Day 4 - Summit climb at midnight!
Terrified, insecure, excited and hesitating... Tonight is the start of the big climb to the summit!
We went for a few hours rest, but it was hard to sleep. After my emotional breakdown earlier I was determined to get a few hours of sleep as it couldn't really get any worse. I was really cracking up and thinking I wouldn't make it. Disappointment mixed with tiredness and nausea, knowing that we all needed each other to make it to the top, the goal of the whole journey, The Roof of Africa. I went to rest next to Jan and tried to be cheerful as I didn't want to spoil the mood for him. I think I prayed to God, Jesus and my gran before getting some rest. When it was time to get up and have a meal before midnight, I got out of the tent and there it was, in its full glory looking down at me. Suddenly I felt better, it didn't feel impossible. It felt DO-ABLE!!!
Full with new spirit I went into the dinner tent to the guys and told them, Kili is do-able and we will do it!! I think everyone was both surprised and happy for my new found spirit and as we all had lost our appetite (even Dean!), we needed every little piece of motivation we could get.
We set off, me again dressed in Abel's clothes as I was quite sure I didnt have enough to keep me warm. The lovely man gives me his jacket and trousers again, and I know that I will be fine. We set off, and I don't think we needed more than 20 minutes before I remembered how it felt like just a few hours ago. I also remembered that the first 30-45 minutes normally are the worst, so I just kept on walking the mini steps while focusing on my breathing. I had to give it a go before giving up. We took a break every 50 minutes, for 10 minutes, and short breaks to catch our breath now and again. Abel noticed quite early that I was suffering, I couldn't breath and was quite slow, so he took my back pack from me and wanted me in front. That move probably changed the whole outcome.
Shaun started to feel sick, but he couldn't vomit. Jan started to feel sick too, and got something out. Then he was consolidating Shaun for the rest of the climb as he felt so sorry for him. Abel had brought cookies and tea for us, which no one really wanted, but he tried to force-feed us which worked with some of us, others put up a fight. Yeah I know, a horrible man who wants to help us get our energy levels up... After break number 53 or so, and I thought 2h after the start, Abel tells us that we were only a few hours from Stella Point, which counts as the summit even if its around 100m lower than Uhuru Peak. As I thought we had only walked for a few hours, I was happily surprised by this as it meant that we were more than half way and that what ever time I think we have spent, we have spent the double!
Outbreak!
Ben, who was absolutely fine during the whole climb saw this weird illness spreading in the team. We all changed along the way, like an outbreak in super speed! As we were getting closer to the summit, Abel was walking with his face towards us, and pushing me to the limit. I will never forget that look he gave me, it felt like he was pulling me up the mountain with his eyes. I starred at him, and somehow I managed to push through and we reached Stella Point!
What a success! No one really believed it, everyone was a bit out of it and not sure what to do next. It was cloudy still but we could see it was getting brighter.
Uhuru Peak
Abel wanted us to move on to the summit, and it was a bit easier to walk when we knew that we were so close, and that we had already reached one top. After an hour, we reached Uhuru Peak, we were on the top of the world! WE DID IT!!!!
We had the presence to take pictures and look around, but its hard to be reasonable when your body just wants to go down!
Dean couldn't walk anymore, his legs couldn't hold him. Steve had a bad knee that couldn't carry him anymore. They both sat down at Stella Point when we got back there. Shaun was trying to vomit but that didnt work either. Jan was a bit all over the place too and I couldn't breath and my legs were getting wobbly. I walked down from Uhuru Peak with Abel, and we were chatting away. Suddenly I just have to vomit, and in 3 seconds I am vomiting. And that was it. We went down to the others at Stella Point and sat down, drinking some water. Water is the main thing on this kind of trip, as it gives you oxygen. After a while, Dean was taken down by a guide and the rest of us followed. As Dean had used sun protection lip balm that made his lips look blue, they thought he was quite bad which was why they rushed him down... we only realized that afterwards :)
The climb down was everything the climb up wasn't. Sunny, warm, great scenery, nice... The body just feels better the further down you get. It took us 2hrs to get back down to camp, and that was a great feeling. On the way down I was trying to tell Abel that I had been training for porter school and that he should hire me. When he wasn't 100% sure about that, I said that I also had been training to be Tanzanian Mama, so I could be his second wife. I still don't know what his laugh meant...
We went for a few hours rest, but it was hard to sleep. After my emotional breakdown earlier I was determined to get a few hours of sleep as it couldn't really get any worse. I was really cracking up and thinking I wouldn't make it. Disappointment mixed with tiredness and nausea, knowing that we all needed each other to make it to the top, the goal of the whole journey, The Roof of Africa. I went to rest next to Jan and tried to be cheerful as I didn't want to spoil the mood for him. I think I prayed to God, Jesus and my gran before getting some rest. When it was time to get up and have a meal before midnight, I got out of the tent and there it was, in its full glory looking down at me. Suddenly I felt better, it didn't feel impossible. It felt DO-ABLE!!!
Full with new spirit I went into the dinner tent to the guys and told them, Kili is do-able and we will do it!! I think everyone was both surprised and happy for my new found spirit and as we all had lost our appetite (even Dean!), we needed every little piece of motivation we could get.
We set off, me again dressed in Abel's clothes as I was quite sure I didnt have enough to keep me warm. The lovely man gives me his jacket and trousers again, and I know that I will be fine. We set off, and I don't think we needed more than 20 minutes before I remembered how it felt like just a few hours ago. I also remembered that the first 30-45 minutes normally are the worst, so I just kept on walking the mini steps while focusing on my breathing. I had to give it a go before giving up. We took a break every 50 minutes, for 10 minutes, and short breaks to catch our breath now and again. Abel noticed quite early that I was suffering, I couldn't breath and was quite slow, so he took my back pack from me and wanted me in front. That move probably changed the whole outcome.Shaun started to feel sick, but he couldn't vomit. Jan started to feel sick too, and got something out. Then he was consolidating Shaun for the rest of the climb as he felt so sorry for him. Abel had brought cookies and tea for us, which no one really wanted, but he tried to force-feed us which worked with some of us, others put up a fight. Yeah I know, a horrible man who wants to help us get our energy levels up... After break number 53 or so, and I thought 2h after the start, Abel tells us that we were only a few hours from Stella Point, which counts as the summit even if its around 100m lower than Uhuru Peak. As I thought we had only walked for a few hours, I was happily surprised by this as it meant that we were more than half way and that what ever time I think we have spent, we have spent the double!
Outbreak!
Ben, who was absolutely fine during the whole climb saw this weird illness spreading in the team. We all changed along the way, like an outbreak in super speed! As we were getting closer to the summit, Abel was walking with his face towards us, and pushing me to the limit. I will never forget that look he gave me, it felt like he was pulling me up the mountain with his eyes. I starred at him, and somehow I managed to push through and we reached Stella Point!What a success! No one really believed it, everyone was a bit out of it and not sure what to do next. It was cloudy still but we could see it was getting brighter.
Uhuru Peak
Abel wanted us to move on to the summit, and it was a bit easier to walk when we knew that we were so close, and that we had already reached one top. After an hour, we reached Uhuru Peak, we were on the top of the world! WE DID IT!!!!
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| The Team at Uhuru Peak (fr left: Dean, Steve, Jan, Jen, Ben, Shaun. In front; Abel! |
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| Steve and Dean at the summit |
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| Descending |
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| We were well above the clouds |
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