After spending one night in Arusha, Tanzania, we started our Kili climb on a Tuesday morning. We had a small group. Just Pat, Cathleen, myself, our guide, assistant guide, cook, and 12 porters!! The porters were perhaps the only thing more amazing than the mountain scenery. The loads they carry are simply incredible. For example: one porter put on my large camping backpack, strapped his backpack on the back of it, and then put a box on his head. My brother asked our guide will they leave before us? How will they keep up? Our guide laughed and said they go up much faster than we will. Sure enough all the tourists constantly have to stand aside as the porters practically run up the mountain with duffle bags on their heads.
Our hike up the Macheme route took 5 days to reach base camp, all the while going pole pole (Kiswahili for slowly slowly) because of the altitude. Everyday we hiked through different scenery, all of it amazing: rainforests, scrub land, lava fields, etc. Most of the time we could see the snow covered summit looming in front of us. We also enjoyed looking back down below and seeing nothing but clouds; you’re above a thick layer from the second day on. The hikes were tiring but not incredibly challenging.
We woke up at 11:30PM on the fifth night to begin our assault on the summit. We dressed in our warmest gear, snow pants and all, and with head lamps on started pole pole towards the top. It was quite cold, but nothing us Buffalo born Bradys hadn’t put up with before. (Actually, for me, it wasn’t much worse than being in the tent; my sleeping bag left something to be desired). Cathleen, the Californian, braved it admirably. The hike took a long 7 hours, and made the sunrise at the top all the more rewarding. The glaciers definitely aren’t all melted yet, and Patrick and I enjoyed running out into the ice fields. We also enjoyed seeing the shadow of the mountain on the clouds below, seeing Mt. Meru (a large mountain) far below us, and congratulating each other on reaching 19,384 ft, Africa’s highest point. (That’s right; I’m bragging a little. Did I mention it’s the world’s highest free standing mountain?)
After a brief celebration, and a lot of pictures at the top, we climbed back down to base camp, slept for a few hours, and then hiked down on a new route back to the rainforest. We camped one more night on the mountain and then hiked out the following day. Our legs definitely thought it was a lot of altitude to lose in two days. Luckily for us all we had to do the next three days was sit in safari vehicles and hang out in resorts.
I let my brother take all the pics for our Kili climb and safari; you can see more of them on his picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/mr.patrick.brady/AfricaTrip
Our hike up the Macheme route took 5 days to reach base camp, all the while going pole pole (Kiswahili for slowly slowly) because of the altitude. Everyday we hiked through different scenery, all of it amazing: rainforests, scrub land, lava fields, etc. Most of the time we could see the snow covered summit looming in front of us. We also enjoyed looking back down below and seeing nothing but clouds; you’re above a thick layer from the second day on. The hikes were tiring but not incredibly challenging.
We woke up at 11:30PM on the fifth night to begin our assault on the summit. We dressed in our warmest gear, snow pants and all, and with head lamps on started pole pole towards the top. It was quite cold, but nothing us Buffalo born Bradys hadn’t put up with before. (Actually, for me, it wasn’t much worse than being in the tent; my sleeping bag left something to be desired). Cathleen, the Californian, braved it admirably. The hike took a long 7 hours, and made the sunrise at the top all the more rewarding. The glaciers definitely aren’t all melted yet, and Patrick and I enjoyed running out into the ice fields. We also enjoyed seeing the shadow of the mountain on the clouds below, seeing Mt. Meru (a large mountain) far below us, and congratulating each other on reaching 19,384 ft, Africa’s highest point. (That’s right; I’m bragging a little. Did I mention it’s the world’s highest free standing mountain?)
After a brief celebration, and a lot of pictures at the top, we climbed back down to base camp, slept for a few hours, and then hiked down on a new route back to the rainforest. We camped one more night on the mountain and then hiked out the following day. Our legs definitely thought it was a lot of altitude to lose in two days. Luckily for us all we had to do the next three days was sit in safari vehicles and hang out in resorts.
I let my brother take all the pics for our Kili climb and safari; you can see more of them on his picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/mr.patrick.brady/AfricaTrip
1 comment:
Dude,
I can't believe you got to the peak. I've read horror stories about that climb. I'm so jealous and psyched for you. Drop a line when you have a chance.
Comp
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