On Top Of The World ! Well Almost.
by Douglas Keppel, Rathrush, Ballon
It all kicked off at 2.45am ! Yea 2.45 am, arrived in the airport at
4am and after pushing some breakfast around our plates we were off on
the first leg, Cork to Amsterdam. We breezed through Amsterdam and before
we knew where we were we had boarded our KLM flight which would take
us to Kilimanjaro airport. It was an 8 hour flight and in keeping with
all such long haul there wasn’t much to do but grin and bear it.
Mind you the in flight entertainment wasn’t all that bad, we varied
in choice from Indiana Jones to the Pavarotti’s collection but
the 8 hours seemed like 80.
Finally we arrived in Tanzania. We stepped off the plane to almost complete
darkness and after I almost broke my neck missing the first step off
the plane we set foot in Africa. Again the airport was a relative breeze,
it was quite small which always helps. However one of our party never
made it off the plane. Barney was AWOL ! and this was bad. On a serious
note Barney was Declan’s rucksack ( Declan is a mate from Bandon,
Co.Cork ) which held all his hiking gear. After Dec left his details
and the rest of us had our gear strapped onto the top of the bus we
were off on our merry way.
About 1 hour later we were in our hotel. It was a real surprise it was
like something back home. Very clean, spacious and well equipped. After
dumping the gear in the rooms it was off down stairs to wet the whistles
and have a chat with the group and find out what we were letting ourselves
in for. We all had a great laugh and got to know each other a little
better.
The next day was spent strolling around Moshi, a little town close to
the mountain itself. It was a mad little place, a couple of things stood
out, the number of people selling shoes by the road side, a shop in
the centre of town selling plasma screen TV’s ( trust me it was
note worthy if you saw the kinda shops that were around it !) and us
I guess. We were getting a serious amount of attention. The remainder
of the day was spent chilling, eating and being briefed on Killi itself.
The next morning we were off. After a very interesting drive through
coffee and banana plantations we arrived at the gate to the national
park that houses the mighty mountain. That day we walked about 5 hours
and arrived at Machame Camp. Our porter, cooks and guides ( all 60 of
them ! ) had everything ready. The tents were in place and dinner was
served at 7ish. Bed and sleep shortly after.
The next morning we were on the road, well trail at 9 sharp. It was
a steep start to the day but the weather was fab and the craic was mighty.
Lunch came 4 hours later. Nice and relaxed lunch. Views were very good
today. We gained about 1000 m today and in the afternoon it was starting
to show. As we got near our camp at 4000 m some people started to feel
unwell. The usual symptoms, severe headaches, serious lack of energy
etc. The camp was a really cool place, bare, barren and with little
vegetation. At around 6pm she ( the mountain that is ) appeared from
behind the cloud. There was pandemonium around camp as everybody ran
frantically for cameras. Ironically the mountain stayed in view for
about another 3 hours and after sunset the snow and Glaciers near the
summit glowed a fabulous pink. After the American camp close by decided
to quieten down we all nodded off to sleep with varying degrees of success.
Again I was one of the lucky ones and slept pretty well with no major
heart racing experiences ( that afflict that high altitude sleeper ).
The next day started brill, the weather was fab and after the summer
? we’ve had it was great. Sun beating down, again the craic was
mighty albeit the altitude was kicking in big time today. We were walking
POLE POLE ( slowly slowly ) basically shuffling along. After lunch the
weather turned, clouds rolled in, and the temperature dropped. In the
afternoon we passed the Lava towers and some of the group braved the
technical climb leaving me ( terrified of heights ) freezing at the
bottom. That day was an 8-9 hour, got up to 4600 m and camped at 4000
m ( following the old rule walk high sleep low ). The camp that night
was brill, Killi was lit by moon light and we felt if we reached out
we could touch it. We all toddled off to our respective tents via head
torch at 9ish.
The next morning started at 8.30 after a hearty breakfast, porridge,
fruit, eggs and a frankfurter ! This morning we had a scramble up the
Baranco face. Nothing major but the porters here needed to be seen to
be believed. Sure footed as mountain goats and carrying 20 kg each.
I felt somewhat ashamed today as they passed us, they were carrying
my holdall, my bottled water, tent, food etc. I was carrying a paltry
5 kg, a camera, a days water, sun block and a warm jacket. We arrived
in camp at 3pm, again up to 4700 m and down to 4000m. The camp was called
Barafu camp, it was at 4000 m. It was an extremely barren place. Absolutely
no vegetation except lichens and no wild life although somebody did
spot a rat. This was to be our final camp. After a stroll around camp
it was time for dinner. After dinner it was time to catch a few hours
kip before we would be awoken from our slumber at 10pm. Needless to
say nobody slept, several factors put pay to that, the cold, the altitude,
nerves, to name but a few. Walking started at 11pm in the pitch dark.
There were several parties starting out that morning from that final
camp. It was somewhat funny to see maybe 40-50 head torches ahead and
behind us and we made slow progress up the mountain.
My abiding memory of that morning was the cold. It was almost impossible to stay warm because we were walking so slowly. Again the altitude was taking its few pounds of flesh. Those 9 hours to Gilmans point seemed to last for ever. One of the most difficult parts of the walk was the fact that it was dark and all you could do was watch the feet in front of you, at several points all I wanted to do was just lie down and sleep. I had to muster all my strength to fight that longing to sleep. The altitude and sleep deprivation got us in different ways, me, I was very nauseous and could barely keep my eyes open, Declan had a few scary moments after seeing 2 tennis courts at different points on the way up. After sunrise we started warming up a bit thankfully. It was a 20 minute walk from Gillmans to the Summit and it was tough going. Although relatively flat we were all tired and getting pretty hungry.
We stayed at the summit for about 30 mins,took loads of photos and generally sat about trying to take it all in. I remember commenting to myself “take a good look around, you’ll never be here again”.
After some handshakes and congratulatory back slapping we were on the way down. I was delighted although a tad worried as we had taken 9 hours to get up how long would it be down? Getting down the mountain was a lot easier than you’d think. It was like walking down a sand dune. You just basically slid down the mountain. OK you did end up on your ass every now and then but it was no problem really. We arrived back in camp at 1 ish. After lunch and packing our gear we were heading off down the mountain.
Our next camp was 4 hours away. Needless to say we were all getting really tired at this point but it had to be done. All you could do was switch your brain off and just walk. I still wanted to sleep but I managed to keep it together and made the final camp on the trek. The camp was nice lots of vegetation and the atmosphere was good. We settled in easily and after a celebratory Tusker beer it was time for the last supper. We all faded very fast after that and hit the hay shortly thereafter. We all slept the sleep of the innocent that night which was just what the doctor ordered.
We all felt refreshed and after putting on our cleanest dirty clothes it was time to say good bye to the porters, guides and cooks. Shortly after we were on our way again. This was it the final walk. It was about 5 hours to the gate entrance and our meeting point for the bus. After signing the registrar, buying tee shirts and knickknacks we were on our way back to the hotel for our first showers or wash in 8 days. After a shower it was away to have a bit to eat. Some slept in the afternoon, some of us just lazed around drinking tea and having a chat. That night we were off out to dinner and some more celebrations. It was at dinner that we were presented with our certificates for making the summit. It was a fair achievement, all 18 of us making the summit.
The
next day some headed off home, some of us continued on in Tanzania and
headed out on Safari which for me turned out to be a major highlight
of the holiday. But I guess that’s a tale for another day !