Summit Day! An incredible day that lasted a very long time. It was an amazing experience that I honestly only have vague memories from and I blame that on altitude and pure exhaustion.
After a few hours of napping, the guides woke us up at 11pm. We had an hour to get ready, eat, and get started. This is the first time all trip that we almost hit the leave time and it was a good thing. It is freezing outside and the wind was still howling. We all huddled in the tent for breakfast and to stay warm. Our breakfast consisted of cookies, popcorn, and tea. I knew that wouldn't be enough for me so I had a Clif bar too. Luckily waking up wasn't too bad since we wore many of our layers to bed and had everything else laid out. It was really hard to leave the semi warmth of the tent to start the climb.
The full moon was out and lit our way very well. It is a very cool sight to see headlamps working their way up the mountain. It is also depressing to see how far you have to go. I knew I would be feeling good and that the others were either going to be too cold or tired to chat, so I wore my iPod for the first few hours. I have a shuffle that I haven't updated in years so it was fun hearing what music popped up to listen to (Nsync, Harry Chapin, Soldier Boy, Rent, Disney tunes, and so many more). I listened to my music and actually even semi danced up the mountain. I was loving it.
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| Yes it was really cold. I only had on 5 upper layers, a polar buff, two hats, and two pairs of gloves. |
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| Follow the lights |
I also tried to take everything in. It was incredible. The moon was so bright I didn't always use my headlamp. The lights from the city were burning bright in the distance. We took a very slow pace in single file and at times, it felt like we were barely shuffling. I realize it was to limit our altitude issues, but it also made it so you never warmed up. I get hot really quick so I thought I would be dropping layers on the way up, but I didn't. I was comfortable pretty much the whole time in my 5 layers. We had several stops to let people rest, get a snack, and a drink. It was so cold that the water froze in your water reservoir. I tried hard to keep mine from freezing by drinking often, but it didn't work. I loved the stops so I could get some water from my Nalgene inside my bag, but you couldn't stop for too long or you would start getting colder.
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| The never ending string of lights climbing up. |
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| Single file was important since the trail was pretty narrow. |
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| Breaks meant time to sit down and stay awake. |
My absolute favorite stop was when the guides pulled out some hot tea for us to drink. It was a small cup, but warmed me up perfectly and provided a nice little sugar boost. The stops also provided people a chance to find a large rock to use for the restroom. Luckily I only need to do this once (I was not on a diuretic), but others were not so lucky. Squatting behind a rock in freezing weather is not fun. The stops also gave me a chance to take out my DSLR camera, but I was so cold and didn't have a tripod so the pictures didn't really come out well, but at least I tried.
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| Rebecca and I still smiling. I think this was after some hot tea. |
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| Ryan and Amanda looking pretty happy |
We hiked for over 6 hours before the sun started to rise. We were hoping to be at Stella Point by sunrise, but that didn't happen. We were able to stop at a lower point with some incredible views. The photos can't capture the true beauty of the sun coming up. The views were beautiful and the energy in the group picked up. I had stopped listening to music and a few of us were talking about the climb and the summit. We knew we weren't far, but sadly the top wasn't close either. The sun brought some new warmth though and I was just praying my water would unfreeze.
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| Still smiling after 6 hours! |
Finally, we made it to Stella Point! It was such a relief to reach, but it still wasn't the summit. We took a short break at Stella Point for pictures and to eat more food and drink. The summit was still about 15-20 minutes away although the path was surrounded by glaciers and not steep, but that didn't help. At this point, I thought Ryan and several others were going to kill me, but we all picked up our feet and started the walk to the summit. You can't come this far and not make it to the top.
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| Stella Point! |
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| So happy! |
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| The views were still incredible from here. |
The walk to Uhuru Peak was actually quite beautiful. There were small glaciers all around and what appeared to be a crater on one side. The attitude of the group picked up with each step as we got closer. There was a mix of how everyone was feeling. I wasn't feeling the altitude, but I was still tired. Others were definitely feeling the altitude, others were cold, others were just tired like me. The range of how our bodies reacted was pretty impressive. On the walk up, people were coming down congratulating you for making it and smiling. Everyone was so happy and you couldn't help but smile. I wish I could relive this 30 minutes because it was such a feeling of accomplishment.
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| The "short" walk to Uhuru Peak |
Now the walk to the top was getting emotional, but reaching Uhuru Peak was the best moment of the trip. We had been climbing for 8.5 hours, mostly in the dark, but we did it! Some shed tears of joy and I just couldn't stop smiling (I have never been one to cry when happy). I wish I had more memories from the top, but it was an emotional overload with exhaustion and altitude mixed in. There was a long line to get pictures with the sign, but we had a fun group photo.
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| Waiting in line for pictures. Ryan's face shows the pure exhaustion of the day. |
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| Celebrating! |
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| We did it! 19,341 feet! |
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| And we couldn't have done it without our amazing guides |
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| My attempt at an artsy photo of the famous sign. |
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| Yep, this is definitely my profile picture right now. |
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| Me with the guides that made this trip possible. |
Then we had some fun. Corinne's dad had asked her to take a PBR to the top of Kilimanjaro so she did. She needed to prove it so a few of us got back in line to take individual photos with the sign. Corinne made sure her photo had the PBR to show her dad. Once the pictures were taken, it was time to enjoy a sip of the beer. I am guessing the 5 of us are the only people who have ever had PBR on top of Kilimanjaro (and we did request that her dad pick a slightly better beer next time).
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| Corinne and I waiting for individual pictures with the sign |
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| To Corinne's dad...she lugged that PBR up the mountain so we could all enjoy a sip. |
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| Holly enjoying the beer |
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| Not a bad view to enjoy a beer |
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| Although I think we all took the smallest sip ever |
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| But we probably did finish it. PBR, you can use these for advertising anytime |
A video from the top that I am so glad one of us captured.
The guides had been stressing to go at our own pace and that slowing down was not a bad thing. Most of the group stayed together, but Katie took it a little slower to ensure she could make it. That is the one thing about altitude, everyone's body responds differently and smart people listen to their body. Katie was incredibly smart and she slowed the pace and let the group leave her. She never gave up though. Katie is an amazing athlete that excels at Crossfit, but we knew from our previous trip to Machu Picchu that she had struggled with altitude. Her taking her time to reach the top was a hard decision, but one that ensured she made it.
After all of our pictures at Uhuru Peak, the guides pushed us to start heading down. They don't want you to be up at altitude longer than necessary. On our way down to Stella Point, we ran into Katie and this was the second best moment of the trip for me. I think I was more excited to see her than I was to see the top. She was doing great and was definitely going to reach the top. Fred and I asked to go back with her to the top so she had company, but the guides stressed that we needed to head down, no matter how we felt. We all left Katie with huge smiles on our faces and she continued up to reach Uhuru. She is my hero for the trip because she made a hard decision to let us go on, knowing that was her best chance to reach the top.
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| Katie's pic at the top |
So this is where I tell you the rest of the day was easy and short, but in reality it was only half over at this point. The positive of heading down was that the sun was out and we were all much warmer. That was the only positive to heading down. We also found out that sometimes your body reacts worse to altitude when you start going down. We had broken into several small groups to go down. The guides wanted to get Mike down ASAP as he wasn't feeling well. So he, Corinne, and Fred went as the first group. To be honest, I have no idea when they started down. The rest of us started as group two heading down, but several people got sick on the descent. Rebecca and I kept going down at our own pace. I hated the 4,000 ft descent back to camp. We went scree surfing the whole way down. For those that don't know, that means you basically surf down the small rocks on the way down. It looks easy if you know what you are doing, but I was horrible at it. I ended up on my butt five times and was really slow. Rebecca and I even had an over/under on how many times I would fall. My knee absolutely hated it, but there was no other way down so I made do. I have never been so happy to see camp. I would happily do the climb up again, but I have no interest in scree surfing down.
The main thought that Rebecca and I had on the way down was that when we got to camp, we could take a nap while waiting for the others. We took very few breaks on the way down because any time resting on the mountain meant less time resting in our tents. We got down, I think in about an hour and a half. I happily joined Corinne in our tent where we were still giddy about the morning. Once we had some snacks and cleaned ourselves up a bit, we enjoyed a few minutes of rest before lunch.
The guides had to basically drag us out of our tents to get to lunch and get ready to head down to the next camp. They were worried that we wouldn't make it before sundown if we spent any more time. Lunch consisted of potato and vegetable soup, which I discovered wasn't enough food for me. I thought I had over packed snacks for the hike, but I actually ran out of food on the way down. Thank goodness for friends who provided me snacks on the next few breaks.
We had another 4.5 hours left to get down to Mweka Camp at 10,170 ft. The downhill section was brutal for most of us. We were exhausted and probably would have been happy to sleep at altitude again. I tried to take in the views, which again changed often, but I was also listening to my knee. It did pretty well during the trip, but this section definitely challenged it. The path down was rough. We stopped a few times, but the guides were trying to hurry us so we would get to camp before sundown. I appreciated their thoughts because it would have been very hard to get down that trail in the dark. The steps were uneven and rough to do even in the sunlight.
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| It was a beautiful descent. Just wish we all had more energy to enjoy it |
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| Corinne's face described how we all felt. It was a long, rough way down |
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| And we ended back in the rainforest. |
Finally, we made it to Mweka campsite. This was definitely what we would call a more traditional campsite. The campsites were nestled back into the trees, but were all off one path. We pretty much went right to dinner so we could eat and get to bed. Dinner consisted of cucumber soup, rice and beans, chicken, potatoes, and mango. I felt like I ate way too much because I was starving by the time we got down.
It was an absolutely incredible day that I will always remember. We all had our doubts when we started this hike, if we would all make it. I worried a lot about if I could make it. We are all athletes, but altitude is something you can't control. I am so proud of our group of 10 for all making it to the top and still smiling at the end of the day. It was a long day, but we did it! I am so happy to cross summiting Kilimanjaro off my bucket list.
