A different span of a day

5:20pm, Day X: Speeding down the hill from Marangu, Tanzania, no seatbelt in sight, listening to Kenny Rogers in the bus (reminds me of my grandpa, "you got to know when to hold 'em"), getting slightly spit on by the rain coming in through the window, feeling soooo happy to be off of my feet (it was a long hike down 9,000 feet that day), and drying out (again).

5:20pm, Day X-1: Arriving at Gilman's Point, around 18,500 feet above sea level (or so). The steep part of the climb is over, and the first view of the dry, moon-like crater of Kilimanjaro appears. There is only a hint of a glacier across the crater, most of the 'snows of Kilimanjaro' having disappeared in the span of a few years. The sun is low, but still bright, and the ridge to the summit looks fun!


3pm, Day X: Hiking down. From Kibo past Horombo past Mandara, but not yet to the gate. From snow to rock to dirt (no longer dust). From the alpine desert through the moorland and into the forest. It is humid and smells so good (especially those little white flowers). The ferns and moss are thick on the trees. Unfortunately, . . . it just started raining. Again. Like Africa forgot that I already knew what it was like to be wet, hiking down from a big mountain. This time, of course, I was both more prepared and more willing (in a way). The big yellow plastic rain cover comes out (immediately) to cover me and my pack. The sleeves get rolled up past my elbows to avoid the drip when you're hiking with poles. And that part of my pants below mid-thigh? Easily accepted that it will be just plain wet and stick to your leg in that annoying way. My feet hurt from hiking down sooo much today (you know the feeling when you're almost getting blisters on the bottom of your feet?), but other than that, the rest of my body feels good. Sometimes, though, you really really want that last two miles to just disappear.

3pm, Day X-1: We're on the way to the summit. We being me and Alex, my local guide on Kili. The national park requires that you have a guide, and mine was great. Especially since he suggested changing up the typical approach toward when we climb, which is why we are here now. Most people climb up to Kibo hut (15,400 ft) on one day, then rest for a few hours, get up at 11pm, leave at midnight for the summit, and get a sunrise view from the top. Problems with this approach: 1) your sleep schedule is disrupted, 2) you are climbing when you are sleepy, 3) you have less energy in the middle of the night, 4) on your return, you only get to sleep a few hours before descending to a lower altitude, ... but the biggest problem is 5) everybody and their brother goes at this time. And the hidden problems that we actually didn't know about until the next morning: 6) a storm will roll in that night putting snow and ice on the route (not making it dangerous, just more of a pain), and 7) a huge lenticular cloud with its associated high winds will descend on the mountain, masking the views of the 'sunrise' anyway. Fortunately, instead of the traditional approach, Alex suggested that since we're fast (strong like lioness), that we rest for a few hours at Kibo, then continue on up to Uhuru (the summit) on the same day. Unfortunately (for some reason), Africa likes to hail on me at 16,600 feet. Just like on Batian climbing in the Amphitheater. So it is hailing on me. Let's put on the coat and pack cover and give it an hour (it'll stop, I know it will).


12pm, Day X: Hiking down, just below Horombo. You've left the snow and lenticulars behind, and have had a last lunch at the huts at Horombo (and even used Alex's cell phone to update the blog, but are tired of typing in 10-digits).

12pm, Day X-1: Almost ready to sleep for an hour. At Kibo hut (15.4k), there are 12 bunks in your room (and yes the 5 that are filled will all wake you up in 12 hours time when they are going for the summit). You've just eaten your lunch, and are changing and packing for the summit push. Packing while ensconced in your sleeping bag of course, because it is cold in here, and your fingers have a tiny tingle due to the cold and altitude.


9:15am, Day X: Hiking down, at the "last water point," around 14,000 feet or so. The snows used to reach down here, but now it is dry from here to above Gilman's point. There is a crew of three building a new toilet facility (upgraded from the pits), listening to music.

9:15am, Day X-1: Hiking up, at the "last water point." The morning started with a good breakfast of an omlette, tea, avocado, and toast. Say "Jambo" and dance a little with the construction crew.

...

6:20pm, Day X: Back in Moshi, at the Kilicrane hotel. Your feet are finally up, done hiking for the meantime. Time to relax.

6:20pm, Day X-1: At the roof of Africa: Uhuru point, 5895 meters, or 19,340 feet. The summit of Kilimanjaro. The sun is just about to set, and has its characteristic strong orange glow. A glacier is to the left. The last ridge from Gilman's point was fun: you alternated between "speed racer" when the ridge offered a down section, and "well, faster than a snail, but..." when the ridge went up. But in total you made good time from Kibo (4:15). An awesome part about the climb is that it was just you two--no one else on the mountain at all; a treat. Right now, though, it is getting colder, starting to snow (it'll keep it up the whole way down), and it is time to head down. Back home.

Sunset from the roof of Africa

Yesterday afternoon, we bucked the trend & climbed to the summit of Kili (instead of climbing in the night)! We were rewarded with a mountain entirely to ourselves and a beautiful sunset ... & light snow the whole way down. Back to Moshi tonight. More later!

The sun is setting at Horombo

And it is beautiful. It has the alpine feel of up high on mt rainier,
... except for the fried bananas, veggie and beef dinner, German,
norwegian and Italian hut mates, and flush toilets. Ah the life!

On Kili!

I made my way to Tanzania and started climbing. I am at Mandara huts
~9300 ft and enjoying the jungle, blue monkeys and hot cocoa. On and
up tomorrow!

Images#3 from Kenya

Me at our bivy around 16,300 feet. We rapped until it got dark, then bivied

 

Karsten rapping in the morning

 

We successfully climbed up Point Peter early before hiking out

 

The full group of us 5 and our porters and cook

Images #2 from Kenya

Karsten leading up the first pitch on the North Face Standard (~5.7)

 

Karsten on the 4th pitch

 

In the Amphitheater, the weather deteriorating (it hailed a few inches a few minutes later)

 

Karsten on the descent from our highpoint, Ferman's Tower in the background

Images#1 from Kenya

In order:

 

Mt Kenya (our route went up kind of through the middle of the picture)

 

Sunrise on the way to the climb

 

Me at the start with my backpack. There were icicles on the plant

 

When all the muscles in your body ache

Every so often I say “That was the hardest thing I’ve done.” A few days ago, in the case of climbing up Batian (the highest summit of Mt Kenya), I found myself saying that exact thing. As I focused my concentration on crossing the ledge on the back side of Ferman’s tower, kicking steps firmly in the snow, holding onto little rock ledges that were wet, removing the cam or nut or tricam as needed, thinking that Karsten the best rock-star leader, and making moves up snowy and icy cracks or faces of rock, I thought it. And as I slept in my bivy sack on the small ledge above 16 thousand feet, I stretched and could feel little aches in every one of my muscles. But it felt good.

The mountain is beautiful. It is not just one mountain, but many many points. Points left over from volcanic activity. The highest is Batian, the next highest Nelion. The next is Point Lenana, which all five of us reached on an earlier day. Lenana gave us great views of Nelion and Batian, a fun scramble, and our first exposure to higher altitudes than you can find in Colorado.

The main issue we faced, other than a few small headaches from altitude or stomach grumbles from the food, was the weather. It was bad. In the context of one of the worst droughts in Kenya’s recent past, Mt Kenya itself was getting rain. Lots of it. Early rain. Not predictable afternoon thunderstorms like in Colorado. Rain that would come on our first day on the mountain by 2pm. Rain that would come on our second day on the mountain by 12pm. Rain that would come on our third day on the mountain by 10am. Rain that would catch us before we reached Mintos hut ~14,000 feet on our way in. Rain that gets past all the fancy rain gear you have. Rain that soaks the ground and then comes up into your tent. Thank goodness for good old plastic trash bags.

That rain, of course, turned into hail, snow, or ice higher on the mountain. At first, that meant that the route we first came to climb (the Standard route up Nelion, then Batian) was out of shape—too much snow. Also, the Diamond Couloir, which Brad and Tonya had come to climb, was not quite in good enough shape to climb. On to the next plan: hike almost all of the way around the mountain to the north side and climb the North Face Standard route. We hiked around one day, then did a few of the lower pitches to get our bearings and feel the route out. At this point, James decided not to come climbing with us, so it was just Karsten and me for the climb up Batian (while Brad and Tonya did their own climbs). Our trial run was great because we got our systems down, decided that rock shoes weren’t needed OR appropriate (we’d instead climb in our boots), and we were able to cache some of our gear at the start of the climb.

Recipe: Start with a rock climb. Let’s say somewhere around 5.7ish. Add altitude (15 to 17 thousand feet should do). Ditch your rock shoes and climb in boots. Add a pack. Add bivy gear to that pack. And food. And a stove. And crampons. And an ice axe. Keep going until it feels like a good 30 or 35 lbs. Put your helmet and harness on. Keep a pair of gloves handy, but try not to drop one on any scary snowy ledge (but if you do, just have your partner get one of your extra pairs from your pack). Now add melting snow to make the rock wet. Add some hail. Now add some loose rocks that might trundle down the mountain at the push of your foot. Let the mist and clouds descend upon you around 10 am to make it feel just cool enough. Now climb. Stay mostly on route. The difficulty with all of these spices shouldn’t exceed 5.10 or so. Climb the hardest stuff you’ve climbed for about 11 hours until you decide that the safest thing to do is descend. Then once it gets too dark to see, set up your bivy and relax. Sleep until the sun wakes you up and smile at the beauty of everything you’ve experienced.

Trekking out, listening to music, I spun around a few times because I was simply happy.

In Nairobi

Hi! Just a quick note to say that we are in Nairobi after a great trip on and around Mt Kenya. Karsten and I made it to 16,600 ft on the North Face Standard route up Batian (Mt Kenya), but turned around because of icy conditions and because it just made sense.

 

I will blog more in a bit, but check out http://www.beyondeverest.com/latest-news.html to see some blog posts from Tonya and Brad during the trip.

 

Tonight I'm off to fly to Kilimanjaro, and will be headed up that one tomorrow. :)

 

Val