Holy Crap… I’m on Mt Kilimanjaro!!!

Holy Crap… I’m on Mt Kilimanjaro!!!

Mt Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free standing mountain in the world. There are several routes to the summit and several options as to how many days you want to do it in ranging from 5-8. I chose the 7 day Machame route and talked my great friend and occasional travel buddy, Rachel, into flying out here to climb it with me. Our week on the mountain is a story of extremes.

At Machame Gate without any idea what we’re getting into

Days one through three were absolutely miserable! It rained every single day. Every article of clothing I had was either wet from the rain or wet from me sweating in the lower rain forest humidity. Plus it was cold. Bad combination. It’s probably the most miserable I’ve ever been on a backpacking/trekking trip.

Our typical camp setup. The orange dome in the center was our dining tent, the little orange and grey tent to the left was where we slept, the big green tent between them and behind is the kitchen and where the porters slept, and the light green tent to the right was where our guides slept.

Day four, however, the rain finally stopped. After reaching our camp around 11:00am, we laid out all the clothes and our packs in the sun to dry and had wonderful weather the rest of the trip. It was cold, it’s always cold up there, and my clothes and my body didn’t smell very good, but at least the rain was gone.

About half way up Kilimanjaro with Mt Meru in the distance, the mountain I climbed last week

Day 5 we reached Barafu Camp, Kilimanjaro base camp, at a little over 15,000ft and spent the late afternoon resting and eating. At 11:30pm we are woken up, bundle up under four layers of clothes, get some snacks and start heading up to the summit a little after midnight, now it’s day 6. 

In Swahili they have an expression, pole pole, which means slowly slowly. I heard it all the way up Mt Meru last week and I hear it all the way up Kilimanjaro. Even pole pole is beyond difficult when it’s single digits Fahrenheit and your climbing from roughly 15,000ft up to the 19,341ft summit above you in the middle of the night. There were several times I wanted to stop. It was cold, the altitude was starting to affect me, oh and did I mention I picked up some kind of bronchial infection last week, but pole pole. Am I the first person to climb Kilimanjaro with bronchitis? It doesn’t matter, that’s how I’m gonna sell it.

At Stella Point. Follow the ridge out and to the right to reach the summit and the crater is on the far right full of snow.

Our guides tell us before we start the summit climb that it takes six to seven hours. Rachel and I make it in five and a half. We make it to Stella point at the top of the ridge, then the extra 0.7km to the summit exactly at sunrise. Just awesome! I’m exhausted, breathing is difficult and I’m coughing up both lungs, but I made it!

It’s blurry, but here are Rachel and I with our guides, Paul and Yona on the roof of Africa
Holy crap… I climbed Mt Kilimanjaro with bronchitis!!!

Once again, the summit is only the half way point, so we start our descent. Back down to Barafu camp in just under three hours for a couple of hours of rest and lunch, then down to Mweka Camp at about 9,000ft for our last night on the mountain. I am tired! This is without a doubt the most physically challenging thing I’ve done in my life to date.

Nobody goes up Kilimanjaro unsupported. You already know about our wonderful guides, Yona and Paul, but we also had a cook, Pascal, and nine porters carrying all the gear and food. As accomplished as I feel for doing this, it pales in comparison to these guys. They climb up and down this mountain carrying anywhere from 60-80lbs of gear each, and they do it 2-3 times a month in the high season, which comes out to roughly 8-12 times per year. Wow! Their strength, stamina, warmth and kindness were absolutely overwhelming!

Rachel and I with our 12 man crew at Kilimanjaro base camp.

Our last morning on Kilimanjaro, day 7, we woke up at 7:00am for breakfast and to pack up camp for the last time. Before heading down though, our crew of 12 sang the Kilimanjaro song to us and one at a time came around to give congratulations and hugs to Rachel and I. There just aren’t enough positive words to describe these guys. Seriously! Finally, a 10km hike down to Mweka Gate to sign out with the rangers and gulp down a victory coke, then drive back to Arusha for a well deserved shower, some laundry, and of course, sleep.

Mweka Gate, the end of our journey. Time for a shower!

See all the pics from Mt Kilimanjaro here.

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