summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. The world's largest single mountain mass lives up to its reputation, showing its long smoothly ascending ridges reaching over a great distance to the ice-laced summit. Jagged Mawenzi, the second highest volcanic cone was also visible behind the long ridge on the horizon. The ridge we're following upward was the Umbwe ridge, sometimes it narrows to only a few feet wide, dropping off hundreds of feet on each side, although it wasn't that scary due to the dense shrub cover. As the afternoon progressed the cloud cover started to envelope the entire mountain, and it rained again, this time much colder in an alpine tundra setting. I wanted to keep up with the others but fell behind again, while John followed me, offering to carry my day pack. I let him, and finally made it to the Barranco camp, elevation 3900 meters/12,800 feet.
The barranco camp had lots of climbing parties staying because it's on the southern summit circuit path. It's located beside a huge gash in Kilimanjaro's southwest face, where an ancient landslide created the deep Barranco Valley. From here we looked up directly to Kibo's southwestern face, called the Breach Wall. This is the most vertical face of Kibo, where a number of glaciers hang on the cliff face and the recesses. To the west of the Breach Wall is the gap in the crater rim called the Western Breach, from where we would ascend to the crater and then to the summit. The shifting clouds wafted in and out of the space between us and Kibo, making the icy cliffs of the Breach Wall seem closer and more imposing. The astounding scale of this huge mountain was overpowering and the icy air menacing.
The Barranco camp has a small round hut with a radio antenna, very useful during rescue operations by the Kilimanjaro National Park. The porters mostly huddled inside the hut because of the cold, and we snuck into our sleeping bags long before dinner was served. I was coughing a lot and losing apetite, Dirk seemed to have caught the cold from me as well. I woke up in the middle of the night with a pounding headache, and when I got up to relieve myself I was stumbling. My distance vision seemed affected when I looked at the frost-covered tundra under the light of my headlamp in order to take each step. I felt like I was on the moon, and I had never felt a headache like this. In my mind I was in an alien, inhospitable place, and I shouldn't be here. I decided to take my diamox pills, the medicine I prepared for altitude sickness. In an hour or so I started to feel better, while Dirk woke up with severe coughing. Later on he decided to take the medicine also, and we finally were able to sleep some.
In the morning after having hot tea and breakfast with eggs and muffins, we started going higher up toward the Arrow Glacier camp, elevation 4868 meters/15,970 feet. Because we're doing the climb in 5 days instead of 6, we would skip the Lava Tower camp, normally used to improve acclimatization. This meant another day of nearly 1000 meters ascent. It was another difficult day, I was trudging up slowly in the thin air, while Dirk fell behind for the first time. Apparently I was on the recovery of my cold while he was getting sicker. Joel accompanied me this time, and carried my day pack later in the day. We were enveloped in the mist most of day and made it to the frigid camp site still with much day light. I think I hike better when not sweating, and this coldness helped. After arriving at camp in good time Dirk decided to explore the lava towers around the campsite, and the remnants of the fast-disappearing Arrow Glacier. He's excited that tomorrow would be summit day as we discussed climbing plans with Joel. The porters would not climb to the summit with us, they would pack our provisions to the next camp site on our descent route via the south summit circuit path. Only our guides Joel and John would make sure we make it to the summit. As evening approached snow began to fall, and it fell continuously into the night. Originally Joel's plan was to start hiking toward the summit around midnight or so, which is the usual schedule for most climbing parties. This is because the summit day has the largest elevation gain and would be the most challenging day due to the highest altitude, so most parties leave extra time just in case. We would be climbing from 4868 meters to 5895 meters, a total of 1027 meters (3370 feet). Because of the snow fall however, Joel was concerned that the route would be unsafe to climb at night, so he decided a later start. We planned to get up at 4 AM and start hiking at 5 AM. Luckily for us the snow fall stopped a little after midnight.
Sleep was short and I got up in good spirits for the long hike ahead. Joel knew that I hike slower so he told me to start earlier. Before Dirk was ready, Joel and I started to hike up the Western Breach in the darkness, walking on a thin layer of powdery snow. As the day broke the climb got steeper and steeper, becoming class 3 in places. The loose piles of huge blocks surrounding us were ominus since they could roll down at us any minute. Extremely exhausted and lacking oxygen, I frequently rested, but Joel kept hollering at me to keep going. A bit later he started to carry my day pack and I felt a little more energy on the climb. I was able to barely keep up with Joel, while John was leading Dirk far below us. Dirk insisted on carrying his full gear with an ice axe, and had serious trouble keeping up because of his cold. When Joel and I reached the crater rim at 18000 feet, we waited for the other two as the next stretch was the final hill to the summit. A lot of groups camp on the crater rim to break up the long ascent as well as to see the sun rise over Africa's highest volcano. Not having time for that, we regrouped for a short while at the rim, then pressed on at the urging of Joel who was afraid of more snowfall later in the day. There was a short flat stretch where we took photos of the Furtwangler Glacier, a spectacular sheet of ice a hundred feet thick lying lat on the crater rim. Just as we worked our way above the crater rim up the final hill, we were enveloped by wind and hail. Visibility was getting poorer. I was at the end of my strength, hoping we didn't need to be rescued as the next camp would be a long way away. I could only keep going at the prodding of Joel, who was always confident we could make it. Once we reached the ridge top in the windy and misty weather, I followed Joel through the final flats to Uhuru peak, the top of Africa, the summit of Kibo, the highest point of Mount Kilimanjaro. Joel and I took pictures as we waited for the other two, who arrived about 20 minutes later. Dirk was emotionally stressed; his sickness made the summit day even more challenging. After a few hero shots with the wooden posts and plaques marking the summit, we were led by Joel to come down another route, the Mweka. This is a usual descent route because it's fast and direct.
We quickly lost much elevation as we trudged down steep steps in the volcanic sand, similar to a long scree slog which we're very used to in California's mountains. Joel wanted to make it to Mweka Camp (3100 meters/10200 feet) that day, that would mean descending 9140 feet in one day. And that's after doing the most challenging ascent earlier in the same day! We protested and finally agreed on setting our goal at the Millenium camp, elevation 3837 meters/12590 feet. The hail turned to rain as we slogged past Barafu hut, situated beside large rocky slabs. After more fast slogging we arrived at Millenium camp, when the sun hadn't set yet. It was a great relief to be back in a fairly warm, vegetated place with people, and our porters were happy that the trip would be over in just another day, when they could go home. The atmosphere was festive for the porters, but all I could think of was to slow down and rest. This camp was even equipped with a decent toilet. Through the heath bushes we had glimpses of the perfect conical-shaped Mount Meru in the distance. Looming above was the icy Kibo, now so beautiful although harsh and unforgiving just hours ago. We took a shot with all the porters (except the one that served us dinner every day, didn't know where he was) and Kibo in the background. What an unforgettable experience!
The last day was downhill all the way in warm sunshine, we noticed the flowering trees and numerous wild flowers, such as the Kilimanjaro impatiens and the gladiolus. We made the whole descent to Mweka park gate (1676 meter/5500 feet elevation) in a little over 2 hours, dropping nearly 2200 meters! The increased level of oxygen in the air was very appreciated. At the park gate we completed the paperwork to certify that we had climbed Africa's highest mountain. At the village down from the park we took a break from the jeep ride, tasted banana beer and looked over some handicrafts. A little later we were back in Moshi in the plush Springland Hotel for more relaxation. The next day Joel came by to receive tips for his porters and delivered our official certificates from the Kilimanjaro National Park of Tanzania. It was great to see him again and Dirk wanted to tell him about mountaineering in the States. They promised to keep in touch. I felt extremely thankful for Joel, John, and our porters for helping us so much during the climb. There was no way that I could have made it on my own, and physically this was the most challenging climb I had ever accomplished.