Climbing Kili

My poor parents thought I had fallen off the mountain since they had not heard from me in almost two weeks. When we last spoke I had voiced my concern that I may not climb the mountain because of a persistent cold. I recovered from my cold in time to climb, but had a relapse at Gilman’s point. A cold is nothing worry about but for some reason this cold makes it difficult for my ears to adjust to pressure changes. So when at 5685 m my ears suddenly felt clogged and I could only equalize the pressure by eating snow I think you will forgive me for descending. Fortunately, Gilman’s point is on the top of the mountain so I can say that I stood on the roof of Africa (even if I wasn’t on the apex) and I have the certificate to back it up. They (the wonderful people at KINAPA) award three certificates for climbing Kilimanjaro the first is Gilman’s point, the second is Stella Point 5756 m, and the highest is Uhuru Peak 5895 m. All three say that you have climbed the highest mountain in Africa and they differ slightly on border and paper quality. Even if I had failed to get a certificate the climb would have been worthwhile.

Kilimanjaro was quite the adventure. We traversed five types of terrains, walked in rain, sleet, and snow, and climbed more than 4 vertical kilometers (each day of travel is almost exactly 1 Km of ascent). The first day is a short 8 Km but is deceptively difficult. Because it is the first day and at the lowest altitude and a short distance you expect it to be easy, however since it still climbs 1000 m it is actually steeper and therefore harder than most days. Let me add a little perspective on what heights I am talking about. 10 m is a 3 story building so 1000 m is 300 story building and 2000 m is about the depth of the grand canyon. The forest is very green and mossy and reminded a lot of Oregon. There were remarkably few wild animals--on the
whole trip we saw only a few small birds, some crows, mountain mice (two at camp and two on the trail), a blue monkey, and three Colobus Monkeys (together). After the first day you leave the forest and go through the sub-alpine forest and alpine flats which reminded me a lot of eastern Idaho because of the color and sagebrush like trees. We spent one day “acclimating” and seeing Zebra rock which was really just a day of rest but the rest was probably a good thing given the next 48 hours. After the day of acclimating you hike to kibo hut passing through desert terrain that reminded me of Nevada, this day is also not hard but you are only given the
afternoon to rest. The climb from Kibo hut to the peak begins at midnight so that you can see the sun rise and then quickly descend. The day before you look a the remaining mountain and “think oh that’s not much further.” Then at night you really can't see far so look up and constantly think you are close to the top when in fact you have several hours remaining. For me it was more mentally frustrating than physically demanding, especially given the slow pace required in the thin air. However, by Gilman’s point I was tired and breathing hard even taking only one small step every 3 seconds. At Gilman’s point you crest the mountain and on the downhill side there is scree and a view of the saddle and Mawenze Peak. On the other side is snow and a small crater. We reached this point right at sun rise; but of course although I remembered to pack a spare camera battery, I forgot to change the battery or bring the spare on the final climb and was unable to capture the most memorable moments. I may get some pictures from a student who did take a camera with film, but I have not seen any photos yet.

When climbing I was a little disappointed that not all my students made it to Uhuru, and was discouraged to hear out of ten students only four (3 boys and 1 girl) made it to the peak. But on the way down I had time to think about the statistics and I realized they really weren’t so bad. Out of 13 people three got sick (not related to altitude sickness) and only one got altitude sickness while the rest (all 3 teachers, 3 boy and 3 girl students) made it to Gilman’s or higher. Furthermore, the two teachers which many people doubted would be able made it to the peak and the girl everyone thought would not make it got to Stella point.