day 5 – we begin our trek to the summit!

July 20:

From our Itinerary: Summit day: Mweka forest camp (3100 m) We will start our ascent by headlamp at about 12 a.m. so that we can be up on the Crater rim by sunrise. The climb over volcanic scree has some well-graded zig zags and a slow but steady pace will take us to Stella Point (5,735 m) in about five or six hours. We will rest there for a short time to enjoy the sunrise over Mawenzi. From here we’ll continue along the crater rim to Uhuru Peak (5,896 m), passing close to the spectacular glaciers and ice cliffs that still occupy most of the summit area. The descent to Barafu is surprisingly fast, and after some refreshment, we continue to descend to reach our final Mweka forest camp (12 hours walking throughout the day)

Deb and Becky are up early, and begin their quest for the summit at around 10 :00 PM, the rest of us begin our ascent around 11:30 PM. We all meet in the mess tent for some cookies (biscuits) and tea or coffee. We really did not get a lot of sleep at camp, maybe a couple of hours at most. I think we are all cold and tired, but this is why we came to Tanzania! It’s a beautiful night with a full moon. The moon illuminates everything and it’s almost not necessary to for our head lamps – but we do want to see the rocks as we walk, so we do use them.

With our head lamps on, off we go in the dark. It is a slow, almost endless hike up to Stella Point. I am actually glad that it is somewhat dark – if it were lighter, I would be constantly looking up to how much further we need to go. I just put my head down and follow the Julius’ footsteps – one step at a time. As we continue to hike, the group begins to break up – this is natural and why we have so many guides and porters – everyone goes at their own pace. In the lead group we have Adam, Lynn, Cathy and myself. We are led by Julius and have Paolo assisting. Lacey, Lilly and Peter follow – and soon it is Lacey and Lilly followed by Peter. As we continue our ascent, tired and cold, we meet up with Becky and then Deb. They are pushing hard, but it’s a difficult climb. I know for myself, I did not have diamox for the altitude, but had Zorfran. I was feeling a little nauseous as I climbed, but it would soon go away. I think I was willing it away! As I hiked over rocks, I did feel a little dizzy – a natural feeling when being so high. On the way down to Mweka Gate, Adam and I talked about it as he was behind me on the way up to the summit. He said I was definitely walking as if I were drunk at times. We all fought off our cold and tired feeling and eventually reach our first milestone – Stella Point at around 5:40 am. We huddle near some rocks as we added hand warmers to our gloves and as we tried to bundle up more. The wind coming over the point was bone chilling and strong. During our ascent, I wished I had more to eat and drink as my body felt depleted. I know the rest of group felt the same way. It was still dark, and the hard part was behind us  as the climb from Stella Point to Uhuru Peak, is a gradually climb.

As we continue our climb, we pass other climbers on the way down from Uhuru Peak, who gives us encouragement – “Congrats, you are almost there!” they say. We press on and the sun begins to rise over – it is one of the most beautiful sites on can see – and with the full moon it is even more specular. On one side you see the full moon and on the other side you see the sun rising.

The Sun Rising over Kili.

We finally reach the summit at 6:15 am- Uhuru Peak – standing some 5,895 m or 19,341 feet above sea level! Our group shares a moment and we huddle together with Julius, excited and happy we reached the peak and we are all good and safe. We spend a little time on the summit taking photos and enjoying this breathtaking view!

Steve, Cathy, Lynn, Adam and Paolo on Uhuru Peak.

Celebrating our Summit with Julius!

We decide to begin our descent, on the way down we pass Lilly and Lacey, then Peter. We are excited to see them and know they will summit shortly. And off in the distance we see the majestic glaciers of Kili. We are soon back at Stella Point, we stop briefly and then decided to make the long journey back to Barafu Camp.

One of Kili Glaciers.

The descent back to camp is long and hard on our knees. As we are going down, Julius tells me that much of the descent down is the same route we went up – I hardly recognize it, and I am glad that we went up in the dark. The trail is filled with volcanic rock called scree. It’s a little treacherous and tiring, but we finally make it down and back at camp – it’s time to rest before we make the 3-4 hour hike down to our final camp – Mweka Forest Camp.

I’ll continue later….