Topping Out at 19,340'

7:25am. 10 degrees F with a 20 knot wind.

When I am about 50 yards from the summit I actually cry the emotion is so overpowering!



In addition to the low temperature, wind speed is between 20 and 40 knots so we only stay long enough for our photo's and for the guys to sing happy birthday to me.



The sun was just starting to color the sky at Stella Point and was up by the summit.




We then descened to base camp in about 2 hours. The surface had melted along the path, exposing the volcanic scree. Going down is like powder skiing.



At base camp we take a 2 hour nap, eat a light lunch and start back down.

We are not at 10,018'. So today we climbed 4,000' and descended 9,000'. Both of us are wiped out!

Kilimanjaro - Summit Day

Date: 2-12-07 to 2-13-07
Time: 11:35pm
Temp: 41 F
Alt: 15,217

Seems colder than we thought. It is sleeting outside the tent. "Its a Beautiful Day"

Well... when we stepped out of the tent at 12:00 it was NOT sleet, but snow. Huge, heavy flakes. There was about 1/4 to 1/2 inch on the ground and the temperature was about 34 F.



We switched on our lights and got going by 12:30, a little late, but the snow threw us for a bit of a loop and we had to put on items of clothing we had packed for higher up on the mountain.

As we looked up we could see the trail of lights of those ahead of us. Our expected summit time is 8:00am! 4,100' to climb in snow and fairly cold conditions.



Samson wore Ken's pack and set a slow steady pace. In the first half hour about twenty people passed us. The pace consisted of about taking a step that was 3/4 in front of your other foot. While later this seems like a ridiculous pace that is almost impossible to replicate, it was the exact right pace to get us to the top.

All I can say is this was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. The entire day was spend walking up, there was not a single flat spot before we reached the summit.

Ken and I took the following readings to keep track of our progress:

Time 1:35am 2:28am 3:07am 4:00am 5:45am 7:25am
Temp 35 F ; 34 F; 34F; 20F; 27F; 10F
Alt 16,001'; 16,531'; 16,959'; 17,588'; 18,516'; 19,340
HR 118; 115; 118; 98; (resting); 96; SUMMIT

The Goalwas to record every 500' but after 4:00am it was enough to just get my next foot in front of the last. Interestingly my heart rate was very very low but it felt like 90-95% intensity and effort. I could not walk faster if I wanted to.

At the top you first reach Stella Point which is about 300' below the real summit. From here you can see the lower inner crater. By the time we reach Stella Point we have passed twice as many people that originally passed us at the start.

Kilimanjaro - Day 6

Date: 2-12-07
Time: 8:17am
Temp: 74 F (in sun)
Alt: 13,247'

Almost to the big day! It is a beautiful morning for our easy hike to base camp. Camp last night was on a fairly steep pitch. Ken calls it the "slanted joes" camp. It I were to guess, it is probably 20 degrees in pitch.

The temperature in the tent first thing this morning was 42F but it warmed up very fast.

Ken's watch is angry this morning, it is saying "err" "err".

We are off again after a great breakfast.

Just got chocolate for a mid-day snack and thought of the African kids we would see. They would say "give me chocolate, give me gum, give me money, give me pen" I think that may be the only english words they knew.



WE ARE AT BASE CAMP! FEELING GREAT !!

15,217 '. It is 11:38am and temperature is 50F with some light sleet. We walked 1.83 miles today.



Just as we walked into camp we saw a group of climbers that we had talked with yesterday. They were coming back from the summit. It was good to hear that their entire party made it and conditions are good.

KEN'S THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
I bet I will be too excited to sleep, even though I need it. Exciting about summiting, but nervous that I will not make it - which would be an embarassment considering the shape and age of some of those that I have seen come back from topping out. Biggest concern is not making it because of medical reasons.

I feel confident about my ability to summit. Now I need to just get some good rest. We have 4,100' of elevation to tackle starting in about 10 hours.

We opened the birthday/valentine day cards here at base camp (Note: My Birthday will be tomorrow on the summit!). They were a nice suprise that I found after we got back from safari. BTW- Ken lost the card he has had for me for the last 5 months!

It is 5:19pm and we just finished dinner. A hearty stew. Oddly this is the hungriest that I have been since our first day. I hope it means I have fully adjusted to the altitude.

They will wake us up at 11:30pm and then we will be off at 12:00.

KEN'S FINAL THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
Excited (more), Nervous (less) and happy when it is done. This has been 2 1/2 years in the making.

We go over our final gear prep one last time - getting all our true alpine gear ready. While it has been cool on some portions of the mountain so far, tomorrow will be a serious test.

"Ken the Pastry Terrorist" doing a final baklava test (I encouraged him NOT to wear this outfit for the plane ride home!) - Ok this is an inside joke that we had for about a month before the trip. Since baclava is what he is wearing and a baklava is a nice pasty I had some fun with it.

Kilimanjaro - Day 5

Date: 2-11-07
Time: 8:16am
Temp: 40 F
Alt: 13,045

Today we go to Karanga camp. About the same altitude as today but we have a lot of climbing and descending to get there.

(Kilimanjaro - Today's route in yellow)


It is 12:29 and we have reached camp! Elevation is 13,247'. We climbed and descended 2.55 miles in 2 1/2 hours.



Today was the hardest day by far. There was not a flat stretch all day. We either went straight up or straight down. As Ed Viesturs says about one of his treks into the base of a Himalayan Mountain "you go up a pass, down on the other side, then up another 3,000' then down 2,000'. It is exhausting and harrowing, especially for the heavily laden porters" While we do not have quite this much altitude gain and loss, this describes today perfectly.



There were a number of what I would deem fairly to very technical climbing. On a scared shitless sale of 1-10, 0 being lying in bed at home and 10 peeing my pants, today had some solid 6 sections.



KEN'S THOUGHT OF THE AFTERNOON:
God do my feet hurt! I have never traveled so far to go so short a distance. Not an exercise in efficiency. Starting to get excited about our summit push!..... and I wish I had a hang glider that would be cool.

I feel very good. No headaches for the past two days and last night I slept very well. Today our tent is on a good slope so it will be all we can do not to slide out of the tent tonight.



After lunch I have a long chat with Samson. He has aspirations of starting his own guide company. Acquisition of tents, he needs 20, seems to be his biggest hurdle.

Tomorrow and summit day will all blend together. We will reach base camp at around 1:00pm. We will leave for the summit at midnight with the goal to reach the top at sunrise. We then descend to base camp for lunch and continue to press down the mountain for another 3 hours.

Kilimanjaro - Day 4

Date: 2-10-07
Time: 8:42am
Temp: 42 F
Alt: 13,712'

Today we head to lava tower, about 4 hours from last night's camp. We have had breakfast and are ready to go.

(Today's route in green)



(Lava Tower)


We reached lava tower at 11:34. Temperature was around 45-50 F with some very light blowing sleet. The tower is very impressive - much more so than on the DVD. Our orginal plan was to camp here overnight, but we decide to only have lunch here and push on to the next camp. This will make for a long day today, but the tradeoff is that our two days before summit will be shorter and easier.

Samson let ken and I set pace for a good part of today. On my turn up a good hill I went to fast and am paying for it with a mild headache.

KEN'S THOUGHT OVER LUNCH:
Little tired and little sore, but otherwise feel really good. Sitting on the base of the actual mountain summit day seems more real.

I agree we are finally actually on what I would call the mountain. The snow line is just above us.

SAMSONN'S THOUGHT:
It will be ok. I will sleep very well because the camp is much lower than lunch here at lava tower, even lower than last nights camp. So far, so good. Everything is going average.

It is 2:55pm and we have arrived at what ken calls "Jurassic Park Camp". Elevation is only 13,045'. We went down over 2,200' ! Total distance since this morning is 4.85 miles.



About 5 minutes after leaving lava tower a large sleet storm unleashed itself on us. The lower we went, the storm changed to half & half and then finally all rain.




On the way down we start to see more of the changing zones of the mountain. One of the more interesting plants is the giant groundsel tree



It is still raining! All my wet weather gear worked terrific. We are going to rest as over ther next two days we have to climb over 6,000'.

We have just finished a nice 2 1/2 hour nap . I feel at least partially recharged.

At yesterday's camp there were only two other groups of two. Tonight their is a small city. Since it is still raining off and on I have not counted tents, but I would guess about 30-40 tents for us climbers and then all the tents for the various support crew. I joked as we walked in if there was a disco here as well.

(next morning after the rains have cleared up)


Our days have fallen into a routine. Wake-up call at 7:00am where they bring us hot tea to the tent. From 7:00am to 8:00am we get dressed for the day and pack all our gear while still in the tent. We then eat breakfast from 8:00 - 8:30, then get going on the day's sloooowww walking. After we are done with the day's walk, typically about noon, we take a couple of hour nap then an acclimatization hike. When we get back to the tent, we get our clothes laied out for the next morning. I have been taking my contacts out when we get to camp about noon to make sure my eyes get some rest and enough oxygen.

The last two nights I have slept with earplugs. No so much ken's snoring, which is pretty bad, but because the porters and guides stay up late and make a racket - especially in the larger camps.

It is sad to see how poorly the porters are dressed. All their items are hand-me-downs from past climbs, but they are ragged to say the least. I have seen a number of porters wearing sneakers and no socks! At the end of our trip I will leave them some gear. Ken will as well, although I am sure they will have some alterations to do (Ken is 6'6" tall)

Day 3

Date: 2-9-07
Time: 8:01
Temp: 42 F
Alt: 12,816'

When we got to camp yesterday I would have said 85% of the way was easy and 15% very steep and hard.

We took a 3 hour nap. Did a short walk and had dinner, then back to sleep at about 8:00pm (at the latest). I think in retrospect it was harder then I thought and we have a loonnnggg way to go.

I got a splitting headache last night so I started on Diomox this morning.

Many porters are smoking. Amazing considering how much this must effect their lungs.

Gear we wished we had - Mouthwash!

Time to wrap up breakfast and get moving.

Time: 10:40
Temp: 72 F
Alt: 13,712'

We are already at Moya Hut camp. While today was all up, the distance was only 1 and 1/2 miles. After lunch we will go on a multi-hour acclimatization hike up the surrounding ridge and then descend back to camp.

The camp is beautiful. Kilimanjaro is behind us framed by a low box canyon with water flowing down the mountain. The diomox seems to be working as I feel very good. The medicine makes me go to the bathroom all the time, but that is a fair trade-off.




KEN's THOUGHT OF THE MOMENT:
Wow, satisfied that he does not feel as bad as he thought he would, but not overconfident.

The acclimization trek took over 2 hours. We walked almost 2 miles and climbed from our camp elevation of 13,712' to 14,459'. I had a fairly strong headache most of the way up. My heart rate stayed right around 125 bpm and my leg muscles felt fine. It is just this damn headache!



At the top there were dozens of rock sculptures of multiple pieces balanced on each other. It was a cool sight.



As we ascend we crossed several rock fields. No path, just stepping from rock to rock. The sound was like stepping on china plates.

It is 6:30pm and we just finished dinner. Soup and potato pancakes followed by spaghetti with meat sauce and green beans. Dessert was fruit. All in all the food is terrific and more than even four of us could eat.

My stomach feels off and I can only eat very slowly, which I attribute to the altitude. My Garmin 405 watch has worked great so far. I will keep my fingers crossed that it continues to do so.



Being on this climb I have lost all track of days and time, other than morning-cold, afternoon-hot, evening-very cold.

Ken and I will pay a few hands of cards in the fading light then turn in.

Day 2

Date: 2-8-07
Time: 7:59am
Temp: Not taken
Alt: 11,504'





The first night in the tent was not easy. I did not get much sleep. To much tossing and turning and not much room in the mummy sleeping bag. Temperature last night dropped below freezing.

The toilets are enough of an experience to make you never want to go to the bathroom!

Breakfast starts with fruit, bread, porridge and warm drinks. The next round is eggs, bacon, tomatoes and cucumbers. A basic base of carbohydrates for today's 4-5 hour trek.

Ken said he slept, on a scale of 1-10, a 7. He is not a good sleeper and was aided by ambien so par for the course for him. He was cold though.

I slept in a silk thermal top and underwear. I anticipate that I will be wearing silk bottoms and light socks tonight. The temperature in the tent this morning when we woke up was 58 F.

I took 2 aspirin this morning to help with the aches and pains.

The morning is crystal clear, ground is frost covered. The mountain seems very close, but of course it is not!

I feel a little foggy so I hope this clears up as we have a long way to go.



It is 1:50 and we have reached Shira Camp II. In total we walked over 4 hours and covered about 6.5 miles. When I told ken this he said "Ohhhh" I thought we walked 30 or 40! Elevation is 12,816' and 60 F.






Time for lunch and a nap!