Start: Barafu Camp (Elevation = 15,358 ft)
Middle: Uhuru Summit (Elevation = 19,341 ft)
End: Mweka Camp (Elevation = 10,138 ft)
The porters came by around 10:45 PM (technically still Dec 31) to wake us up for the summit hike. Put on hand / body warmers including around water bottles as well as all other warm clothes. Went to the dinner tent for tea and cookies. We all were wearing our head lamps and kept shining them in each others' eyes as we were eating.
Everyone was still tired from the long hike the day before and from the elevation. After our snack, we went outside of the tent and finished getting the gear ready. Most tried to put their backpacks under their winter coats to try to prevent the water from freezing. Azizi suggested we take a mix of camelbacks and bottles. Camelbacks are convenient, but the hoses freeze very easily so it is possible to have a whole bag full of water but no way to drink it.
After getting situated with all of our gear, Azizi watched his watch and he counted down to midnight and New Years 2011. There was a lot of cheering around camp at midnight and a lot of different people saying Happy New Years in many different languages. The moon was not out, but millions of stars were visible. We could at least find O-Ryan's belt, but weren't sure of any other constellations this far south.
The hike from our tents to the trail was hard enough. Once there, we could see a trail of head lamps going up the mountain when we were getting ready to leave. There is very loose gravel on the trail and any movement at this elevation is tiring. We went uphill for about 10 min and then downhill....unfortunately this was the last time we would go downhill on the whole trip to the summit. Afout an hour into the hike, one of our assistant guides, Godfrey, had to turn back as he was not feeling well. We discovered later that he had malaria.
The tea and crackers quickly ran out on this climb. We stopped every ~30 min for a short break to catch our breath and eat some snacks. We ate a lot of shot blocks and granola bars. It did get harder to get up from the breaks every time as we got higher.
None of us knew how long we had to go. We could only see a long string of head lamps snaking up as high as we could see. When we got to that point which we thought was the top, we would see another huge string of lamps heading even farther up. John asked once how long there was yet to go, but was asked not to ask. At this point, it's best not to know.Steph, Cindy and Simko were having the most trouble with altitude and were put towards the front of the line by Azizi.
At 5:30 AM, we arrived at Stella Point (Elevation 18,870 ft). The eastern sky was starting to turn pink. May had chosen to rest here and watch the sunrise. We all agreed to keep going to head for the summit. We reached the Uhuru Summit (Elevation 19,341 ft) at 6:15 AM.
It is a frenzied pace to get your picture taken in front of the sign. It is disorganized and you basically just have to jump in and smile as soon as the last person is done. We left our bags and hiking poles in a pile with our assistant guide while we went to take pictures.
Having taken all of our pictures, we were headed back down within 20 min of arriving at the summit. It is not healthy to stay at this elevation for very long. We made it a point to say 'Happy New Years' and offer words of encouragement to those still struggling to make it to the summit as we went down.
Once we passed Stella Point on the way down, the journey the trip became more tedious. The adrenoline of reaching the summit was gone and the lack of sleep and low oxygen was taking its toll on the group. The sun was bright now and soon we were shedding layers. The ground was a fine dust / sand so we kept our ski goggles on. The wind was blowing and we were kicking up more dust as we walked. It was difficult to keep your footing in this sand. One could have almost slid down, were it not for the huge boulders in the way. By the time we arrived back at base camp 3 hours later, we were all exhausted and coughing from all of the dust.
It was around 9:30 when we arrived back in camp. We did not pack at all before leaving the night before, so the initial plan was to pack everything up, have a quick lunch, and then continue for the 3 hours down to the camp for that evening. All of us were too tired to think about that. Azizi agreed that we could meet for lunch at 11:00 AM meaning we had 1.5 hours to sleep, pack or whatever else we wanted to do. Simko and John were exhausted and went to sleep immediately. They tried to set Simko's iPhone alarm but unfortunately it was on the wrong time zone and they didn't wake up until Mike came by at 10:50. Since falling asleep, the wind had picked up and it was even dustier than before which gave us all motivation for leaving. Simko and John frantically stuffed things in their duffels and showed up about 10 min late for lunch.
Azizi did not join us for lunch today. We were all tired and coughing from the dust. No one had much of an appetite so lunch did not take very long. The group went out and finished packing. The porters refilled our water bottles for the trip down to Mweka camp.
We were all feeling tired and under the weather from the altitude. As we started out from base camp, we saw one woman being carried down with oxygen. We also received word as we were leaving camp that a porter had died the night before. We were all thankful that none of us encountered any severe symptoms of altitude sickness.
The hike down to Mweka camp was not difficult, just tedious after having already hiked up to the summit and back. When we arrived around 3:00, the porters were still working to set up the camp. We signed in at the hut and they actually were selling Kilimanjaro brand beer here. Some others were celebrating New Years and reaching the summit with some beverages, but we didn't feel like beer after what we had been through. We received warm water again at this stop to wash with.
Our camp was located right along the main path into the camp. Steph and Cindy put the '2011' sign on their tent and many people stopped to take pictures and talk to them as they walked into camp.
Prior to popcorn and tea at ~4:00 we unpacked and worked to assemble all of the tips for the porters and guides. Porters were tipped ~$7 per day. Although we had given Steph most of the money before we started the hike, we ended up with a few more porters than we had initially expected so we each had to chip in some more money. We also put together a bag of our left over granola bars, hand warmers, jerky, etc to give to the porters. We went back to the tents then until dinner.
Dinner was generally the same pasta / vegetable sauce as we had had most meals. After that was done, we immediately went back to the tents to get ready for bed. We were located close to the public bathrooms and the main hut so there was a decent amount of noise in the camp. It did not matter to any of us and we fell asleep immediately.
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