Day 1 (3000 M)
The first day was in the rainforest zone. It was pretty relaxed other than the rain and felt a lot like Algonquin. We got about an hour before the rain started, then it poured for the rest of our hike. We ate our lunches inside our ponchos. They were the same lunches we had on our safari that I could only eat about half of. That day, it was not a problem.
We arrived at Machame Hut at around 3:30pm. Rather than hanging out in my boring tent, I hung out in the Ranger hut with the ranger who was named Chacha. He told me that he had been up on the mountain for new years and hadn't celebrated at all, so I decided to have a belated New Years celebration for him. At 8pm me, Chacha, Peter (my guide), and Everest (another guide) had a dance party to Jennifer Lopez "On the floor" on Chacha's phone.
Chacha and I listening to tunes in the Ranger hut
They forgot to put my rain cover on my backpack, so pretty much everything I owned was soaked, as well as my mattress. Chacha lent me a nice matress from the hut, and I hoped that my clothes would eventually dry.
Day 2 (3840 M)
Perhaps for you, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is not enough of a challenge. Maybe you enjoy taking polar bear swims, or for fun you like to dump a bucket of ice water on yourself and then camp out in a walk-in fridge. This is the only circumstance where I would recommend you climb Kili during the rainy season.
Day 2 started off well. It was a short day, but a challenging one since a good portion of it was climbing a big pile of rocks at about a 70 degree angle. It was a lot of fun though, I liked the challenging parts of the climb the most. This part of the climb was in the moorland zone, which was also so beautiful. There are a lot of rocks and the trees are shorter and sparser so you can see a lot further. At this point, you are essentially in a cloud, so the entire sky is cloud which shines a dim greyish light on everything. When you look over the edge, you see nothing but a steep slope of trees ending in the cloudy abyss that surrounds you.
At about 11:00 the rain started, and it didn't stop. It was really intense; I was wearing a poncho but everything I was wearing got soaked anyways. On top of this it was getting colder as we ascended, which wasn't so bad when we were climbing but really hit me when I stopped for lunch. The first time I asked my guide to clarify whether that was really our path was when we reached this big steep dirt hill that had a river running down it and was basically entirely mud. It was a challenge to keep my footing.
After living in Moshi, you hear so many people doing the climb that you start to think of it as just another tourist destination, but after lunch things got real really fast. We reached these rapids that were about a metre across and lead to a waterfall about 3 metres to my left. I said to my guide, "there has to be another way around this right?" He wasn't concerned and informed me that it was very easy. I just had to leap onto this slimy wet rock and then leap onto the other side. No problem. The next little obstacle was a waterfall that you basically had to hug while you stepped on a rock that had been entirely submerged under water. The water was so powerful I could feel it running through my shoes and hitting my feet. I was worried that the water pressure from the falls was going to push me off the rock and over the cliff.
We arrived at the next base camp at around 3pm, although it felt much later. This was the ugliest base camp by far. It was this open, flat, grey space covered in rocks and mud with almost no trees or greenery. The rain was still pounding so everything was flooded. When I got into my tent, I realized that even with my rain cover my clothes were slightly wetter than they were the day before and everything I was wearing that day was completely soaked. It was at that point that I realized that they would not dry. I was freezing, had nothing dry to put on, and we were only at the second base camp: it would get colder. I spent that night wondering how I was possibly going to climb this whole mountain without dying of hypothermia.
Day 3 (4572 M)
When the sun came up and it wasn't raining anymore, my energy was renewed and we continued up the mountain. Every minute after 11:00 that it didn't rain I took as a gift and cherished it.
The first part of the day was the desert zone with all different sized volcanic rocks. It spit rain for a little while, but ended up being a really good day. We climbed up to the lava rock at 14,900 ft., then had to climb back down to get to Barranco camp at 15,000 ft. There was a lot of climbing up at down in order to get used to the altitude. Altitude is the biggest obstacle to climbing (other than maybe the rain). I was the only one of the people I talked to that didn't feel any altitude sickness.
The way down from lava rock began by climbing down this big, steep, rocky waterfall. After that, we climbed down this slope covered in loose rocks that basically felt like surfing the slope. It wasn't really possible to stay in control; even my guide was falling. Then we followed a large creek that I think during dry season is an actual path. We jumped from one rock to another and tried not to fall in; I somehow managed to make it through the day without a soaker.
They forgot to put my rain cover on my backpack, so pretty much everything I owned was soaked, as well as my mattress. Chacha lent me a nice matress from the hut, and I hoped that my clothes would eventually dry.
Day 2 (3840 M)
Perhaps for you, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is not enough of a challenge. Maybe you enjoy taking polar bear swims, or for fun you like to dump a bucket of ice water on yourself and then camp out in a walk-in fridge. This is the only circumstance where I would recommend you climb Kili during the rainy season.
Day 2 started off well. It was a short day, but a challenging one since a good portion of it was climbing a big pile of rocks at about a 70 degree angle. It was a lot of fun though, I liked the challenging parts of the climb the most. This part of the climb was in the moorland zone, which was also so beautiful. There are a lot of rocks and the trees are shorter and sparser so you can see a lot further. At this point, you are essentially in a cloud, so the entire sky is cloud which shines a dim greyish light on everything. When you look over the edge, you see nothing but a steep slope of trees ending in the cloudy abyss that surrounds you.
At about 11:00 the rain started, and it didn't stop. It was really intense; I was wearing a poncho but everything I was wearing got soaked anyways. On top of this it was getting colder as we ascended, which wasn't so bad when we were climbing but really hit me when I stopped for lunch. The first time I asked my guide to clarify whether that was really our path was when we reached this big steep dirt hill that had a river running down it and was basically entirely mud. It was a challenge to keep my footing.
After living in Moshi, you hear so many people doing the climb that you start to think of it as just another tourist destination, but after lunch things got real really fast. We reached these rapids that were about a metre across and lead to a waterfall about 3 metres to my left. I said to my guide, "there has to be another way around this right?" He wasn't concerned and informed me that it was very easy. I just had to leap onto this slimy wet rock and then leap onto the other side. No problem. The next little obstacle was a waterfall that you basically had to hug while you stepped on a rock that had been entirely submerged under water. The water was so powerful I could feel it running through my shoes and hitting my feet. I was worried that the water pressure from the falls was going to push me off the rock and over the cliff.
We arrived at the next base camp at around 3pm, although it felt much later. This was the ugliest base camp by far. It was this open, flat, grey space covered in rocks and mud with almost no trees or greenery. The rain was still pounding so everything was flooded. When I got into my tent, I realized that even with my rain cover my clothes were slightly wetter than they were the day before and everything I was wearing that day was completely soaked. It was at that point that I realized that they would not dry. I was freezing, had nothing dry to put on, and we were only at the second base camp: it would get colder. I spent that night wondering how I was possibly going to climb this whole mountain without dying of hypothermia.
Day 3 (4572 M)
When the sun came up and it wasn't raining anymore, my energy was renewed and we continued up the mountain. Every minute after 11:00 that it didn't rain I took as a gift and cherished it.
The first part of the day was the desert zone with all different sized volcanic rocks. It spit rain for a little while, but ended up being a really good day. We climbed up to the lava rock at 14,900 ft., then had to climb back down to get to Barranco camp at 15,000 ft. There was a lot of climbing up at down in order to get used to the altitude. Altitude is the biggest obstacle to climbing (other than maybe the rain). I was the only one of the people I talked to that didn't feel any altitude sickness.
The way down from lava rock began by climbing down this big, steep, rocky waterfall. After that, we climbed down this slope covered in loose rocks that basically felt like surfing the slope. It wasn't really possible to stay in control; even my guide was falling. Then we followed a large creek that I think during dry season is an actual path. We jumped from one rock to another and tried not to fall in; I somehow managed to make it through the day without a soaker.
The waterfall rock hill that we descended after Lava Rock
As we approached the camp, the landscape changed and more trees started appearing. This camp was my absolute favourite. We were in a valley completely surrounded by mountains so it was beautiful as well as warm, since we were sheltered from the wind. Extending out and up the mountain was every possible shade from grey to green that you can possibly imagine. Everything had kind of a greyish tinge to it, but there were so many different colours it was unbelievable. Breaking up the mountain view were waterfalls interspersed around the cliffs. Surrounded by this beautiful scenery and feeling much drier, I went to bed feeling like I might actually be able to do this.
As we approached the camp, the landscape changed and more trees started appearing. This camp was my absolute favourite. We were in a valley completely surrounded by mountains so it was beautiful as well as warm, since we were sheltered from the wind. Extending out and up the mountain was every possible shade from grey to green that you can possibly imagine. Everything had kind of a greyish tinge to it, but there were so many different colours it was unbelievable. Breaking up the mountain view were waterfalls interspersed around the cliffs. Surrounded by this beautiful scenery and feeling much drier, I went to bed feeling like I might actually be able to do this.
The view from my favourite Base Camp.
Day 4/5 (5895 M)
In the next 48 hours I climbed for a total of around 24 hours, on maybe 4 hours of sleep, with a breakfast of cookies that tasted like sugar and sawdust.
Day 4 began by scaling one of the cliffs surrounding Barranco camp, which felt like real rock climbing. They say never look down, but I say don't look up either. Look up at how far and steep you have to climb and you are bound to give up right there. Looking two steps ahead and taking it one thing at a time is the way to do it.
Descending from this cliff was my least favourite part of the day. I was wearing my trail runners to keep my hiking boots dry for summit day. This works well with the rain since although they get wet really easily, they also dry fast. However, the grips on them aren't really made for rock climbing. We reached a point in the climb that was just sloped rock with water running down it. It wasn't completely smooth, but there was absolutely nothing to grab onto. You just had to trust the grip on your shoes, which was a bit of a problem. I basically gripped for dear life with my hands onto the rock behind me and slowly slid down the slope.
After that descent, we climbed through the real desert area which contains large lava rocks and a layer of rocks that look and sound like flagstone, covering everything. There was one point where we reached the top of this cliff; surrounding us were large lava rocks covered in inukshuks and everything beyond was clouds. It looked like a really grey and rocky heaven.
We scaled another cliff to reach the camp the 7 dayers stay in, which we ate lunch at. After lunch we climbed up to Barafu camp for a total of about 8 hours of hiking. I was supposed to have about 6 hours to sleep before summiting, but dinner came late so I got 4 1/2. I might have slept one hour.
At midnight I woke up, had a snack of cookies and tea, and got ready to head for the summit. The next five hours of climbing passed in an absolute blur. When we got out, the moon was low in the sky and coloured a bright orange. Throughout the next few hours it rose like the sun and turned to a perfect white crescent. I have never seen so many stars in my life; there wasn't an empty spot in the sky. Looking out you could see the entire city of Moshi lit up below.
At 5:00am, we reached the top of the mountain at Stella Point (5739 M). The purpose in starting the climb so early is to reach the summit for sunrise, which is at about 6:00am. I really wanted to see the sunrise and you will freeze if you stand around and wait at the summit, so I went as slow as possible on the gradual slope to the summit. We reached the summit (5895 M) at 5:45am, just in time for the beginning of the sunrise. The sky was all lit up in a pinkish red as we watched the sun slowly rise from behind a distant mountain. In the light of day, the summit was a completely different place; it was amazingly beautiful. The glaciers next to us were my favourite part. They were surreal and looked like something from finding Nemo rather than something that could actually be seen in real life. This was one of so many times since I have come to Tanzania that I have just stared and tried to take a mental picture, since the pictures taken on my camera just seem stupid compared to the real thing.
Day 4/5 (5895 M)
In the next 48 hours I climbed for a total of around 24 hours, on maybe 4 hours of sleep, with a breakfast of cookies that tasted like sugar and sawdust.
Day 4 began by scaling one of the cliffs surrounding Barranco camp, which felt like real rock climbing. They say never look down, but I say don't look up either. Look up at how far and steep you have to climb and you are bound to give up right there. Looking two steps ahead and taking it one thing at a time is the way to do it.
Descending from this cliff was my least favourite part of the day. I was wearing my trail runners to keep my hiking boots dry for summit day. This works well with the rain since although they get wet really easily, they also dry fast. However, the grips on them aren't really made for rock climbing. We reached a point in the climb that was just sloped rock with water running down it. It wasn't completely smooth, but there was absolutely nothing to grab onto. You just had to trust the grip on your shoes, which was a bit of a problem. I basically gripped for dear life with my hands onto the rock behind me and slowly slid down the slope.
After that descent, we climbed through the real desert area which contains large lava rocks and a layer of rocks that look and sound like flagstone, covering everything. There was one point where we reached the top of this cliff; surrounding us were large lava rocks covered in inukshuks and everything beyond was clouds. It looked like a really grey and rocky heaven.
We scaled another cliff to reach the camp the 7 dayers stay in, which we ate lunch at. After lunch we climbed up to Barafu camp for a total of about 8 hours of hiking. I was supposed to have about 6 hours to sleep before summiting, but dinner came late so I got 4 1/2. I might have slept one hour.
At midnight I woke up, had a snack of cookies and tea, and got ready to head for the summit. The next five hours of climbing passed in an absolute blur. When we got out, the moon was low in the sky and coloured a bright orange. Throughout the next few hours it rose like the sun and turned to a perfect white crescent. I have never seen so many stars in my life; there wasn't an empty spot in the sky. Looking out you could see the entire city of Moshi lit up below.
At 5:00am, we reached the top of the mountain at Stella Point (5739 M). The purpose in starting the climb so early is to reach the summit for sunrise, which is at about 6:00am. I really wanted to see the sunrise and you will freeze if you stand around and wait at the summit, so I went as slow as possible on the gradual slope to the summit. We reached the summit (5895 M) at 5:45am, just in time for the beginning of the sunrise. The sky was all lit up in a pinkish red as we watched the sun slowly rise from behind a distant mountain. In the light of day, the summit was a completely different place; it was amazingly beautiful. The glaciers next to us were my favourite part. They were surreal and looked like something from finding Nemo rather than something that could actually be seen in real life. This was one of so many times since I have come to Tanzania that I have just stared and tried to take a mental picture, since the pictures taken on my camera just seem stupid compared to the real thing.
After some time spent enjoying the view and taking some pictures, I was sufficiently cold and decided it was definitely time to get off the mountain. So I ran. When I got to the point where the dirt path ended and there was nothing but the usual thin layer of snowy ice, I sat down and slid. Being used to running marathons, this is the biggest difference between those and climbing mountains: the climax is at the end. When you complete a marathon, you are done and can relax. When you reach the top of a mountain, you are only halfway there. The walk down was definitely not as exhilerating as the way up, and was shockingly much harder than the climb.
It took 4 hours to get from the summit back down to Barafu base camp. After lunch and an hour of sleep, we were back on the trail down for another 6 hours of hiking to get to the level of the first base camp. This camp was beautiful since it was in the rainforest zone, and it was huge! I think I got a second wind at some point because I didn't feel tired when I got there, but after dinner I passed right out and slept for 12 hours.
Day 6
The next morning was a three hour hike back down to the main gate that I pretty much ran. I don't know if I was running to get to the bottom or just to the shower. After six days of hiking with no showers and not many clean clothes, a shower has never felt that good ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment