Summit Bid
Day 5 Midnight and Day 6: Begin Summit Bid
We got up around 11:00 PM to have some coffee and snacks. Aradhana decided to continue, to go as far as she could. We put on all our layers - inners, wicking layer, fleece jacket/pants, sweater, two layers of woollen socks, wool cap/balaclava, gloves/mittens, hand/foot warmers - and started a steep climb from camp walking in the light of our Petzls/headlamps seeing only the back and shoes of the person in front. Amazingly, we could still see the lights from Moshi town 3,000 mt. below where people must have sleeping peacefully!
It was a long night, we were walking in single file at numbered positions, Suveer was behind me and we kept a conversation going to keep ourselves occupied. I sorely missed my iPod. We walked at a very slow pace set by Adidas, occasionally referring to Suresh's altimeter, which was always slightly off, but we still had to check to measure our progress. After around four hours of walking, Adidas asked me to step ahead. Without anybody to set the pace I went up quickly, this may have been a mistake since the golden rule for a successul Kili climb is to go "Pole Pole" ("slowly slowly"), I felt tired after a while and rested on a flat rock. The view from there, watching the sun rise over the horizon and Mawenzi was magnificent.
I waited on the rock, joined with the group and continued the climb. This stretch was extremely difficult, boring and monotonous. Finally one of the porters pointed out Stella Point - the second highest point before Uhuru at 5,732 m. We were cheered up for a while but this turned to disappointment since it seemed like we were walking forever and not getting any closer to the point. We were now walking up scree and needed to step down firmly to not slip. We were expending more energy given the altitude and the terrain, had had our last meal more than 12 hours ago and had been walking almost non-stop for more than six hours in bitter cold. We had to wonder why we were doing this - surely there were many better ways to spend one's holidays.
However, we continued with the climb and finally reached Stella Point. I was desperately tired. Sandy and Chetana, had continued ahead of us towards the summit despite having a bad cold - their high fitness levels probably helping them. Pratima had returned to Barafu camp at some point in the night, the altitude getting to her. Adidas asked us if we wanted to continue to Uhuru peak. I told him that we'd rest for a bit and then decide. Suresh and Sharat also joined us at Stella point.
We all complained about how boring and difficult this stretch was. I was willing to give up here but surpsrisingly it was Aradhana who provided some words of encouragement - its not far from here, we have come this far lets finish it, etc. That worked and we decided to go ahead towards Uhuru. She was walking strongly too. Suresh and Sharath also continued onto the last stretch.
I was extremely hungry now but didn't feel like eating the energy bar I had brought along - it had got hard in the cold and my appetite was nowhere like before. Also, I had miscalculated the amount of water I would need and was missing water - luckily Adidas had a spare bottle of water which he gave me. The thin air meant I had to rest after every few minutes of walking.
In any case, we continued - now encouraged by folks returning from the peak - telling us Uhuru was just 2 minutes away, or 30 minutes away, whatever. We also met Sandy, Chetana and Suveer, on their way back after having successfully had successfully summited. The last stretch was beautiful with amazing views of glaciers at the peak - so much better than the trek from Barafu to Stella. We finally reached Uhuru, the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, at around 9:45 AM on Dec 23, 2005. We were now standing on the roof of Africa!
We spent 10-15 minutes around the peak, taking pictures, enjoying the fabulous views of the glaciers and the pit, and savoring the moment we had prepared for for three months.
Day 5 Midnight and Day 6: Begin Summit Bid
We got up around 11:00 PM to have some coffee and snacks. Aradhana decided to continue, to go as far as she could. We put on all our layers - inners, wicking layer, fleece jacket/pants, sweater, two layers of woollen socks, wool cap/balaclava, gloves/mittens, hand/foot warmers - and started a steep climb from camp walking in the light of our Petzls/headlamps seeing only the back and shoes of the person in front. Amazingly, we could still see the lights from Moshi town 3,000 mt. below where people must have sleeping peacefully!
It was a long night, we were walking in single file at numbered positions, Suveer was behind me and we kept a conversation going to keep ourselves occupied. I sorely missed my iPod. We walked at a very slow pace set by Adidas, occasionally referring to Suresh's altimeter, which was always slightly off, but we still had to check to measure our progress. After around four hours of walking, Adidas asked me to step ahead. Without anybody to set the pace I went up quickly, this may have been a mistake since the golden rule for a successul Kili climb is to go "Pole Pole" ("slowly slowly"), I felt tired after a while and rested on a flat rock. The view from there, watching the sun rise over the horizon and Mawenzi was magnificent.
I waited on the rock, joined with the group and continued the climb. This stretch was extremely difficult, boring and monotonous. Finally one of the porters pointed out Stella Point - the second highest point before Uhuru at 5,732 m. We were cheered up for a while but this turned to disappointment since it seemed like we were walking forever and not getting any closer to the point. We were now walking up scree and needed to step down firmly to not slip. We were expending more energy given the altitude and the terrain, had had our last meal more than 12 hours ago and had been walking almost non-stop for more than six hours in bitter cold. We had to wonder why we were doing this - surely there were many better ways to spend one's holidays.
However, we continued with the climb and finally reached Stella Point. I was desperately tired. Sandy and Chetana, had continued ahead of us towards the summit despite having a bad cold - their high fitness levels probably helping them. Pratima had returned to Barafu camp at some point in the night, the altitude getting to her. Adidas asked us if we wanted to continue to Uhuru peak. I told him that we'd rest for a bit and then decide. Suresh and Sharat also joined us at Stella point.
We all complained about how boring and difficult this stretch was. I was willing to give up here but surpsrisingly it was Aradhana who provided some words of encouragement - its not far from here, we have come this far lets finish it, etc. That worked and we decided to go ahead towards Uhuru. She was walking strongly too. Suresh and Sharath also continued onto the last stretch.
I was extremely hungry now but didn't feel like eating the energy bar I had brought along - it had got hard in the cold and my appetite was nowhere like before. Also, I had miscalculated the amount of water I would need and was missing water - luckily Adidas had a spare bottle of water which he gave me. The thin air meant I had to rest after every few minutes of walking.In any case, we continued - now encouraged by folks returning from the peak - telling us Uhuru was just 2 minutes away, or 30 minutes away, whatever. We also met Sandy, Chetana and Suveer, on their way back after having successfully had successfully summited. The last stretch was beautiful with amazing views of glaciers at the peak - so much better than the trek from Barafu to Stella. We finally reached Uhuru, the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, at around 9:45 AM on Dec 23, 2005. We were now standing on the roof of Africa!
We spent 10-15 minutes around the peak, taking pictures, enjoying the fabulous views of the glaciers and the pit, and savoring the moment we had prepared for for three months.
posted by Ravi @ 6:30 PM
3 Comments:
At Tue Feb 28, 07:15:00 AM 2006,
Aradhana said…
Adidas kept making sure we as a group kept our numbered positions that he had initially assigned us. Often, he would interrupt our conversations and ask us to get back to our original positions.
Later he shuffled the group--slower members right behind him, stronger ones at the end. Then he shuffled us again--stronger members ahead of Adidas, slower right behind him. I have to confess Adidas' insistence not to talk/keep the positions he had assigned us had begun to irritate me as Stella's point seemed further and further away.
All of a sudden, when I could not see Ravi in the position he was initially assigned, I asked Adidas where Ravi was. I was a worried--Sandy had a fall earlier that night and Prathima had decided to return to the base camp since she wasn't feeling too good.
Adidas said he decided to separate us since he wanted Ravi to continue on his strong ascent (Adidas thought I getting weak). Far ahead of the file, I could see Suveer and Ravi trekking up and later resting to see the first hues of sunrise. I was relieved!
At Wed Mar 01, 05:26:00 AM 2006,
Anonymous said…
I must say this... we were climbing in the middle of the night and I was wondering why is Adidas singing in Swahili that actually meant don’t sleep (along with many other advices), and I though what a stupid song, who can sleep while walking (though one can walk while sleeping). However, at about 2:30AM, the traditional song proved right and it was terribly difficult to control sleep. As we had heard lot of stories about altitude sickness, I was not sure if its dizziness or I am simply sleepy. If you are suffering from altitude sickness (cerebral edema) you cannot walk straight or think straight. In fact these two conditions hold good even when you are terribly sleepy. Anyway in the file in which we were walking, Aradhana was behind me and I was trying desperately to remember her name, I kept getting names like Arundhati, Anuradha, knew they were not the ones but what Was her name??? I guess this pre-occupation, made the monotonous climb a little less monotonous. And then sandy fell and then we interchanged positions and then the sun came up, and then… I agree completely it was extremely boring to climb the scree and I was willing to consider Sandy's fall as something serious and return, only we decided to climb till Stella point (whoever this Stella is) which was like a mirage. Once we were there the whole perspective changed. I actually saw the ash pit of a volcano and a returning family told us the tougher part is over and how I could go back without summiting and show my sun burned face to anybody and everybody who knew what I was doing on my December holidays
At Wed Mar 01, 05:28:00 AM 2006,
Anonymous said…
I must say this... we were climbing in the middle of the night and I was wondering why is Adidas singing in Swahili that actually meant don’t sleep (along with many other advices), and I though what a stupid song, who can sleep while walking (though one can walk while sleeping). However, at about 2:30AM, the traditional song proved right and it was terribly difficult to control sleep. As we had heard lot of stories about altitude sickness, I was not sure if its dizziness or I am simply sleepy. If you are suffering from altitude sickness (cerebral edema) you cannot walk straight or think straight. In fact these two conditions hold good even when you are terribly sleepy. Anyway in the file in which we were walking, Aradhana was behind me and I was trying desperately to remember her name, I kept getting names like Arundhati, Anuradha, knew they were not the ones but what Was her name??? I guess this pre-occupation, made the monotonous climb a little less monotonous. And then sandy fell and then we interchanged positions and then the sun came up, and then… I agree completely it was extremely boring to climb the scree and I was willing to consider Sandy's fall as something serious and return, only we decided to climb till Stella point (whoever this Stella is) which was like a mirage. Once we were there the whole perspective changed. I actually saw the ash pit of a volcano and a returning group told us the tougher part is behind us (yes it was the going back was tougher) and how could I go back without summiting and show my sun burned face to anybody and everybody who knew what I was doing on my December holidays?
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