Jan. 20, 2012
I only have a few minutes on this (very slow) computer - so I'll try
to update more later... but for now, I wanted to let you know I made
it back to the hotel safely... it's nice to have showered after 6 days
:-)
I made it to Gilman's point on the Kili summit - it's the one where
you can say you officially summited, but it's not the official summit
I hoped to reach (Uhuru). My body just couldn't take it anymore... it
didn't even want to go to Gilman's but I forced it on. 3/4 of the way
up a "summit porter" took my bag... when we weren't far from the top I
wanted water and had to ask him to get it from inside my bag and feed
it to me like a baby because I just couldn't hold the bottle. We got
to the top, I had someone take my camera out of my jacket and take a
picture of me and my friends at the sign then asked him to take a
couple other pictures for me (you know I'm in bad sorts when I don't
have energy to take pictures).. then I said "i'm going down" and the
head guide said "that's a good idea" I just couldn't do another 2
hours to get to Uhuru... the wind was wicked from the beginning and
only worse on the crater.
on the way down i just sat down at one point, laid back and closed my
eyes.... guidean (my summit porter god) said "no sleeping on the
mountain, sleep at kibo huts" something he had to repeat many times
as we went down the very long trail.... while every so often giving me
water (again, feeding me like a baby). when we finally got to camp,
heidi (who made it to the halfway point and turned around...she'd had
mild alt. sickness since day 2) was there and i had her take off my
shoes for me bc I just couldn't move... i passed out on the mat.. My
headache finally went away for the most part last night when we went
to the lower camp (3,700m I think) but it was replaced with a sinus
issue - thinking my body held out as long as possible and is now
getting back at me.
The first 4 days were BEAUTIFUL... the experience for those days was
awesome... we had a great group of 10 people who all got on well...
the guides and porters were amazing. Summit night, the 4 hours of
walking that afternoon and the 7 hours of walking today I could do
without... The people who made it to Uhuru were in just as bad as
shape as me.... on our way up I told Sally we are not doing the
"highest mountain outside of the himalayas" which is in Argentina
(she's suggested it prior to the climb) and when she got down, in
tears, she agreed.
Looking forward to sitting in a car and being driven around while
looking at animals for the next couple days... back stateside on
Weds... hoping to be home Weds night, but likely Thurs.
Thanks for all your happy thoughts and well wishes!
I'll do a day by day update when I get home... along with pictures to
accompany the story.
I only have a few minutes on this (very slow) computer - so I'll try
to update more later... but for now, I wanted to let you know I made
it back to the hotel safely... it's nice to have showered after 6 days
:-)
I made it to Gilman's point on the Kili summit - it's the one where
you can say you officially summited, but it's not the official summit
I hoped to reach (Uhuru). My body just couldn't take it anymore... it
didn't even want to go to Gilman's but I forced it on. 3/4 of the way
up a "summit porter" took my bag... when we weren't far from the top I
wanted water and had to ask him to get it from inside my bag and feed
it to me like a baby because I just couldn't hold the bottle. We got
to the top, I had someone take my camera out of my jacket and take a
picture of me and my friends at the sign then asked him to take a
couple other pictures for me (you know I'm in bad sorts when I don't
have energy to take pictures).. then I said "i'm going down" and the
head guide said "that's a good idea" I just couldn't do another 2
hours to get to Uhuru... the wind was wicked from the beginning and
only worse on the crater.
on the way down i just sat down at one point, laid back and closed my
eyes.... guidean (my summit porter god) said "no sleeping on the
mountain, sleep at kibo huts" something he had to repeat many times
as we went down the very long trail.... while every so often giving me
water (again, feeding me like a baby). when we finally got to camp,
heidi (who made it to the halfway point and turned around...she'd had
mild alt. sickness since day 2) was there and i had her take off my
shoes for me bc I just couldn't move... i passed out on the mat.. My
headache finally went away for the most part last night when we went
to the lower camp (3,700m I think) but it was replaced with a sinus
issue - thinking my body held out as long as possible and is now
getting back at me.
The first 4 days were BEAUTIFUL... the experience for those days was
awesome... we had a great group of 10 people who all got on well...
the guides and porters were amazing. Summit night, the 4 hours of
walking that afternoon and the 7 hours of walking today I could do
without... The people who made it to Uhuru were in just as bad as
shape as me.... on our way up I told Sally we are not doing the
"highest mountain outside of the himalayas" which is in Argentina
(she's suggested it prior to the climb) and when she got down, in
tears, she agreed.
Looking forward to sitting in a car and being driven around while
looking at animals for the next couple days... back stateside on
Weds... hoping to be home Weds night, but likely Thurs.
Thanks for all your happy thoughts and well wishes!
I'll do a day by day update when I get home... along with pictures to
accompany the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment