Mt Kilimanjaro
Trip Start
Sep 19, 2004
1
2
Trip End
Oct 04, 2004
Arusha, Tanzania
Monday, September 27, 2004
So.. what happened?
Day 1, we started off to our first camp, Machame camp, which is at 3000m. We hiked for about 18km. through tropical dense forest. It was very interesting and I felt really good about the whole climb. Not too strenuous, done it before, been at this altitude, everything's good. Though I was the last to reach camp, Festo & I arrived not too long after the rest of the group did. Festo is the "head honcho" of our local African guide. I say head honcho because he's got a right-hand guy, a left-hand, and in fact a whole crew with us. He was the "sweeper" - meaning, the one that stays at the tail end of the group - which means ME!... So he was basically stuck with me the whole time. He's a nice guy. We started the climb pretty late so we arrived camp only at around 6pm (about 6-7 hrs hike). Ophie & I settled in our tent, unpacked our sleeping bags, pads, and prepared for dinner. Dinner was wonderful! Fried potatoes, fish fillet, stewed vegetables, soup & bread. It feels like being in a fancy restaurant right on the mountain! After dinner, the skies cleared, the stars shone, and for the first time, we all saw Kilimanjaro rising majestically in front of us, it's snows glistened as the moon shines on it. It was so breathtaking. The peak looks so far away and so high up. I've been at this altitude before but it's my first time staying and sleeping at this altitude. I felt a bit dizzy so I decided to go to bed early.
Day 2. I woke up early, had my morning hot tea, packed my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and all the rest of my stuff into my duffel bag, prepared everything that I need for the day in my daypack - which I have to say is quite heavy!. We all had breakfast and left camp at around 8.30am, on our way to the next camp, the Shira Camp, at 3840m. It's 9km to Shira camp, 840m elevation rise, and would take about 6 hrs. I felt pretty good and excited about going through another kind of vegetation - heather & moorlands. So we trudged on. After a few hours, of course I start trailing behind, but Festo stayed with me. This is the highest I've ever been. I started to feel a bit light headed & dizzy so I walked slower and would stop and enjoy the view once in a while. I caught up with the rest of the group at the "Picnic Rock" , where we are having our lunch. From here, we can already see the Shira Plateau, where the camp is. By the time I reached the Picnic Rock, I was feeling so dizzy & nauseated already so I rested by a rock. I couldn't eat lunch as I'm sure everything will just come back up. So I rested. And started throwing up. Headache followed. Richard, our group lead from California, stayed behind with me. Ophie did too. And of course, Festo, while the rest of the group continued on. I tried eating some, but can't keep the food down. So we stayed for a while. When I started feeling better, I started walking again, only to throw up after 2-3 steps. Richard asked me to rate how rotten I feel, on a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being the worst. I was at 7. Rest. Walk, Throw up. Stop. Rest. That was pretty much what followed for the next few feet on the trail. My head felt so weird, I've never felt this way before. It wasn't migraine-like, not tension-headache-like either. I just wanted to lie down and sleep. Right there, on the rocks. More throwing up and I'm already on a 10 on the scale. Ophie gave me some neck & head massage, which helped a little. It's too early to give up. I can see the Shira Plateau, which is still quite a way. And boy do I know altitude sickness by now. It's amazing how a mere inch of elevation rise doubles the nausea/headache/dizziness that I feel! If the slope levels, I'm ok. When we start ascending, I start feeling worse! I can't even notice the ascent in the slope but my head tells me I'm ascending. It's the worst feeling I've ever had. I wanted to rush to the Kaiser emergency and have a Demerol shot - but I'm in the middle of nowhere, in between camps and really doesn't have a lot of option. One option is to descend, which for sure will make me feel better, but the lower camp is much farther than Shira Camp. And I didn't want to give up just yet. Oh by this time, I had already taken Diamox, a pill to help me acclimatize to the altitude. So we continued at a slow pace, stopping often specially when the trail ascends steeply. It's like I'm walking in the moon. Finally after several hours of misery and determination, we reached the Shira peak, and it leveled from there, all the way to the camp. I couldn't believe I made it to the camp! Everybody was relieved. Ophie said earlier on the trail, I didn't have any color in my face, my lips were blue and my face was so pale, she was so worried. I was so miserable. Anyway, we got to our tents, Ophie fixed up my sleeping bag, stocked up our duffel bags so I can lie down on an incline for a while. Richard brought me some hot soup & bread. I slept right away. Woke up late at night, took another Diamox, and slept again. It's freezing cold outside but its warm and cozy in my sleeping bag. Although I have to get up several times to pee :*( - and it's freezing cold outside! Thanks to fleece jacket & down jacket (and eventually, Thanks to ziplocks! :D )
Day 3. I woke up feeling great. Had a wonderful sleep. Feeling very rested and ready to charge. Can't be any better. I felt good, felt that the worse is over, and now that I'm on the Diamox program, I am excited to see the next camp, Barranco Camp,. 11km away, and is at 3950m. Although, we have to go up to 4500m first before going down to the camp. So that's about 700m elevation rise, in 11km, about 8 hrs of hiking. Its going to be a long day, so we had to start early. After breakfast, we all started our hike. Everybody is slower. Altitude does that to you - and you have to be slower anyway. I get dizzy if I go any faster than one-heel-after-the-other-toe kind of pace. Richard reminded me to take it nice & slow. So I did. Festo stayed with me, and Richard would slow down once in a while to check in on me. After ascending about 200 meters, I started getting a headache again. The altitude kind. I thought oh, everybody gets it at this level. So I took headache tablets. It should go away. Well, it didn't. I started getting lightheaded & dizzy again. And of course, throwing up followed. It was a pretty steep ascent so needless to say, 2 steps up = 1 throwing up. This time I can't even keep water down. And of course, lots of throwing up, plus no water down, and in altitude ? .. guess how I was feeling. Festo & I stopped so I can rest and assess the situation. We are at a ridge and I can see the snows of Kilimanjaro up close. It's so beautiful. Festo said, Maria you have to listen to your body and what it tells you. I am already on Diamox. Obviously my body is not acclimatizing well, even with the help of Diamox. We still have 500 meters to ascend. If I push at this pace - ie, 2 steps, throw up, rest - by the time we reach Barranco, it could be past midnight already! - that is, if I even make it, knowing how weak I am already not even able to eat or drink. Festo & I talked. It's a hard decision to make. A decision you don't want to make too early, but also something you don't want to make too late. I was staring at the peak of Kilimanjaro, we were quiet for a moment, and I started crying. At that moment, deep in my heart, I know I have to descend. It's the only way to go. We waited for Richard to come back. When he did, we all talked. They can all feel my pain, my disappointment, my heartache. And I can feel how hard it is for Richard to say, that sad as it is, we all know that I have to descend. Festo said he had to stand ground on this. I have to. Richard gave me a hug, as Festo & I started descending. Of course I started feeling better as soon as we started our descent. That sucks. I felt better and of course I feel like I can go again. But I know better than that. That's not going to change. It differs from every person - my body can't acclimatize well past this level. I need more time to acclimatize, which we don't have. Physically, there's no doubt I could make it. One lady in our group hasn't hiked before Kili. Hiking is not her thing, her friend got her into this. She didn't even work out to train for Kili. She said she thought she lives in NY so she walks a lot, and that was her training. And she's still there, making her way up to the top. On our way down, there's plenty of 70-yr-olds, still trudging their way up.
The weather has been good since we started. At this elevation, it's cold already but other than that, the weather's been perfectly fine. As Festo & I descended to the "rescue route", it started raining. I put on my rain jacket & rain pants, and Festo had his umbrella. I was walking behind him, we are both quiet. All I hear is the swish-swish of my rain pants, and the pitter-patter on my hood. That day, Kilimanjaro cried and I wept.
We arrived at the rescue post. I signed at the rescue register - not a summit register. Waited on the post until the rescue ranger arrived. We walked in the rain for another hour until we reached a rescue truck, which took us to Londorosi Gate, where we transferred to a mini van sent by the tour agency we are with (and whose office I am on at the moment). While on the truck, I told Festo, it's only 2 nights away before the summit climb. He said, "Maria, all it takes is pushing for 1more night and you can lose your life. It had happened and I've seen it happen". They booked me a room at Moivaro Lodge, where I arrived at around 6:30pm. Said goodbye to Festo. Talked to my tour agency's operations' manager and agreed to meet him in the morning. I went to my room and wanted to shower. I didn't have anything with me aside from my daypack - which has first aid kit, some food, headlamp, fleece jacket, and whatever I'm wearing - trail pants, base layers, rain jacket & rain pants. I showered , bought toothbrush/toothpaste from the lodge, and went to dinner. I could hardly eat. I went back to my room and slept.
