On top of the world - climbing Mt. Kiliminjaro

What an epic week! Our group of 12 climbers headed down the road from Moshi towards the village of Marangu, where we would enter Mt. Kiliminjaro  National Park. We were originally supposed to have two additional climbers, but they both fell ill to ecoli and giardia respectively. Africa is no joke folks. There are many different routes up the mountain, but only  one where you can stay in huts along the way, and that is the route that has been chosen for the past 15 years of UGA Study  Abroad in Tanzania. I’m not sure our students would have enjoyed camping up about 15,000 feet in a freezing rain and sleet storm, so it was the Marangu route for us.

After all signing in at the park gate and getting our guides and porters squared away, we said goodbye to Mama Whitney, Mama Moshi, Mama Chris, and Julia who all rode along to send us off. Our group consisted of 12 climbers, 5 guides, and roughly 20 porters and wait staff. We would be joined by two more guides for assistance on summit day. I say roughly 20 porters because you never saw them all in one bunch.  We just knew that our stuff got from Point A to Point B each day and all we had to carry was a day pack. Not a bad deal. Did I mention that they cooked, cleaned up after us, and made sure we had safe drinking water the entire trip. We owed these guys everything. They work so hard, and for very meager pay.

We took  our obligatory photos at the gate, and we were off up the mountain. We started the climb around 6,000 feet and ended the climb at our first stop, Mandara Hut, around 9,000 feet. The students were in for a rude awakening. We have been living (and exercising) at around 2500 feet above sea level in Moshi for the past 3 weeks, so the first day proved challenging with a 3000 foot, 4.5 mile hike up to Mandara. But we all were in good spirits as we settled in to trail life. We stopped for lunch along the way, and even saw our first blue monkeys. Pretty large creatures that didn't seem to notice us at all. As we were walking through a rain forest, there were lots of interesting plants to look at, including the Kilimanjaro impatien (found only here!) and some neat waterfalls. Before we knew it, we arrived at Mandara hut and were treated to hot water to wash and fresh popcorn and hot tea to warm us up. After a short afternoon hike to Maundi Crater, we ate a tasty dinner and then called it a night. I shared with the group that hiker midnight is actually 9:00 pm, and there were no complaints.

We awoke to clear skies and chilly temperatures. We officially introduced ourselves to the two other groups that happened to be travling with us. One group were a four Brits (originally of Indian descent) consisting of two brothers (probably in their 50s), and two of their daughters. The other was a honeymooning couple from Holland. The fact that the Kili hike was the first leg of their honeymoon says a lot about the couple. The fact that they had to sleep next to the four men in our group talking about God knows what late into the night makes me feel  sorry  for the new bride on the first night of her honeymoon! They turned out to be great sports and became fond of our group. We eventually summited together, and yes, they are still married about that intense experience. But I digress, back to the story.

We quickly warmed up as we climbed another 3000 feet or so up to 12,300 feet and Horombo Hut. This would turn out to be our favorite camp.  The views were spectacular, and our bodies could still function at this elevation.  Along the way, we saw the red hot poker plant, which I had been wanting to see, and the mountain looming in the distance. Even though we keep getting closer, it still seems pretty far away.  There were shouts of joy when we finally spotted Horombo Hut.  Since we were all pretty poopedJ. But not before checking out the stars. The stars up here are AMAZING.  We learned a few of the southern hemisphere constellations and have all enjoyed spotting them nightly, gazing at the sky in awe.

after a long day of hiking, we just ate some dinner and retired to our cabins. This time around, I was with the men and one other female student volunteer. Rooming with the 4 guys definitely took me back to my thru-hiking days. The smell alone would  have killed even the hardiest soul, but throw in the vulgar conversation, and I was ready to put my ear plugs in and quickly  fall asleep.

Day 3 was our acclimatization day so our bodies could get used  to the higher altitude. We went for a morning hike up to  Zebra Rocks. Most of the students were still feeling okay at this point, just some mild stomach and headaches. We all enjoyed  playing around on the black and white colored rocks and having a mini-photo shoot. When we arrived at the high point  (around 13,500 feet), we had to put on a few layers while we let our bodies recover. Back down to Horombo for a hot lunch of veggie crisps and fried potatoes. We spent the rest of the day quizzing folks that had already climbed the mountain and having a euchre tournament. I am now ready to play some serious euchre back in Athens. Corey, I hope you are ready!

The next day would prove to be our toughest yet. It started out sunny enough, all of us in shorts and t-shirts. But around 11 am, as we were ascending up to Mawenzi Ridge, it grew cloudy  all of sudden, and started snowing. Talk about extremes! As we got  further up the mountain, it got colder and the snowflakes turned to sleet and freezing rain – yikes! Most of us were not too happy about the turn of events, but we layered up  and hunkered down to finish the climb up to the 15,200 foot Kebo Hut. At last, it came into view, and we hurriedly checked in. We were all in one room, but I asked them to spare modesty for the time being and quickly change into dry warm clothes. Several of the students were close to hypothermia. Luckily, we all had dry layers to put on and after some hot cocoa, and sleeping bag snuggling, everyone warmed up. The guides were kind enough to dry a few things over their cooking stoves so that the students would have dry gloves for the summit. Many of us were not hungry  when dinner time arrived, but we knew we needed to be strong for our summit attempt in just a few short hours, so we chowed  down as best we could. Then, it was off to catch a few winks before our midnight departure.

I did actually fall asleep for about 2.5 hours before the guides came to wake us up. We hurriedly put on all our warmest layers and nervously drank some hot tea and down a few cookies. My stomach was in knots! They lined us all up outside and we began our climb up to 19,300 feet. Pole pole (pronounced pole-lay, pole-lay) was the phrase of the day. The guides kept telling us to go slowly. Right, like we could physically go any faster! We took breaks every 1.5 hours or so. One of the students started feeling the altitude right away and vomited a few times. She turned back around Williams Point around 16,000 feet. Pretty respectable if you ask me! The rest of us trudged our way towards the top.  Several other students became physically sick, but we all kept going. Vomiting is just part of the experience, according to our guides. Luckily, I was able to keep everything down the whole trip! Around 6 am (yep, we had walked for 6 hours straight in the dark), we were so close to Gilman’s Point. It’s not the top, but once you’re there, the actual summit is not too far way. The bright rays of sun’s first light started peeking out behind Mawenzi Peak. We were in awe. That was actually my favorite part of the whole experience – seeing that sunrise at Gilman’s. It was magical and it gave us all the energy and hope we needed to continue on.

From Gilman’s, we have an up and down hike to the actual summit – Uruhu Peak at elevation 19,300 feet above  sea level.  Step by step, we make our way over there. At this point, everyone is in their own world. I was no longer the trip leader; I was just one of the group, with my own struggle for air and the summit. At last, the sign telling us we had made it to the highest point in Africa, and we now stood on the tallest free standing mountain in the world.  I felt so lucky to be there, gasping for breath, icicles forming on my eyelashes and clothes. It doesn’t get any better than this. Well, watching nine students and one father make it to the top after struggling for so long, actually was better than me summiting. I couldn’t help but tear up a bit. What an amazing accomplishment for these students who weren’t sure they would make it to the top. I’m so damn proud of every single one of them.

After the excitement of the summit, we now were in a race to get back down to Kebo, before we all became giant icicles! Going down was actually a lot scarier than coming up, because when  we were coming up, we couldn’t see what was around us.  But slowly at first, we navigated the rocky, snowy terrain. Then, the guides taught us how to “ski/run” down the mountain carefully and that definitely sped up the process. We finally made it back down to Kebo, and the exhaustion started to creep in. We were allowed about an hour to rest up before we ate a light lunch and had to descend down to Horombo. At this point, we had been going for 13 hours straight, but we had to push on a bit more. The students were in pain, but they persevered and we all made it down to Horombo. I said a silent prayer that we had all made it safely. We ate what we could for dinner and then collapsed in bed.  I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

On day 6, we hiked 11 miles back down to the gate.  There was a pep in everyone’s step, or maybe it was a limp. Either way, we were all pumped when we made it safely down the mountain, with Mama Whitney welcoming us. We had all made it back down, on our own two feet, and I couldn’t be happier. I spoke a lot about mental toughness on this trip and I really believe the students now understand what that means. If they can make it to the top of the Mt.Kiliminjaro, they can do anything they put their minds to. They will be able to reflect up on this experience the rest of their lives, and draw strength from it. That is the power of the natural world, and that is the power of outdoor education.