Day 6 and 7 (17 and 18/07) - Kili trek

Here we are, at Karanga Camp. One camp away from the summit night. On my side I start feeling a bit anxious, both by not feeling any symptoms of HAS and by not knowing if it’s going to strike me right in the Summit night. the plan is to leave at midnight and arrive at Uhuru Peak by dawn.

It seems impossible we reached this far with no prior physical preparation, not feeling tired and above all without HAS symptoms. So, let’s move onward.

Once again, they woke us up at 6:00AM, and tonight I managed to sleep for a few hours. The routine is always the same: dress up, go to the toilet, and wash myself as good as I can (it’s getting colder and colder), and we pack our bags just in time for breakfast. I am starting to be fed up with breakfast, as I dislike the porridge, it’s became quite monotonous: toasted bread slices with jam and tea. We get our measurements before heading off and everything is good. The heart rate increased a bit (now is 77 BPM) and SO2 95%.

We left the camp at 7:15 AM, later than planned, what doesn’t please Jonas our lead guide at all.

It is a very steep and rocky track: looks like we have landed on the moon. NO leaving creatures around, just rocks and debris probably from an eruption.

I got some small stones on the way, so I can show it to the kids when I get back home. One is a shale flat and mossy stone and the second one is dark shiny black one.

Beside a few porters, we walked most of the time alone, we didn’t see any other tourists. It was so comforting and calming. All that silence.

We arrived Barafu (by the way it means ice in Kiswahili), in 2,5 hours. It was quite fast and as we arrive we realize that most people didn’t leave the camp yet. We are now at 4.600m ASL.

As we walk further inside the camp site, we can see people coming down. It’s overwhelming: most people are overly tired, faces are disfigured because of all the effort, the cold and the altitude. Some people look happy though. SO it’s around 10:00AM and people are still coming down from Uhuru Peak.

After a quick rest for a snack, Jonas mobilizes us for an acclimatization walk (up to 4.920m) and for us to get used to the trek, as we will walk during the night. The trek is extremely steep and the rocks are slippery.

As we go up, hundreds of people come down. We don’t even dare to ask how it was. Some can’t even walk, and they are literally being carried by guides, porters and partners, looking extenuated.

It is a very demanding climb, namely because of all the people crossing us, there is not much safe space left for us to walk on the rocks.

We made it successfully up to 4.920 m and we were coming down when we met the Mexican girls, who is doing it on her own (with no partner), and it felt like we've met an old friend. 

We greeted each other, exchanged points of view and experiences and wished each other best of luck for the following day. Maybe we will meet again sometime.

We got back to the camp site in about 40 minutes and we had a nice rest. In Barafu Camp there is no water, therefore porters need to carry it all the way up from Karanga Camp, that’s why we see porters carrying buckets on their heads all the time, back and forth. It is quite demanding, and we are not allowed to waste any water. All the water is reused: for instance, the water we used to wash ourselves is reused in the toilet.

We are located in a magnificent spot, and we can see Mawenzi peak perfectly.

Paula can see the weather forecast (-2ºC, real feel -1ºC), don’t know how it will be tonight at midnight, as we leave the camp, but by now is cold and misty.

After having our veggie lunch (remember we can not eat meat anymore), is time to check our gear and make tonight’s plans.

I took a walk around the camp looking for a good soul to lend me the phone charging cord, and I met Rudi.

After we are allowed to have a siesta but it is not very comforting as most teams are dismantling the camps, and I can hardly sleep because of all the noise.

 After waking up, I am off again to look for Rudi so I can charge my phone for tonight. On my way I met a family (father and 2 kids), climbing together. I wish I could do it with my kids, but by the time they are old enough to do it there will be no snows or glaciers.

We had a light dinner and went back to bed. It’s 7 PM and I can’t keep my eyes closed, I think it’s anxiety. The tent is also leaning into Paula’s side, and I am constantly sliding towards her and trying not to smash her. She is sleeping like a baby, as always.

Finally, it’s 11 PM, time to rise and shine.

We dress up quickly: 3 layers on the body plus insulated jacket, 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of leggings plus the sky pants, 2 pairs of gloves, balaclava, warm hat... I feel like a snow man, overly dressed.

Jonas made the decision yesterday that him and Isaac would carry our backpacks, to make it easier for us.

We leave the camp a bit later than expected (00:18) but we get a beautiful view of the people going up the mountain. It looks like thousands of stars are dancing around, as it’s pitch black up there, you can only see the light from the head lamps. I think it is one of strongest feeling I got from this journey, thousands of fireflies dancing around my eyes.

We walk slowly among many others tourists. As we’re not carrying our backpacks we walk slightly faster than others, plus Jonas is possessed by some kind of inner force, and wants to overtake everyone else. We need to remind him that we just want to arrive to Uhuru peak, we don’t need to be the first to do it.

Some groups are really slow, mainly because people have different paces and determine the group’s pace, also some people feel sick already and make their groups slowing down or even come to a complete stop. Some groups are very large, and have as many as 20 people. Being just the 2 of us is a huge advantage. This should be a selection item, as the bigger the group, the smaller the success rate.

So pole pole we overtake several large groups, but it’s an outstanding work, as we need to forge our way in between the rocks. We get tired quickly.

My feet are completely frozen; there is no way they are getting warmer. Hands and body is warm by now, but it’s so cold and I can’t breathe through my balaclava. It gets wet and my nose is dripping so badly, and I don’t have where to clean it anymore. I take the balaclava of and it’s too cold, I put it back and can’t breathe. I look to Paula and I see ice crystals around the place where her mouth is. It’s so interesting.

We stop from time to time to get our strength back and to warm up with some hot tea. Going to the toilet is now harder, as it’s freezing cold and there are hundreds of people everywhere. Jonas dislikes the fact that we want to stop so often, but we need to pull ourselves together.

It’s getting colder, and although I have already opened my jacket and removed one pair of gloves, my feet don’t get any warmer. Suddenly we realize something wrong going on with Jonas. He is trembling, his legs are shaking and he can’t walk straight. Despite our concern, he stands that he he’s fine. We can clearly see that the backpack is far too heavy and it’s causing him pain and feeling unease. Finally, we managed to stop for a hot tea and re-distribute the weight. At this point the wind is so cold, that I need to put my second pair of gloves on and I close my jacket again. Paula is feeling more comfortable than me, but the cold is disturbing me a lot.

Jonas is getting worse and worse, and regardless our suggestions to stop or to exchange backpacks, they keep on moving.

We are now at Stela Point, it’s still pitch black and it’s crazy cold here. As you turn the mountain, the cold wind strikes me and almost throws me on the ground. It doesn’t help being so light and short, it’s been a huge advantage so far, but now I am felling very very uncomfortable. There is no way I can warm my hands and feet up. According with Jonas, we still have 45 minutes to go to reach Uhuru Peak. I am feeling sleepy and frozen, so I ask Isaac to hold my poles, and I put my hands inside my pocket. It gets better, but I need to keep one hand hanging downs to reactivate the blood stream. I wonder if this is normal, or I am a bit hypothermic, and Isaac just says it’s normal…

These last 45 minutes seem to last forever. It’s pure torture to me. I made it easily up to here to find that I can actually give up due to the cold. My face is frozen, I can feel the wind through my insulated jacket… but I keep on going. Finally, we see Uhuru Peak and the glaciers and it’s astoundingly beautiful. I almost cry when I see the sun rising and Uhuru peak in behind. So, I just keep on going. I feel so peaceful now and sure I will make it, that I almost don’t feel cold anymore.

After a while, we join the dozens of people standing around Uhuru peak, trying to get the perfect shot. I can’t believe we made it!

You will stand there 5 min maximum, it’s so cold that you don’t want to stand there. You just take your perfect shot and leave straight to Barafu camp. That’s all you get after 6h walk!

Jonas tells us that it’s -10ºC, I have never been in such a low temperature before in my life. Another record set.

As we start coming back, the sun is rising and it’s warmer than before. Even so, I can’t remove my gloves. We stop here and there to make some pictures and record the moment. Don’t really want to miss it. It was so special.

I can barely believe that I’ve actually made it to Uhuru Peak. After all the sad stories Ia heard, seeing those people coming down yesterday, I never really rely on myself and deep down inside I’ve always thought that this was going to be one of the greatest adventures, even if I didn’t reach the summit. I kept in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t make it, and in the end I did. Maybe it was the absence of expectations that keep me going, knowing that if I didn’t make it, it would be ok as well.

Coming down is a lot easier and warmer. You start to peel out your clothes and can barely stand the heat, thus it is still cold walking under the sun and getting the heat from the stones just keeps you warm.

If I’d known I would have put on leggings so I could remove my insulated pants.

One of the things that shocked me the most was the number of people coming down by alternative paths. People step everywhere, liter wherever, and it has a tremendous environmental impact. I could not stop thinking about that, and even now that I am far from the scene I keep on thinking if I made the right decision when I decided to climb Kili.

It never crossed my mind that this would have such an enormous footprint.                 

On the way down you see people been carried out, people taking oxygen, people waiting to be recued by helicopter. Don’t think it’s a piece of cake, is one of the toughest experiences in your life. For me, coming down was very hard because of the heat, the dust (my god there is so much dust in the air, and last but not the least, I needed to urge to the toilet, and that was hours away.

Anyway, we came down to Barafu (another 4 h walk) and we arrived around 10:30 AM. Honestly, I just wanted to sleep, I was so tired that I barely could keep my eyes opened. They didn’t let us sleep, because we need to come downs as quick as possible to Mweka camp.

We had a light meal and we longed so much for a bath that we decided to come all the way down to Mweka gate, and skip another night in the mountain.

That was the most stupid decision to make. It’s a very long walk, too long in fact. The path is very winding and lots of steps. My legs were so trembling and tired that I couldn’t walk straight. Plus, we had to rush nearly the end because our crew forgot to tell us that we needed to get out of the Park until 6PM at 5:30. This in fact was the most difficult thing I have ever done. Not the 6 days walking plus the night, this endeavor was the craziest of my life, we walked 27 km, for 18 hours in a row. Not easy my friends.

After, I couldn’t step into the car to get us to Arusha… I won’t even mention the following days.

Anyway, it was worth it, every minute and every penny!