Jan 22-30 - up Kilimanjaro with Kiliwarriors - was it worth it ?

I've been asked that question by a friend who is also planning the climb.  They heard that it was tough and that there were climbs / hikes that were just as good in North America (less expensive, more accessible etc).  Not having done any climbing or hiking before, I don't know about the NA climbs; I can only answer for Kili. 

My answer ?  Yes.  It was worth it.  

There is a real sense of accomplishment -- especially for Sandy, who hasn't done crazy things like this before (I put my 1200k rides in the crazy category).  I made it up and down, in spite of my foot and in spite of having a bad head cold.  Sandy had no difficulty whatsoever.  All that training paid off !

This was a hike, not a climb.  Yes, there were times, especially on the 7th day, when we were hand over hand up some rocks, but it's not a technical climb.  I saw places where there were pins in the rocks and places to attach ropes -- that was from back-in-the-day when there was snow on that part of the mountain.  Some glaciers remain but they're dwindling; there was a dusting of snow as we got close to the summit; but not much more.  We'd seen forecasts that made it look like we'd be sleeping in our tents in several feet of snow but that must have been someone's mirage. 

There are a lot of people on the mountain.  I heard that something like 100 people summit every day.  I have no idea whether that includes guides or if that's just climbers like us.  Perhaps all those climbers are a mirage too ?  We only saw a lot of people at the very beginning and at the very end.  The route that we took -- up the west and down the east -- is more challenging, we've been told -- and most climbs go up and down the east side. 

The original plan had us getting to the summit at dawn of the 8th day and then starting our descent, finishing on the 9th.  Kiliwarriors gave us the flexibility to change that plan.  We hit the summit early afternoon on the 7th day and then started our descent.  More on that in a minute.

The first day was slow going.  It's a 3+ hour car ride from Arusha, where we'd spent the prior two days, to the gate from which we were starting.  The Londorosi Gate is at 7300 feet; 12000 feet from the summit !  We got to the gate a little after noon, having stopped at a convenience store along the way to buy water and another stop to take pictures of zebras ... you get the idea.  It was busy with crowds of people, mostly porters of course.  There were a couple of groups ahead of us checking in and then they do an official weighing of the porter packs, to ensure that the outfits aren't overworking the porters.  It took quite a while.  

And off we go !  Sandy's wearing her new African pants !

The weigh-in

Quick lunch before setting out

Since it was a late start, we ended up having some lunch before we started up.  It was a nice day and they setup tables etc. We then started up the trail through the rain forest.  Packed mud is probably the best way of describing the trail.  Along the way we saw some large black and white monkeys, birds, elephant dung (just the dung), and lots of trees.  Our group of 16 climbers, about 100 in total -- yes, 100 -- made its way to our overnight camp.  When we arrived there, tents had already been setup by our porters and shortly thereafter we had dinner.

Hosea, the main man!

in the rain forest

climber tents

Why does it take so many people ?  Well, think of a 9-day trek, tents, food, cooking supplies including propane tanks, chairs, latrines -- it's a vicious circle because of course the porters have to feed themselves as well.  We also don't leave anything on the mountain -- what goes up must come down.  That includes garbage.  We all had personal porters, so that accounts for 16.  Most people used their porters; Sandy and Chris did not.  Sandy was the oldest on the climb and yes, you guessed it, Chris the youngest, save the owner's son Tom at 22 years old who used a personal porter ( I think that I have that correct ).  Another porter carried his drone ... but that's an entirely different story.

Speaking of Chris, he set a world record at the top -- 92 pushups filmed by Tom.  Apparently the Guinness Book has someone with 40 ! 

Our tents were just wide enough for two base pads with sleeping bags and our duffle bags.  The duffle bags held our clothing and sleeping bag except that Sandy's was a little short so it didn't fit.  A porter would then carry all that along with some other gear, perhaps a folding chair ... they all had big packs.  Our duffles were squashed into larger packs with other stuff.

Still in the heather zone

The fourteen of us under a rock overhang

 Simone demonstrating the operation of the latrine ... well not exactly !

It's hard to anchor a tent in rock, other than with other rocks !

Tents, tents, tents -- 2 large mess tents, tents for the porters, tents for cooking, tents for the port-a-potties (like the one that we have in our boat); lots of tents.  The porters slept in large tents probably 15 per tent without a square inch of spare space.  I'm sure that they were warm !

Many of us were two per tent, save Rob, Howard and Tom.  Those of us 2-fers were warmer in our tents than the singles.  At first that wasn't a problem but later on, those one-per-tent got hot water bottles to stay warm.  Still, by the third day there was frost on the tent and it only got colder.  The only warm spots were in the mess tent if it was full and in our sleeping bags. 

During the day it didn't seem cold; you were walking.  At night it was a different story.  The temperature dropped dramatically with the sun.  After about the 3rd day we were sleeping in long johns, fleeces and hats in our 0F cocoon-like sleeping bags.  You really didn't want to get up during the night to pee ... getting out of your sleeping bag, putting on more clothes and hiking boots, putting a head light on, making your way to one of the two latrine tents.  Fun. 

It was difficult not having a shower for 9 days.  It's hard to believe that in the "olden days" people would have one bath per year whether they needed it or not.  On the 5th day, with a spot of sun in the afternoon, I washed my hair.  It felt so much better to have my head clean.  After sleeping in my hat again, it wasn't.

Enough of that -- the climb was easy compared to the personal aspects.  My head cold and coughing, cold, lack of shower; those were the tough things.  11-12 hour nights in the tent -- I can't sleep that long.

Before dawn on that first night I heard some birds chattering overhead.  That turned out to be monkeys.  Another day hiking in rain forest (without rain, thank goodness) and we were into the heather zone.  The growth got shorter and shorter until soon it was only moss and lichens.   The packed mud changed to cinder-like gravel and to rock.  The trail was obvious even on the rock - all around the rock was black; on the trail it was lighter colored from the many boots.

The porters carry big packs.

The trail is marked by footsteps.

The daytime weather got steadily colder as we proceeded.  We added layers and zipped up.  We were never cold during the day except at one point Sandy's hands were cold; her hand warmers weren't keeping up.  At that point she was using walking poles, which probably contributed to the cold hands.  She carried her pack every day except day 7, when Felix took it from her in spite of her objections and helped drag her up some of the big steps in the rock.

The strategy most days was to climb high, sleep low.  I didn't know what that meant until we were out there. On day 4, that was because the camp was lower than the ridge that we'd crossed. On day 5, at Lava Tower 15,000 feet, we had lunch and then climbed to Arrow Glacier, 1,000 feet further up, and then back to Lava Tower.  Day 6 we climbed to Arrow Glacier at 16,000 feet, had lunch, climbed another 500 feet and then back to Arrow Glacier.

We walked ssslllllooooowwwwwlllllyyy.  One foot barely ahead of another.  The word in Swahili is pole pole (like pole-eh) -- slow.  The guides kept us at that pace.  I could have gone just a little bit faster, and did on the final day, but you quickly realize that you're not going to dash up the trail like the porters, even if you're not carrying anything.

We'd been offered the option of getting to the summit on the 7th day and we were unanimous, or at least the vocal (mouthy like me) ones were unanimous.  The original plan would have had us getting to Crater Camp at 18,500 feet and staying there for the night.  No one wanted to try and sleep at Crater Camp.  Apparently some groups get to crater camp and crawl into their tents and don't want to eat.  We wanted to get the heck out of Dodge.

We left Arrow Glacier at 4am, heading for Crater Camp.  This takes us through the Western Breach, where some climbers were killed a few years ago in an avalanche.  The new rule is that you cannot enter that area after 5:30 a.m. because after that, the sun hits the rocks above and can melt the frost, sending just one rock rolling down that soon picks up other rocks.

It's not all open, smooth going

Before we even got to the so-called "danger zone" (sounds like Top Gun), I heard this low sound (I can hear low sounds, just not high sounds) and thought "what's that".  In another second I had my answer as Hosea, the "main man" yelled "DOWN" and I found out why we were wearing helmets on that part of the climb.

Avalanche !

The rumble grew, it passed by us in the little gully to our right.  Some pebbles hit some climbers.  Porters prayed.  It passed.  Only later do you realize how close we were to disaster.  The porters knew right away. 

Continuing, we were in and out of the danger zone, got rid of our helmets (thank goodness as it constantly moved my hat and glasses down over my face), and start up the rocky steps.  These aren't man made, it's just the way that the cookie crumbles. Big high steps, hoist yourself up.  Shorter people needed a hand.  This is a land where I'm average height, except for the Masai of course, I did not.  UP, up, up.  I needed a bathroom.  An open expanse of rock was my option.  Nope.  Pee ok, squat no.  We stopped for a snack but Tom and I continued on.  At that point, almost at 18k feet, even the porters were slowing down.  I was mostly keeping up to them. 

Tom and I made it to Crater Camp ahead of everyone else by about 1/2 hour.  While most of the camps had an outhouse (that we didn't use), Crater Camp did not.  "Local Toilet", I was told.  Lots of 6' high rocks, find some shelter.  

16,000 feet on the 5th day, then we went back down to Lava Tower at 15,000 to sleep.

Sandy and Vita with Lava Tower in the background

Yes, it really is as steep as you can see the slope behind.  Sandy is down there in the navy hat; I asked her to look up and her response ? "he's got to be kidding".

Soon some porters came.  They setup some of the small guest tents and Hosea advised us to get out of the weather -- snowing at that point.  Sandy and I along with the two Ontario doctors Howard and Rob, went into one tent and relaxed.  H&R snoozed.  We were just on the ground but were out of the wind.

Apparently the mess tent porter ran into an altitude problem.  Hosea gave up on the mess tent, setup the tables outside -- the sun was out then -- and fed us something; forget what.  We then started up that last 800' to the summit, arriving there sometime after 2pm in the glorious sun, all by ourselves, not having to give way to other groups for photo ops.

Tom and I reached Crater Camp first, ahead of most of the porters.  That's ice behind us -- glacier.

Success !  You can see the glacier in the background.  That's at the Crater Camp level.

This was a tough moment.  Sara had given us small necklaces with a pinch of Alexander's ashes.  

Does this look like the moon ?   This was the camp at 15,000 feet on the way down the east side.  Most groups climb and descend the east.  Their porters only have to carry to 15k feet.  Their climbers leave at midnight, climb from 15,000 to 19,300 to arrive there at dawn, descend to 15,000 for lunch and then descend further.  Our porters had to carry everything to 18,500 feet, circle the summit and then down to 15,000 feet.  Because we made up the plan as we went along (early summit), we didn't have a booking at the 15,000 foot camp.  We were in a really rocky area -- smooth under the tents, but that's all.

From the summit, by 3pm we were heading down; by 5:30 p.m. we'd descended to15,000 feet mostly on what they call scree -- loose sand that's 3-5" deep, skating in that stuff.  Sandy's broken toe was killing her at that point and on the other foot, her nail had been squished into the end of the boot ... well, she's probably going to lose that nail. 

By the next morning, she couldn't put on her boots.  Hosea saved the day, removing her insoles to give her more room and tying the boots ultra tight so that her feet didn't move forward.  Without his help, she wouldn't have been able to walk. 

Some of us would have made the complete descent.  That wasn't unanimous.  We went about half-way down and stopped at another camp, busy with other ascenders and descenders.  That camp was right at the edge of the rain forest.  The last day we made it down to the gate.  Our adventure was mostly over ... save the safari, of course, which is an entirely different story !

Our finishing gate.

The guides and porters often put on a short "show", so to speak.  This fellow was like the caller in a square dance and they all sang.   We were presented with certificates at the bottom ...

They fed us well; an amazing array of well prepared, well presented food.  Hot soups, bacon and eggs, avocados, on and on.  The staff were always happy and checking on us.  They checked our O2 levels twice a day.  They want us to make it to the summit and are constantly checking on us, ensuring that we're eating etc.  A sure sign of altitude sickness is nausea. 

We had a really good group.  Bob Kassel was the only one who ran into trip-limiting altitude sickness.  He was taken down early on the third day, around 12,000 feet.  His wife Marian went down with him.  Howard had trouble on the 6th day, but that was the day that we stayed at Lava Tower two nights.  Otherwise, he'd have been toast.

Two from Texas, two from Quebec (Tom and Tiah), Steve and Chris (son) from the US, Sandy and me ... from somewhere, Alain and Vita from south Florida, Simone from UK trying again and making it this time; the rest from Canada.  We got along well.  It was better to have a group to talk to than simply two of us.  With 16 (then 14) there were two mess tents, so the company was a little different each time ... well, not much different :).

Kiliwarriors ... cannot say enough good about them.  Gerry and Wilbert, owners, Hosea the main man on the climb, all the guides and porters ... an amazing experience overall.

Would we do it again ?  No.  Are we glad that we did it ?  Yes.  That's my answer and I'm sticking to it !