The Mount Kilimanjaro Climb: Uhuru Peak, Day 5

We woke up, bright and early on Day 5... Actually, we woke up incredibly late on Day 4. To be exact, it was 11:37 PM when Karim came to our tent with coffee and biscuits, informing us that it was time to wake up and begin our attempt at reaching the summit. Since it was so cold, Jeremy and I pretty much slept in every article of clothing we had packed for the week-long trek. It only took a few minutes to get ready, except that we each were kind of nervous and peed several times before responding, "Ndio" (yes) to Goodluck's question, "Tayari?" (Ready?)


We started climbing around midnight, and although the stars were bright, we wore headlamps to light the way. Judging by the number of moving lights in the darkness, we were the fourth or fifth team in line climbing the last 1400 vertical meters to the summit. It was cold and the air was thin. Within these arctic conditions, the air is freezing cold at night, with temperatures falling by one degree Celsius every 200 vertical meters. The air contained half as much oxygen as it did at sea level, so we were definitely huffing and puffing, so much so that we actually shed a few of our layers within the first hour of climbing. And much to our surprise, upon taking our first real break to drink water and eat some food, we noticed that we had been climbing for three hours!


At this point, things began to get interesting. The rocky trail we had been following turned into sand, and the slop of the route became "very steep" - the technical term used to describe this portion of the route on our Kili map. Goodluck warned us that many people turn back during this section of the trail, but luckily it was still pitch dark outside, and we couldn't really tell just how steep the trail before us was. Otherwise, we may have also psyched ourselves out and quit, too! 


We passed a man who was unable to breathe, and Goodluck worked with his guide for several minutes to devise a plan to get the man back down to Baranfu Camp. Our fellow porter, Living, who was on the mountain for the first time, had decided to climb with us to the summit, as well. At this point, Living also began to struggle. Goodluck conferred with Jared, who agreed to stay back with Living, and then Goodluck continued charging up the trail, as "pole pole" as possible, telling us to follow him closely. 


As our breathing permitted, we sang a few songs to pass the time. Mostly, however, we just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other again and again and again. It was terribly laborious, walking uphill in sand in such harsh conditions. The wind was howling, and we were sweating, but at the same time, our sweat was freezing into ice crystals, so we were really cold. It was still dark, so we couldn't really tell where we were or how much more we had to climb. However, we could still see two teams of lights ahead of us, and they looked so much further up the mountain! 


By now, we were really tired, so we stopped frequently for a few seconds at a time to catch our breath. At one break, we turned around and noticed hundreds of lights in the distance. 

"Is that Moshi?" I asked. There were so many lights I thought we were looking at a city!

"No," said Goodluck. "Those are the headlamps of all the hikers on both the Machame and Marangu routes up to the summit." 

NOTE: The Marangu Route is the easiest route up the mountain, and it is often called the Coca Cola route because so many tourists use this route in their attempt to reach Uhuru Peak. It is only five days in duration, but it has a low success rate because it doesn't always allow enough acclimatization time!


Further up the mountain, we again stopped to take a break and noticed a giant, orange arc in the sky. 

"What's that?" I asked and pointed.

"That's the moon," said Goodluck. "It is orange because the sun is about to start rising."

NOTE: I think I was a bit delirious at this point in the climb! I can't believe I didn't recognize the moon!


Since the sun was starting to rise, Jeremy and I knew we were close to finishing the steepest part of the mountain. Stella Point wasn't far away, so we continued to put one foot and one trekking pole in front of the other, pulling ourselves to the top of the mountain. When we reached Stella Point, the sun had not yet come up. Jeremy and I thought we'd hang out and wait for the sunrise, but Goodluck pushed us onward, reminding us how cold it was at the top of the mountain.


We had 200 more vertical meters to climb over approximately two more miles of trail  before reaching Uhuru Peak. Not steep at all, considering what we had just accomplished. But two more miles felt incredibly far to go. The air was so thin, and I could feel my heart pounding. I was wearing gloves under my mittens, which are normally very warm; however this morning, my fingers were numb. Goodluck took my trekking poles from me and instructed me to put my hands in my pockets. I did as he said, and my hands warmed up quickly. We walked along the trail, taking in the view of the Decken Glacier and M Glacier (formally called the Southern Ice Field) to our left. They were amazing, towering above the ground and at least twenty feet tall. We are so glad we could see the glaciers before they melt. Goodluck said that each time he reaches the summit, the glaciers are smaller and smaller...


Finally, we saw a team walking towards us yelling, "Congratulations! You are almost there!" This news energized us, and again, I could feel my heart pound in my chest. Jeremy and I noticed a brown sign ahead, and we knew that it was the sign marking Uhuru Peak, the highest point of Mount Kilimanjaro as well as the entire continent of Africa. Excited, I think we both started to walk a little quickly, but then we realized we were walking quickly. I remember telling Jeremy to slow down, for I was afraid that I would have a heart attack in the last 100 meters of our trek. We slowed, "pole pole" as usual, and pretty much stumbled up to the sign, together. Goodluck had gone a few feet ahead, and he turned around clapping and cheering for us. We had made it to Uhuru Peak, the THIRD group to reach the summit that morning in only 6 hours and 15 minutes!


We touched the sign, snapped a few photos, and no joke, got the hell out of there. It was freezing, and yes, you could say that I was in a bit of a "whining" mood. GP, as Jeremy likes to call me, which stands for Grumpt Pants. But again, I couldn't feel my thumbs, and I was feeling this strange combination of freezing cold and sweltering hot, and the wind, oh the wind! So we turned around, taking in a few final glorious views from Uhuru Peak, and began to follow the sun, which had now risen, back down the mountain.


We traversed the same route back down to Barafu Camp, and arrived back at our tent in about 3 hours. Yes, 6 hours up, 3 hours down. Our legs burned. Our arms ached. Our eyelids could barely stay open. But our faces beamed, and we couldn't stop smiling. The porters greeted us with cheers and fist bumps and celebrations. I stripped down to my first base layer - I was so freaking hot - ran to the tourist toilet, peed, and then crawled into the tent. Jeremy, who was of course more calm and in control of himself, hung up our clothes to dry and then joined me in the tent, where we took the best one hour nap of our lives. 


We will always remember Memorial Day 2011 as the day we conquered Mount Kilimanjaro and stood on the roof of Africa!

The Mount Kilimanjaro Climb: Barafu Camp, Day 4

When we woke up on Day 4, we noticed that our tent was covered in ice; and upon stepping outside, we saw the entire ground looked like an ice sheet. With the clouds that hung over Barranco Camp the previous day now gone, we could clearly see Kibo in the "not so distant" distance, and it looked incredibly cold. And scary! We were definitely getting closer to the summit!

The first hour of Day 4's hike was one of my favorite parts of the entire climb, because it required lots of scrambling up the great Barranco Wall. We hoisted ourselves up large rocks, shimmied our way across the narrow ledge of Kissing Rock, and just kept pushing ourselves to the top of Barranco Wall, from which we enjoyed a beautiful view of Shira Ridge and Mount Meru. The sun shined on us, and we had sufficiently thawed out from the morning's brisk cold.

After a short break, we continued along the trail, which dipped down for a bit into the Karanga Valley. Since it had been so cold the night before, the trail was still quite icy in many sections. We carefully navigated our way down many sections of the path, most of which appeared to have previously been a waterfall. On our way to Karanga Camp for lunch, it again felt as if the trail would never end. The trail always seems to be never ending when we are hungry for lunch! But at about 1:30 PM that afternoon, almost 5 hours after departing Barranco Camp, we reached our lunch spot. It was cold, but our lunch was warm - and delicious!

We had about 400 more meters to climb after lunch, and did so very slowly. The route out of Karanga Camp towards Barafu Camp was pretty dismal. We navigated the trail through dense fog and many rocks, as we were now in the alpine desert zone of the mountain. The route was steep, and we noticed that even many porters were struggling to make it to Barafu Camp. It didn't help that Barafu Camp had no water source, so in addition to carrying luggage, the porters were also carrying enough water for the night and the following morning. We were grateful to learn that our tour company had a strong record for protecting porters, and that our team did not need additional assistance carrying the luggage and water up to camp.

We were incredibly tired upon reaching the camp a few hours later. But we didn't have much time to waste relaxing, as we would need to go to bed early in order to wake up that evening at 11PM to prepare for our summit attempt. So we changed into dry clothes and almost immediately began eating dinner. After a quick pep talk from Goodluck, we layered up - it is FREEZING at 4700 meters above sea level - and went to sleep! Next stop, Uhuru Peak!

The Mount Kilimanjaro Climb: Barranco Camp, Day 3

Day 3 of our journey up the mountain promised to be the most difficult to date, as we would climb up to nearly 4800 meters above sea level to view the Lava Tower prior to descending back to approximately the same altitude as Shira Camp for our third night of camping at Barranco Camp. This day of the trek would be pretty important for our acclimatization as it would give us an additional day at high elevation prior to attempting the summit. So we were excited to get started on the trek with our assistant guide, Jared, in the lead.

Immediately, the trail started to climb upwards. I think the hardest parts of the day was always in the morning when we are getting started, as we start to feel the sore muscles we developed on the previous day's climb. On Day 3, we felt the steep uphill climbing we did at the start of Day 2. Luckily, today was a more gradual climb, however it would continue for several hours before it tapered off. Still, it was quite pleasant, as we enjoyed beautiful sunshine and a stunning view of Kibo for nearly the entire trip up to Lava Tower.

Around 1PM, nearly four hours into our hiking, we stopped for a boxed lunch which included my favorite food so far in Tanzania, samosas. I realize that samosas are actually Indian food, but I appreciate how widely available they are in Tanzania. Delicious! By the time we finished lunch, clouds had rolled in and the air grew quite damp and cold. We therefore bundled up and continued along the trail to Lava Tower. At 4630 meters high, I was surprised that I was able to breathe so easily. Because it was cold, we wasted little time at this point, and instead began our descent to Barranco Camp.

I am sad that our trek to Barranco Camp was so foggy, for the landscape on this part of the mountain was definitely my favorite part of the entire trip. Lots of trees called Senecio Kilimanjari that look like palm trees. From our guides we learned that these trees are the tallest growing trees in a mountainous / high elevation region, and they grow up to 5 meters tall. Although the scenery was beautiful, the route to camp seemed to never end. While climbing the first four hours of the day, we definitely thought that we would welcome a downhill route; however, the steep descent really hurt our knees after a while. Covering the rocky terrain without falling took a lot of concentration, so we were so happy to reach Barranco Camp at 4PM, seven hours after departing Shira Camp.

We fell asleep pretty early that night, tuckered out from the day's work. In the middle of the night we heard someone puking, and figured that someone from another team had come down with altitude sickness. I had a headache that night, but other than that felt OK. Nevertheless, I decided to start taking my altitude sickness medication, as Day 4 wold bring us up to nearly 4700 meters above sea level. We were half way there!

The Mount Kilimanjaro Climb: Shira Camp, Day 2

Day 2 began with a wake up from our porter and waiter, Karim. He brought coffee to our tent as we dressed and packed up. After breakfast, which consisted of porridge, fried eggs, toast, and fruit, we hit the trail with Goodluck. Today's hike would take us 800 meters higher to Shira Camp, however at a distance of only 9KM, today's climb would be considerably more steep than that of Day 1.

After a couple hours of hiking, we had traversed out of the forest, through the heather, and were safely into the moorland. We saw many different plants and trees, and for most of the hike we enjoyed a great view of Mount Meru, a nearby mountain smaller than Kilimanjaro but still picturesque. We took a break for lunch and noticed we were literally "in the clouds" so it was starting to get cooler. We hiked for a couple more hours after lunch, arriving at Shira Camp just as there was a break in the cloud cover. It was beautiful!

From Shira Camp we enjoyed great views of the Shira Ridge on the Western side of Mount Kilimanjaro; we also took in our first unobstructed view of Kibo, the mountain's summit which we would tackle in a few more days. Capped with snow, it looked both far away and very cold! How would we make it up there? That night we went to sleep with many layers, as the cold mountain air 3800 meters above seal level was becoming noticeable...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Kilimanjaro National Park

The Mount Kilimanjaro Climb: Machame Camp, Day 1

We first awoke around 5AM to the sound of the Muslim call to prayer at the nearby mosque. We settled back to sleep, only to wake again about an hour later to the crow of a rooster living outside our window. We awoke the third time in a panic, nervous that we had overslept and missed our Kilimanjaro climb. Luckily, we had only slept 20 minutes too late, and this being Africa, we were not expecting our team to be too punctual. Hakuna Matata! It's Africa! No worries.

The Goodlucks met us at our hotel, along with an assistant guide and cook, and together we drove out of Moshi and through the village of Machame to the Machame Gate of Kilimajaro International Park. We waited for what seemed like a very long time as the team assembled our park permit, selected porters, and packed up the bags. We said hello to other climbers, too pictures, and peed about a million times. Then finally, we were ready to hit the trail...

"Pole pole" are two words we were expecting our guides to frequently say throughout the trek, and they didn't disappoint us. I have a tendency to hike quickly, especially uphill, and Mount Kilimanjaro cannot be conquered unless one walks very slowly. So "pole pole" we traveled 18KM from 2000 meters above seal level to 3000 meters above sea level to our first camp site, Machame Camp.

We settled into our tent (which our team of porters set up for us prior to our arrival - they do NOT travel "pole pole" up the mountain) and enjoyed some popcorn and tea prepared by our cook before dinner of cucumber soup, fish, potatoes, vegetable salad, and avocado. It was an amazing meal! And although the day's hike didn't feel too stressful, we were tired and went to bed early, excited for the next day's journey!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Kilimanjaro National Park

Arrival in Moshi

After packing and unpacking and then repacking, we headed to the Denver airport, the following milestones behind us:
1) Leaving the jobs at which we have worked for 5 years
2) Boxing up our lives and storing it in San Francisco
3) Surfing our friends' couches for a couple weeks
4) Visiting family and friends in Denver,which for Jeremy included a fourth annual guys trip to Utah

Everything looked good, however with all of our international trips, misadventures always lurk around every corner. Seconds after Jeremy's dad drove away from us at the United departure stand, we realized that Jeremy's favorite hiking pants (with zip off legs to make shorts) were still in the backseat of his dad's car. And unfortunately, Jeremy's dad doesn't carry a cell phone. (Side bar: my dad does carry a cell phone, but he never turns it on... So similar are our fathers!) Sadly, after waiting for a while to see if Jeremy's dad will notice the shorts in the car, we accept our loss.

Loss #2 was quick to declare herself, as upon checking into our flight we learned it would be 3 hours delayed. At least when we did get to finally board our flight we were in First Class. Only we were in the last row, so when the flight attendant got to us with lunch orders, we had to take the salads, which I frankly hate on account of the most voluminous ingredient, iceberg lettuce. Loss #3!

We did eventually arrive in DC and spent a quick night at an airport hotel. Then bright and early, we were back on a plane (Ethiopian Airlines) heading for Addis Ababa, our connecting city prior to our final destination, Kilimanjaro International Airport. I must say, 15+ hours in Ethiopian Economy was just as good - if not better than - our Denver-DC flight in United First Class. Tasty food, free wine, our own movie selection. I am still perplexed why the US-based airlines have so much trouble getting it right...

Upon arrival at Kilimanjaro, we were greeted by two Tanzanian men, both of whom were named Goodluck. (And yes, I was beginning to feel that our fortunes were chaining for the better - no more misadventures!) Goodluck #1 would be our guide on the mountain for the next week; Goodluck #2 would be our driver to and from Moshi.

We packed our things into the Landrover and headed to Moshi. Goodluck #1 narrated as we drove about an hour into town, past small farms, large markets, and many women and children walking along the highway with large baskets of vegetables, fruits, and grains balanced on their heads. Colorful clothes, packed busses, and many motorbikes. There was certainly much to take in, and I'll be honest, a bit of culture shock to overcome. However, knowing we had a big day in store for us the following morning, we eagerly climbed into bed and under our mosquito nets to get to sleep. Mount Kikimanjaro awaits!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Moshi, Tanzania

The Boltons Are Bolting

We've both spent a lot of time complaining about our jobs the past five years. The long hours. The demanding clients. The constant travel to places that should be exciting but when you don't get to see anything but a hotel room are incredibly boring... (Chicago)

But along the way we have learned a lot. Technically, about clinical trials and clinical supply chain management, of course. Not to mention how to succeed while working for a very quickly growing start up software company. We have learned how to manage other people, and perhaps more importantly -- how NOT to manage other people. Moreover, we have discovered the type of leaders we want to be; and though we have not yet necessarily fully become these leaders, at least we have selected a trajectory on which we will continue to grow and hopefully succeed in the future.

Really, we shouldn't have spent any time these past five years complaining. Because in addition to the professional good our jobs have bestowed upon us, there has been much personal good, as well. We met each other, for one. And we have made some brilliant friendships. With people who started off as work friends, who then turned into just friends, and now are pretty much our second family. People who lead our wedding ceremony and with whom we spent most holidays. People with whom we have vacationed in Tahoe and Big Sur and run the 199 miles from Calistoga and Santa Cruz staying up all night in a sweaty van.

But "work" in San Francisco has enabled more than just a crew of professional turned personal friends, too. Our success in our jobs provided justification to keep our individual dreams of living -- and thriving -- in San Francisco a reality. And as such, we forged relationships with others whom we met at bars, restaurants, and spin class. People with whom we have since shared pints of ice cream, bottles of wine, and entire apartments. Trips to Vegas and Palm Springs and Lake Shasta and even the Nob Hill Cat Clinic.

While we can't say we will necessarily miss working, we are very sad to leave "work" and all that has come with it. For all of those extras are San Francisco. And closing this fruitful chapter of our lives is incredibly sad. No matter how exciting the next phase of our adventure through life may be, it is hard to let go of this one...

And yes, we are thinking these thoughts while hoping to take in a sunset off the shores of the Kohala Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. Perhaps it is fitting that the sun has ducked behind some clouds and that we are probably not going to get to enjoy this sunset. Perhaps it means our time in San Francisco isn't really over, after all. Maybe it is just going to temporarily duck out of our imminent view for a short while.




- Posted by Nic & Jeremy using BlogPress for iPhone

Location:Waikoloa Beach Dr,Kamuela,United States