090916 : I was awake before 10.30pm. I went back to sleep waiting for the alarm to ring. I did not know how long I slept back. Then, the alarm rang! It is 10.30pm. I woke my sister up. Roman, the waiter greeted us from outside the tent and he passed to us some biscuits to eat. We also got our snacks for the trek - juice, apple and muffin.
Tonight, we are headed to Uhuru Peak. 5,895m. 5km. Only Eden and Joseph followed us. The others will stay back and watch our stuff. Eden carried my daypack and Joseph carried my sister's. I did not bring my hydration pack. I will be using my water bottles and hot flask.
How I dressed :
Bottom : Ski pants (I bought it online), thermal pants.
Top : Fleece jacket, windbreaker, dry-fit t-shirt, thermal top, another thermal top that supposedly converts my sweat to heat. Note that I did not wear any downjacket because Eden says a fleece jacket was sufficient and that was my biggest mistake. I forgot that Eden is a guide and so used to the temperature that he only wears a fleece jacket.
Head : A buff
Neck : 2 buffs, shawl
Hands : Waterproof gloves, mittens and hand warmers in each hand but I was still freezing inside.
Feet : 2 pairs of socks
How my sister dressed :
Bottom : Fleece pants (which she borrowed from Trekking Hero), thermal pants
Top : Down jacket, soft shell jacket, cotton shirt, thermal top
Hands : Inner gloves, fleece gloves
Head : Monkey mask
Neck : Buff
Feet : Cotton socks (she birdwatch very frequent and hence, she has appropriate trekking socks)
I was very apprehensive. My mucous was flowing before I started the trek. I read that the temperature is -18 degrees because of the strong wind. I wondered if I could do this. I told myself - Listen to your body.
11pm. Let's go.
There was a long line of trekkers ahead of us, and behind us. It was just getting the rhythm of my footsteps and my breathing rate, and I cannot stop. I used two trekking poles today. For the past few days, I only used one pole. But today, I needed two poles to drag my feet forward. When my mucous got so overwhelming, I had to stop, remove my mittens, pull down my buff, blow out my mucous, wear my mittens, and my sister fix my buff for me. Only God knows how torturous it was for me. The wind was so strong. I was freezing. I cannot stop for more than a minute, because I will be shivering so bad. I will crouch. My body slouched. My body was shaking so hard to produce heat. My teeth was chattering. We stopped a few times to drink water. I had stomach discomfort. Eden had already warned us that you will feel like sending a long message during the trek and that is normal. I asked my sister if she was alright. She said she was warm. That down jacket made a lot of difference.
I told myself - The sun will rise. It will be morning soon. We are seeing the sunrise.
I repeated this mantra continuously in my head.
I hoped so hard to see a glimmer a sunray from anywhere. I had lost my sense of direction, not knowing where the sun is rising from.
Soon, my sister and I parted from each other. I waited for her. I huddled behind a rock. Eden could see that I was shaking so bad. Eden suggested that Joseph follows me and we move ahead. Eden will follow my sister. Before we parted, I told my sister to never ever give up. The sun is rising soon. We are almost there. Just one foot ahead of the other.
Many times, I was arguing with myself if I shall quit. But the sun is rising soon. This moment will soon pass. The sun is rising. What time is it? Why is the sun not appearing? They said it will take 6 hours to the peak. I am supposed to see the sunrise from the peak. It is probably still early. But we have been walking like forever. Sun, quickly come out. I am so cold. All the thoughts that were going in my mind.
My eyes were half covered because of the strong wind. I was dragging my feet up the mountain. It was just one foot ahead of the other. There was no space between the feet. I was looking on the ground because my eyes could not handle the cold wind. I relied on Joseph's steps to guide the way in the dark. When I lost sign of his shoes, I looked up and saw him slightly ahead. He asked if I was cold. I nodded. He hugged me and rubbed my shoulders. But it was not helping. I thanked him and we moved on.
It was 6.20am when I saw light in front of me. I turned behind and saw the sun is rising above the clouds. Joseph said that Stella Point was right in front of us. He pointed up somewhere and I did not understand what was Stella Point. Is it a hut? I stopped to snap the series of the sun rising. My camera battery died and I changed it.
I switched off my headlamp and trudged my way up the mountain. Then, I saw Stella Point ahead of me. We are close, Joseph says. He gestured me to come on. Then, 100metres before Stella Point, I bow down, removed my buff and threw up. I threw up clear liquid. I was worried. Joseph gave me some hot water to sip. I asked myself if I could continue. I felt fine after vomiting. I went on.
At 7.30am, I reached Stella Peak. Joseph told me that at Stella Point, you can still get your certificate. I wanted to go on. I felt a bit of headache and took a Panadol, and had my snack. I asked Joseph where is the peak. He pointed further in front. He said it is a flat route with a slight ascending. It is easier, he assured. We continued and I saw many trekkers who told me I am almost there.
At 8.35am, I stepped foot on the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. Uhuru Peak. 5,895m. After 8.5 hours. I was so grateful I made it. Joseph took many photos of me. I could see the glacier from the peak. I did not stay long on the peak because I was afraid of the altitude changes since I vomitted a while ago. I started my walk back, and I saw my sister approaching. I told her to keep going. She did, and reached Uhuru Peak at 9.05am.
I felt nauseous as I was descending. Joseph held my arms and we skidded down. But my legs were too tired. I told him I needed to rest. I saw my sister coming down with Eden. Then, we switched and Eden assisted me to "walk down" quickly with big strides. I told him I was nauseous and he said we needed to go down by 1000m. We went down as quickly as my tired legs could support me. I saw other trekkers were walking slowly down the slope. I thought how cool my guide is, as I took the huge strides.
What took us 8.5 hours to reach up, took me 2 hours to get down to the campsite. There were huge rocks and we could not slide down with our huge strides. I lost my nauseousness.
I saw a few of the trekkers with cramped legs and held by their guides to assist them to descend. When I saw this, I remembered a line said by a Swiss climber to a Sherpa from the Everest movie I watched in Namche Bazaar during my Everest Base Camp trek in 2013 - We need your power. You need our money. This line resonates so powerful in the Kilimanjaro trek between the porters, guide and the clients.
I was so thankful my legs did not cramp. Eden told us that if walked too slow, our legs will be in recovery mode and cramp. Hence, the need to slide down with huge strides. I was mentally thanking my gym trainer for training and strengthening my legs.
For the past 5 days, I wore a pair of gaiters around my ankles to prevent loose stones or earth entering into my shoes but I found them uncomfortable and tight. I decided to not wear them on the way to the peak. Unfortunately, while sliding down with huge strides, all the loose stones and earth entered into my shoes and took up all the space giving no air for my feet to breath. As a result, I had chafed skin-peeled ankles from the 5 days gaiter, and 2 big dead toenails (I am writing this one month later and the dead toenails have still not fallen off. Both of them are purplish black in colour.) from the "tight-filled-with-loose-stones" shoes.
At 11.50am, I reached the ranger's hut and waited for my sister to snap our group photo. Congratulations indeed!
So, my face has reached its ultimate stage of wind burn, and sun burn. It was badly burnt above my lips. My cheeks were raw. My lips were so dry.
We were given an hour to rest. We took that time to change and pack up. Eden told us the team was happy we reached the peak. Often, the team will be happy if their clients reach the peak because their effort was worth it. We got our lunch - soup and toasted bread, french fries, and vegetable salad.
Ahh, the priceless moment of me eating my lunch. My hair was beyond repair. It has stayed matted to my head for 8 hours in a buff. When I removed it, everything became static. I look awesome!
After lunch, we packed up and headed to our next camp, Mweka Camp. 3,068m. We left at 3pm. The route used is called Mweka Route. This is the route everyone uses to go back. There are 6 routes to go up to the peak but only one route to come down. It was so foggy.
The route was very rocky. I was afraid my boots will tear. And it hurt my legs too.
We saw the "ambulance" to bring down injured trekkers. Eden said it is very painful to the back carrying down the injured using this "ambulance".
Finally, after 3.5 hours. 6.35pm. 12 km distance. 3,068m. Mweka Camp. It was not as cold as the past few days. No more Diamox. No more frequent peeing.
For dinner, it is pumpkin soup, fried rice, and vegetable sauce. Avocado for dessert.
Both of us were so tired having not slept the night before. We slept early, happy with what we have achieved.
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My sister did a video of our 7-day Trek in Kilimanjaro. You can watch the video here (https://vimeo.com/184126352) or click on the below video but the quality is not as good as the one in the link (because the upload size is limited to less than 100MB). Hopefully it works.
2 comments:
AMAZING! An excellent post! :-) That rising sun was mostly welcome, I can guess!
Yes.. it means warmth and the peak is near.. :)
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