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SUMMIT DAY - June 11th (4750m-5895m)
We drank hot tea as we put on the rest of our gear and the other 2 guys who had been sharing our dormitory also got ready. These guy's were not together but one of the guys I don't know anything about at all, because he came in when I was asleep and then he remained asleep every time I was awake. Now he was awake he now seemed engrossed in letting his guide dress him - hmmm strange!!!
The other guy we had had a brief chat with but not to the extent of exchanging names, but I could tell that he was American by his accent. He had also said that he had spent an extra day at Horombo Hut to allow himself more time to acclimatise. Our gang of 4 porters came in to wish us luck and we had a pre-departure photo, then it was time to be off. It actually sounded like most people had left already, so I think we were one of the last groups to leave. It can be quite normal at this point for your guide to demand more money to take you up to the peak, which had crossed my mind at this point now that almost everyone had gone. But when I thought about it, Babu would have been stupid because I think we would have walked right past him and his request and continued on our own. After all Wayne and I had almost gotten this far independently of the guide or the porters, carrying our own loads, we had only eaten the food they had cooked. Anyway nobody made any additional requests and we set off.
On stepping out of the hut I noticed the wind had died away and the way ahead was alive with people, head torches moving all different ways and the sounds of trekking poles banging into rocks like chimes. As soon as we started walking the guides kept reminding us slowly - slowly, and then after about 10min of walking I saw why. In front of us at the side of the trail was somebody crouched down and gasping for air. They were crouched in such a way that it was obvious that they couldn't stand themselves and they were gasping loudly for air. We walked on and rounded another group on the trail, this group were huddled around a girl also gasping and looking like she wanted to cry. She was leaning into her trekking poles and looked really frightened, trying to take in some comforting words from the rest of her group. As we got nearer she just collapsed and lay on the ground out cold. I think everyone in our group was thinking
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"Oh shit I hope that doesn't happen
to me!"
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By this point we had passed everyone on the trail to Gilmans point and it became evident that because Babuji didn't have a head torch, he was having trouble picking the way trough the mixture of snow and scree without the lights of other torches ahead of him. I gave him mine and I walked behind him while Wayne walked behind me with his head torch projecting it's beam around my feet also.
We zig-zagged up to Hans Meyer Cave and stopped there for a drink and rest. The ground up to this point isn't too steep and each leg of a zig-zag quite long. Below you could see the line of head torches bobbing around along the trail as the other groups came up, then beyond them the small lights of towns along the border line between Tanzania and Kenya. The night was very clear and the sky was full of stars, with the odd satellite shooting across the sky.
From Hans Meyer Cave the real zig-zags begin and the gradient of the slope increases. These zig-zags are quite short and mainly in snow, the only time we came across scree was when the trail crossed a large black scar visible on the approach to the peak, the zig-zags seem to switch back up this feature. Along this section of the climb Babuji let out periodic howls and squeals into the night, I'm not sure what they were meant to mean but he seemed to like to do it.
After approx. 3 ½ hrs of climbing we finally reached the half way point between Kibo Hut and Gilmans Point. This section had not gone without it's difficulties, Margie had experienced problems with the altitude feeling dizzy and breathless. We had taken some time to stop and let her recover, although I thought Babuji could have offered more support, but all he did was insist that she walked behind him. I thought Marge would benefit more from knowing that if she needed to stop then the rest of the group were behind her and she could take as many breaks as she needed to get up to Uhuru Peak. I think she felt better knowing that everyone wasn't thinking that she was holding us all back. Will was also very quiet along this stretch of the climb and walked at the back of the line.
The American guy from our dormitory back at the hut passed us with his guide just before reaching the halfway point, so when we arrived he was already there resting as we arrived. We all passed each other encouraging words, then he set off and so did we just behind him. Again we climbed on this zig-zagging trail very slowly placing one foot in front of the other and breathing quite heavily. It seemed that these zig-zags were going on for ever especially because it was dark and so you couldn't tell how long they would last, at last the zig-zags were eating away at my will power but I knew I'd be carrying on. We stopped again but this time strangely enough not for Marge who had seemed to have found her second wind, but for Will who had fallen far behind with the assistant guide. When he caught up all he could say was that he was tired. I gave out some glucose sweets to those who wanted them, but Will said he didn't want any.
Again the climb was getting steeper now, and I had to tell myself in my mind to keep going because I wanted to stop and sort of quit really but only half-heartedly. I knew that I would go through this stage of psychological argument with myself because I always do when I am challenging my will power. I also knew that once I had pushed through this, I would become mentally stronger and hopefully succeed. I was more focused on this challenge, than on anything I had ever done to date.
I was really breathing heavily now, trying to fill my lungs with as much oxygen as possible as often as possible. This was the only way to stop myself from feeling dizzy and to keep one foot going in front of the other. Because of all the heavy breathing through my mouth as well as my nose, my teeth were beginning to feel numb from the cold air, so I had to keep licking my tongue across my front teeth to warm them up.
I was still aware that Wayne was happy with my pace because he had maintained a steady distance behind me so I could benefit from the light from his head torch also. It was still very dark and the only real things that I was aware of was the things in the immediate vaccinaty of the torch light. There was a very steep angle to the side of the mountain falling away to my side which varied depending on which zig-zag I was walking on. It was steep enough to make sure you didn't slip and fall, because there was no doubt in my mind that I would have kept on sliding right down to Kibo Hut. In a way it was a good thing that there was only this small field of vision to concentrate on rather than a big picture because it took my mind off how much further I had to go, and made me deal with the problems at hand like staying on the path. However I couldn't resist looking up now and again at the black silhouette of the crater rim against the inky blue star speckled sky.
We all slogged on, all of us definitely dealing with our own struggles going on inside our heads to keep going. On looking up after a further 2 hrs of climbing the route was coming to what looked near to vertical so I knew the crater rim had to be near no more than another hour. I also noticed there wasn't so much a silhouette of the crater rim any more but snow giving way to strewn boulders and small crags. Then finally we reached Jamaica Point.
When we stopped at this point Babuji told us that this is the final section that leads up to Gilmans Point, and if we've gotten this far we can all make it to the crater rim. Once we set off it became apparent straight away that this last section had to be scrambled rather than walked, which normally suits me because it's a quicker way of gaining height but at this altitude it took so much effort. I found what I would normally fly up at home scrambling in North Wales was taking me four times as long here. I would have to breath as heavily as my lungs would allow to pack in as much oxygen as often as possible and take my stance at the rocks I wanted to scramble up. With my hands in position I had to then wait with my head hung down off my shoulders panting getting ready to make the move. Once I had scrambled over a particular section of rocks I then had to stop and wait while the bout of dizziness wore off, the dizziness seemed to follow any exertion other than plodding.
The group split from single file to find our own lines through the crags to the crater rim. Finally as I rounded a rock pinnacle I saw the American guy and his guide sat in a rocky hollow drinking, as they saw me they shouted out this Gilman's Point. Then as the rest of the group came up the sun began to come up and bring everything into view. We were actually perched on the edge of a huge crater the whole of which was covered in snow. I noticed my hands were feeling cold which was probably due to grabbing all of those rocks scrambling up the last section. As a got my gloves out I saw Will was watching me and standing with his arms by his side opening and closing his hands. I knew he had must of had really cold hands so I offered him my gloves, which he accepted. Will must have really been feeling the cold because normally I don't think he would have taken the gloves. I didn't mind too much I knew I would be O.K. I always had the pockets in my down jacket.
We set off towards Uhuru Peak in the distance along the snow covered crater rim. Uhuru Peak and Gilman's Point is only a vertical difference in height of 200m however between the two points the route dips down a few hundred metres before it climbs back up to Uhuru Peak. As the light increased with the sun getting higher in the sky the views across the crater were awesome, it felt like once you have reached Gilman's Point and peered into the crater the mountain reveals itself in its full glory. All of this beauty is concealed on the approach to the peak and can only be seen once you have made it on to the crater rim. I couldn't stop snapping away this was like nothing I'd ever seen of experienced in the mountains in the UK. The snow was quite hard and we had to kick steps on some stages to make sure we didn't slip down into the crater.
As we began to ascend upwards towards Uhuru Peak the views only got better because even though it was light the sun began to break through the cloud base causing huge rays of yellow and orange to rush across the sky. These colours highlighted the blanket of cloud that we were now well above, this colourful blanket had now become like the new landscape below replacing the browns of the African continent even further below. The crystal whites of the snow covered mountain edged with hints of blue was a reminder of the temperature up here but the constant plod up the final shoulder to the summit kept the blood pumping.
Looking around to my left as I plodded up this final section the full magnitude of the glaciers became apparent. At the foot of the glaciers are huge crevasses that cut deep into the mountain on the edges they are aqua marine in colour and as they fall away so the colour fades to dark inky blue. The glaciers themselves contain so many colours from lightest blue to darkest green. I stopped to take some photo's at this point and noticed my hands had swelled up and turned a blue colour. I turned to see were Will was so maybe I could have my gloves back, but when I saw him he was quite away back and just sort of shuffling along. I went back to meet him because he didn't look to good. When I reached him he didn't look to be in a good way. His face seemed to be sunken into his balaclava and his eyes fixed on nothing just very empty. He looked very pale and blue around the lips with dried spittle at the corner of his mouth. Wayne was also on his way across. We both offered Will words of encouragement, but all he could manage in return was "I'm so tired," there was no way we could let him give up now, you could almost throw a stone from here and hit Uhuru Peak.
We tried again to spur him on but he just stood there swaying on his feet, and I couldn't help but think "I've never seen anyone in such a state before, so vacant!" I stuffed some glucose pills into Wills mouth and got my water bottle out to give him a drink. It was at this point I'd realised my water had frozen. Then when I looked back up at Will he had spat the pills out anyway. I don't blame him really because even though I felt O.K. in body I couldn't have consumed anything. The only thing left to do was to help Will up this final section, so we grabbed an arm each and walked with him but he just wanted to stand still. I went behind Will and walked behind him while Wayne supported him and I kicked his heels to make sure he kept walking. Finally we all got to Uhuru Peak (5895m) at 7.03am on the 11th June. We met the American who was already there, and just getting ready to descend.
From the summit the views were like something from the Himalaya and to the south west we could see Mt. Meru poking up through the clouds with the shadow of Kibo projected across it. Some people also climb Mt Meru first to acclimatise before attempting Kilimanjaro.
After taking in the views and getting the summit photo's it was time to descend. Walking back down to Gilmans Point all you could see was small figures of climbers in single file on the horizon all on their way to Uhuru Peak. Descending from Uhuru Peak was a marvellous experience because we were all filled with a massive sense of achievement.
Overwhelming panoramic views of the landscape were all around us with a carpet of clouds below. All of this beauty could really be taken in now because descending required minimum physical effort, it was like a stroll in a high altitude mountainous winter wonderland. As we got closer to the other climbers on their way up you could see how exhausted they looked and how the altitude was effecting some people more than others. I walked passed one guy who was basically close to collapse and almost being carried by his arm by his guide. I stopped and left him with the rest of my glucose sweets, he just gave me a vacant glance and made some grunts which I think meant thanks.
Again the group had become split up, Will and Marge were ahead now with Babuji and Wayne and I trailed behind to just take photo's and take in the whole experience. Once at Gilman's Point the temperature had risen enough to remove some layers, and have a drink, which was also defrosting now. Everybody in our team now had huge grin's on their faces and I think everyone had a feeling of satisfaction inside, Will was looking so much better than he was a hour ago.
We set off from Gilman's Point towards Kibo Hut and once we had picked our way through the crags we had scrambled up earlier, we chose the most direct route down which was a scree dash down the scar we had zig-zagged up. It was so much easier going down than coming up!
Wayne and I arrived at Kibo just after 9.00am shortly before Will and Marge because they chose to walk around the scar. We had agreed with Babuji that we would continue right down to Mandara Hut so as on the following day we could get up and get back to the park gate to be picked up and go off on a safari to the Nogongorogoro Crater.
This arrangement proved to be a bad idea because by the time we reached Mandara Hut we had been walking for 14 hrs, and descended a total of 3195m. During the descent I had realised just how much of the trek I had not taken in on the ascent and I put this down to being so focused on my goal for each day, rather than taking in the sights.
My thighs and knees felt like they were going to explode on arrival at Mandara but once I was sitting comfortably it was celebration time on a successful trip so we all had a beer with the guides and porters to show our appreciation. It was at this point that I learned the reason why I couldn't find any successful summiteers, it was due to the bad weather conditions recently. It would appear that we had been very lucky to have had such good weather conditions for our attempt. It was then time to head off to bed for a big sleep.
The camp was woken at 1.00am the following morning by the arrival of 3 casualties of AMS. These people had been rushed down to Mandara from high on the mountain to be rushed to the park gate by landrover and on to hospital by ambulance. The 3 people had become trapped on the mountain at approx. 11.00am between Gilman's Point and Uhuru Peak due to a change in the weather. There was some concern among the guides due to the late hour that the group had been on the mountain.
We woke early on the final day, had breakfast and headed for the park gate. We were then taken off to our hotel for a meal and a clean up. We all pooled our cash and bought the guides and porters a meal and some beers, and giving them their tip of US$ 10 each. It is also customary to give away any kit or clothes that you can spare. I gave Babuji A Roy Castle Foundation T-shirt, which seemed appropriate as I was raising money for the charity and his team had helped us up the mountain successfully.
The next stage of the trip would take us to the crater to see some of Africa's finest wildlife.
| Jason's Account |
| BACKGROUND |
| INTRODUCTION |
| PART
1 |
| PART
2 |
| PART
3 |
| PART
4 |
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