It was a beautiful morning at Camp Horombo; the day was clear and sunny and things started off well. The more I reflect on this climbing challenge, the more I realize that keeping healthy was the key. Eat, drink and sleep well and you will be successful. So far so good, except that I noticed some irregularities in my system last night and later today they would come to get me. The lesson to be learned on this day was that no matter what, re-treat your own water. Now I'm not saying the porters messed up on the water (porters gather water from nearby streams and are supposed to boil/treat with iodine), but let’s just say I wasn't the only one experiencing this phenomenon. As such, our team name today came to be known as "Team Imodium".
That morning at breakfast there were a couple of changes on our support team. Jonas, a well respected porter/guide was brought up to be our lead ascent guide to Kilimanjaro. This guy has more than 100 ascents to his name and he knows how to successfully get folks up that stinkin’ mountain! Some concerning news on this day was that we found out that our lead cook had come down with malaria. Not good as he has been preparing our food each day! Jonas brought him to our meal tent and I felt like we were school faculty determining that “yes, this student was indeed sick, please send him home.” In all seriousness though, malaria was nothing to laugh at. He needed to get it treated immediately or face serious consequences. Poor guy, we gave him his tip before he left to get treatment.
We left camp Horombo today knowing that we would be back here tomorrow after our ascent. Today would consist of a five hour hike up to base camp Barafu Hut, then rest for a few hours, getting up at 11 PM and then starting our assent up to Kibo. We projected that we would reach Stella Point around sunrise 6AM-ish on the sixth day. But once we reached Stella Point, our climb was not over. There was still another 45 minute hike up to Uhuru Peak (highest point on Kibo at 5896m (about 19400 feet). After that, we had to get back down to camp Horombo another 20 to 30km hike. In essence, this would be a long day.
The hike began on a beautiful day and would eventually lead to my favorite trail on this trek so far. The hike didn't start on a good note for me health-wise ( I had to take a long break at the beginning of the climb to let's just say purge any remaining toxins out of my system ;-) )! However, this was not a good way to impress upon our new leader my sense of fitness as he was concerned at the potential for dehydration (the first symptoms of altitude sickness). So, to show him I was fine that day (even though I was secretly feeling incredibly weak) I guzzled about 3 liters of water before lunch. This really helped get my strength back to where it needed to be for that night, although I was then known as Mr. five-minute break man as it seemed I continuously had to relieve myself during the day. :) Even though I wasn't feeling the best, there was nothing that was going to keep me from making it to the top. I would seriously have to be on my death bed to keep me from that goal. I know what suffering is and this was far from it; just some minor discomfort. Nothing to be concerned about but later the next day I would realize a new issue would affect me much more than I would have thought.
On this trail we would see some magnificent landscapes and end up napping at 4600 meters (over 15K feet -- the highest altitude I’veha ever slept in). The vastness of this region is unbelievable. It's HUGE! The trail up to Barafu was relatively new and not extensively trekked which made it special to me. (Wish I had had my mountain bike on this one!) We would have two major climbs on this hike and the second would lead to Barafu Hut. You can see on some of these images, Barafu is in the distance that seems like it's hanging on a cliff. The important thing here is to conserve energy as we would need it tonight.
I finished the day feeling very good. A little tired and weak, but overall pretty darn good. The pics of Kibo from Barafu were awesome, the peak seemed so close and the views of the glacier valley and Mt Mawenzi were incredible. The air was thin, but I felt acclimated, light on my feet, and could feel myself gaining strength by the minute. I was pumped for what was coming in the next few hours. The summit couldn't get here soon enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment