Kilimanjaro, How We Got to the Top - By Brian

Well, as you know, we both made it to the top of the highest mountain in Africa. Kilimanjaro is 19,340 feet in the sky. While there is nothing really technical about the climb it isn't easy and can be cruel to even the most fit.

We started the climb with a 2 hour bus ride from Arusha to the Machame gate. After unloading and signing in with the park service we were off. Now "we" didn't just mean our group of 18 climbers that were in our party. It included, 5 guides, 3 cooks, 72 porters and enough food, tents, chairs, tables and gear to sustain all of these people fo 7 days on the mountain. "We" were a small village!

This isn't the way I had envisioned climbing Kili, but both Marisa and I had a blast and couldn't have imagined doing it any differently. All of the people in our group were great to hang out with, climb and generally make the days of treking go by smoothly. And in the end, 17 of the 18 made it to the summit. The one person that didn't make it had been really strong until summit night when at about 17,500 feet his lungs tossed in the towel and he had to retreat back to high camp. He was fine, but like I said the mountain can be cruel.

The first several days went by pretty well. We'd get up around 7am, have breakfast and then start hiking. Generally we'd spend 5-8 hours on the trail depending on the day. And we moved slow! Since we were trying to get our bodies to acclimatise to the higher altitude our guides made us go "pole pole", swahili for slowly.

After 5 days of hiking we had make it to Barafu camp at 15,300 feet. This is where we were to get to bed early as we had to get up at midnight to start the climb for the summit. Marisa and I actually slept pretty well in the 5 hours before the guides woke us up. After getting dressed we had a quick meal and then flipped on our headlamps and started moving.

Thankfully time actually went by really fast. When I asked what time it was, thinking it was around 2am, someone responded saying it was 4am. I was pretty happy about that, as my feet were freezing. After another 2 hours we were within sight of Stella Point (just over 19,000 feet), where the trail deposits you on the crater rim. Up until this point on the trip both Marisa and I were feeling really good. Neither of us had any symtoms of altitude sickness, and we felt very stong physically.

Once at Stella Point, as the eastern sky was getting light, the group split-up to make the final push for the true summit, Uhuru Peak. Marisa took off with several others from the group. And in true Marisa form was racing for the summit with Jared and Gabriel (a guide). She and Jared tied, but I think she could have taken him! Sorry Jared.

As for me, I finally felt the altitude. When I stopped at Stella Point I felt as though I had been socked in the gut. I got nausous and a headache finally settled in, the two symptoms of altitude sickness. That said I was going to make it to the top puking my guts out if it came to that. Thankfully it didn't and I made it up there about 10 min after Marisa. That said, the 50 mins it took me to get to the summit were by far the hardest of the trip for me.

After spending about 20 min on top we started our decent. 3 hours back down to 15,300 feet where we spent the night before, then another 3 hours back down to 10,500 feet where we'd spend the night. All I can say is our legs were glad to be done for the day. 4,000 feet up, 9,000 feet down over 16 hours takes it toll.

The following day we hiked out and had a quick lunch before getting on the bus to head back to Arusha. But before we got on the bus, our amazing porters, cooks and guides were handed there tips. And let me tell you, they were well deserved. Not only did the porters carry our personal items, tents, food, etc., but they would wait until we started hiking then teardown the camp, pack it up, race ahead of our group and have it all back together with hot drinks waiting when we arrived! All that for about $8/day. So tips are much deserved and a large part of thier total pay. Each porter recieved $40 tip from our group. And several of us gave them our boots, socks, etc. It seems silly, but they appreciate anything. I should also mention the food on the climb was pentiful and very good. Our guides were also fantastic.

All in all a great climb.

The photos are in a previous post.