According to the map we only climb 370m/1,200ft today... from the Mawenzi Tarn (4330m) to Kibo Hut (4700m/15,419ft) - the least amount of "up" for the entire trip (well, I guess with the exception of the last day where it's more or less just down). Of course, it starts with a hill - a very, very, very slow hill at that (see the video of us walking and the porters passing us up top). While I can hear myself a little out of breath on other videos before, I don't remember feeling out of breath until this climb. While I still felt like I could perhaps move a little faster, I was OK with the Pole, Pole speed and still feeling strong.
We ran into a guy from "the 22" who was in about the same shape as Heidi.... we called him "tree" because he said he was always looking for trees like we were always looking for internet cafes. We saw him a few times later and he always seemed to be on his own, like his group just left him. This time, however, he was with one of the organizers of his group - who was on his 4th trip to Kili... I have no idea why anyone would want to do this trip 4 times, but there you have it.
After we got off the volcanic rock area, we headed down to the very flat alpine desert. 4 years ago a plane crashed in this desert (http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90855/6529912.html) killing 4 Italian tourists who had wanted to get pictures of the mountain. The remnants of the plane are still there - so we were able to go check it out up close. Of course, "the 22" had gotten there before us and after we waited patiently for them to move on from the main part of the plane, they went over to the wings... and sat on them - taking a a break. So if you'd like to see some of "the 22" you will see them in my day4 album, sitting on the wings of the airplane.
Although the path was flat, we were in the highest altitude yet and Heidi wasn't feeling so hot (read: vomited again). I felt so bad for her, but unfortunately there wasn't much we could do. Sally and I took as much weight from her backpack as we could and put it in ours. Dominique was complaining of walking too quickly - though it seemed for her more to be a matter of fitness (not Heidi's problem- the woman is a machine) than of the altitude. By the time we finally arrived at the Kibo Huts, poor Heidi looked like she was going to fall down - I took her bag and checked us in and told her I'd meet her at the tent. After checking in, I headed to our camp with Heidi's pack on my front and mine on my back and Alpha (a guide) asked if I'd climbed many mountains because I was very strong - I told him no (just the Inca Trail in 2010) but was very happy to be one of the strong ones- and I felt it! I had to walk slowly at this point, I could certainly feel the 15,000ft+ altitude and I had a small headache, but other than that I was positive and feeling good.
When we got to the tent I took an ibuprofen and everything seemed to be good.
We had an early dinner and briefing. Sam, our head guide, told us to wear everything we had for the summit. He also told us we'd go as a group to Gilman's then we'd go on to Uhuru... pole, pole... but that we'd only have 10-20 min at Uhuru and then we had to hurry quickly down the mountain to avoid AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). Alpha reviewed the symptoms of AMS and HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) and HACE (High altitude cerebral edema) - such as not being able to tell time when you have a watch on, unsteady gait, etc. I went to the guides afterwards to ask what we'd do from Gilman's to Uhuru if someone was going slower. Back at the hotel all four of us had agreed that when it came to summit time, we wouldn't wait for each other if one of us can't make it - none of us wanted to stand in the way of the others ability to summit. At this point I was certain we'd all make it to Gilman's (including Heidi) but I wasn't sure Heidi would be able to get to Uhuru and since the guides stressed that the longer you were on the summit, the better chance you had of getting sick, I was afraid of being on it too long and wanted to get up... go over to Uhuru and get down. I didn't think Heidi would be able to do this, and I wanted to have the proper expectations. They didn't seem to understand my question and instead just told me I'd be fine. Whatever.
So we went to bed around 6:30, needing to wake up around 11. Going to bed in our 2 base layers was suggested... I had so much laid out to wear, I thought I was overdoing it. Surprisingly, I slept a little bit... but I woke up well before the 11pm wake up call.... and the wind around the tent was wicked. I wondered if it was a Cat 1 hurricane force wind. When it was time to get up, I asked Heidi how she felt - as expected, like crap. I asked her what she was going to do... she said she wasn't sure. I told her I supported any decision she made. Eventually, she decided she wanted to make an attempt. So, we (again) made her backpack as light as possible. I took a few snacks for her and her bag only had water in it. We put on all our layers (I had on 2 pairs of long underwear, running pants and hiking pants; on top a long underwear shirt, turtleneck, 2 mock-zip necks, my fleece, raincoat and the down jacket - as well as my balaclava, and wool hat.... hand warmers in my mittens, and feet warmers in my shoes.
I was ready - a little nervous, excited and anxious - the time had finally arrived. We gathered with the group and prepared for our midnight adventure.
Click for Pictures
Click for Video of us climbing and porters passing
We ran into a guy from "the 22" who was in about the same shape as Heidi.... we called him "tree" because he said he was always looking for trees like we were always looking for internet cafes. We saw him a few times later and he always seemed to be on his own, like his group just left him. This time, however, he was with one of the organizers of his group - who was on his 4th trip to Kili... I have no idea why anyone would want to do this trip 4 times, but there you have it.
After we got off the volcanic rock area, we headed down to the very flat alpine desert. 4 years ago a plane crashed in this desert (http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90855/6529912.html) killing 4 Italian tourists who had wanted to get pictures of the mountain. The remnants of the plane are still there - so we were able to go check it out up close. Of course, "the 22" had gotten there before us and after we waited patiently for them to move on from the main part of the plane, they went over to the wings... and sat on them - taking a a break. So if you'd like to see some of "the 22" you will see them in my day4 album, sitting on the wings of the airplane.
Although the path was flat, we were in the highest altitude yet and Heidi wasn't feeling so hot (read: vomited again). I felt so bad for her, but unfortunately there wasn't much we could do. Sally and I took as much weight from her backpack as we could and put it in ours. Dominique was complaining of walking too quickly - though it seemed for her more to be a matter of fitness (not Heidi's problem- the woman is a machine) than of the altitude. By the time we finally arrived at the Kibo Huts, poor Heidi looked like she was going to fall down - I took her bag and checked us in and told her I'd meet her at the tent. After checking in, I headed to our camp with Heidi's pack on my front and mine on my back and Alpha (a guide) asked if I'd climbed many mountains because I was very strong - I told him no (just the Inca Trail in 2010) but was very happy to be one of the strong ones- and I felt it! I had to walk slowly at this point, I could certainly feel the 15,000ft+ altitude and I had a small headache, but other than that I was positive and feeling good.
When we got to the tent I took an ibuprofen and everything seemed to be good.
We had an early dinner and briefing. Sam, our head guide, told us to wear everything we had for the summit. He also told us we'd go as a group to Gilman's then we'd go on to Uhuru... pole, pole... but that we'd only have 10-20 min at Uhuru and then we had to hurry quickly down the mountain to avoid AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). Alpha reviewed the symptoms of AMS and HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) and HACE (High altitude cerebral edema) - such as not being able to tell time when you have a watch on, unsteady gait, etc. I went to the guides afterwards to ask what we'd do from Gilman's to Uhuru if someone was going slower. Back at the hotel all four of us had agreed that when it came to summit time, we wouldn't wait for each other if one of us can't make it - none of us wanted to stand in the way of the others ability to summit. At this point I was certain we'd all make it to Gilman's (including Heidi) but I wasn't sure Heidi would be able to get to Uhuru and since the guides stressed that the longer you were on the summit, the better chance you had of getting sick, I was afraid of being on it too long and wanted to get up... go over to Uhuru and get down. I didn't think Heidi would be able to do this, and I wanted to have the proper expectations. They didn't seem to understand my question and instead just told me I'd be fine. Whatever.
So we went to bed around 6:30, needing to wake up around 11. Going to bed in our 2 base layers was suggested... I had so much laid out to wear, I thought I was overdoing it. Surprisingly, I slept a little bit... but I woke up well before the 11pm wake up call.... and the wind around the tent was wicked. I wondered if it was a Cat 1 hurricane force wind. When it was time to get up, I asked Heidi how she felt - as expected, like crap. I asked her what she was going to do... she said she wasn't sure. I told her I supported any decision she made. Eventually, she decided she wanted to make an attempt. So, we (again) made her backpack as light as possible. I took a few snacks for her and her bag only had water in it. We put on all our layers (I had on 2 pairs of long underwear, running pants and hiking pants; on top a long underwear shirt, turtleneck, 2 mock-zip necks, my fleece, raincoat and the down jacket - as well as my balaclava, and wool hat.... hand warmers in my mittens, and feet warmers in my shoes.
I was ready - a little nervous, excited and anxious - the time had finally arrived. We gathered with the group and prepared for our midnight adventure.
Click for Pictures
Click for Video of us climbing and porters passing
No comments:
Post a Comment