Pole Pole Up Kilimanjaro

It is Friday now, and arriving home Tuesday from the 6 day climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro has left myself and my two other climbing companions in bits. That being said, it was one of the best things I have ever done...

Last Thursday morning, Kessy Brothers Company came to the hostel and collected Maura, Amanda, and me, our rucksacks filled with the closest things we had to mountain gear, and our un-aching bodies. After a brief stop at the office to pick up our guides, Joseph, Paul, and Mathias, and a surprise 4th companion, whom we’ll call Hector, we headed towards Kili.

Arriving at the gate of the Machame route, we picked up 12 porters, signed our names and passport numbers, and started the ascent. Day one was much like a hike at Bennet Springs State Park; the whole way a somewhat clear path. 6 hours of a fairly steady incline later, we arrived at our first campsite drenched first in sweat followed by an hour of hard rain. I ate my first Kili-cooked dinner, not realizing that my appetite would only be decreasing onward from that point.

And so the next day we continued our climb through the seven layers of the candy cane forest...actually it was a climb through 4 or 5 quite visibly different micro-climates, but the words of Elf would not leave my head. Day two was 4 hours of proper rock climbing, putting us at our next campsite in time for a hot lunch and then a short acclimatization walk that afternoon.

Day three was the real acclimatization day, as we hiked up to approximately 13,000 feet, then back down to 12 something thousand feet to camp. Our guide, Joseph, whom we quickly deemed big Joe, had to have been in his late forties and part mountain goat. It actually was ridiculous how fast he could bound from rock to rock all over the mountain.

Day four: The Breakfast Wall: Dun Dun Dunnnn...

It is called the breakfast wall because the breakfasts of many climbers revisit either during or shortly after the wall has been conquered. Because my guide had properly petrified me, I was expecting the worst and actually ended up enjoying it...minus the whole drop-off of X amount of feet below me. At the top of the breakfast wall was a perfect view of the summit, then came another 2 hour hike down into a gorge and back out again to the top for hot lunch. It was at this site that we said goodbye to our Hector. He had been relatively sick the last several days, but hypothermia and fluid in the lungs finally sent him down the mountain in a stretcher bag carried by 5 of our porters.

And then there were three...for one more three hour hike up to the camp where we would have one more rest before the final summit climb of almost 4,000 feet.

5:00 pm: Arrived at campsite after 8 hour day
6:30 pm: Forced myself to eat plain pasta despite altitude nausea setting in
7:30 pm: Went to bed with 5 layers of pants and 7 layers of tops
11:00 pm: “Woke up” with approximately 50 minutes of sleep in my system to begin the 8 hour hike of steady incline, in the dark, over large rocks and loose gravel, to the summit
3:00 am: Start to feel sick
6:00 am: Mathias, my guide, starts asking if I want to go back down.
7:00 am: Found myself and the sun above the clouds
7:01 am: Was too sick to care
7:30 am: Another guide from another company was pouring some powder down my throat.
8:00 am: Arrive at summit. Totally worth it...alll 20,000 feet of it

8 hours up, and two hours back down to the campsite. How so fast you may ask? We skied. On snow you may ask? Oh no. On gravel. Had I not felt more sick than I have ever felt before, I would have enjoyed big Joe taking me by the arm to do a cross between monkey walking, and skiing down the mountain on loose gravel... but if there EVER was a time for “POLE POLE JOE!!” that was it...

We had a quick nap at the campsite, and down we walked. 4 hours later and on basically no sleep for almost 2 days, we arrived at the final campsite. Dinner was quick and quiet, and bedtime shortly followed. I. Slept. Like. A. Baby.
3 hours down on Tuesday, and just like that I had finished my Kilimanjaro experience. As the bottom of the mountain came closer, none of us were ready to leave it...quite a different song and dance from two nights before...

Once again, I have failed miserably to condense any amount of my writing, but will go ahead and leave you with a few things that the mountain has taught me.

Mountains are big, particularly Kilimanjaro. 6 days of no running water gives you a whole new appreciation for nature’s abundance of lavatories. If you are to fall down, pretend you need a second to recover, and consider it a bonus rest. It is okay to drink mountain stream water, if your purification tablets make it taste like a swimming pool. When hiking to a summit, the only thing you can think of is the 23 Psalm...which is odd because it is certainly not a valley... If and when your guide says “Twende!” (Lets go!), and you say “hapana!” (No), he will look shocked after 4 prior days of hearing you say, “sawa!” (Okay!). If and when your guide also says it is important to shower upon arrival into Moshi because there is dirt on your face...he is probably right. Oh, and after climbing a mountain, locals in town can spot you from a mile away. They will stop you on the street and say “mountain, or safari?” This will happen up to 3 days post your climb. Finally, when you run into your guide the next day in town and say “Pole pole Joe!” for old times’ sake, he will grin from ear to ear, ask how sore your legs are, and then laugh and say “pole sana!”