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Mt. Kilimanjaro- Day 5- Will we make it?

March 25, 2010 By Danny

As we left Kibo hut I turned to our new guide and asked what time it was. He checked his cell phone, which still had service at 4700m, and informed me that it was midnight on the dot. We were off, George setting the pace, and that was that.

At first the pace was rather quick, leaving us out of breath, but soon we caught up to the group in front of us and George slowed us down, he just wanted to make sure we not begin our walk alone. Up we went, a combination of heaving breathing and slow walking. The pace was so slow it was nerve-wrecking but anytime we sped up in the slightest we were left struggling to catch our breath. We passed some people, others passed us, we were just part of a small string of headlamps you could see snaking up the slope of the crater.

As we climbed higher the affects of the altitude took a greater toll. From the start I felt nauseous but as we climbed that discomfort ultimately transferred to my head, mild mountain sickness. One step in front of the other, we just kept climbing and climbing. We’re halfway to the top, George would tell us…then repeating that same sentence 40 minutes later. He played games like this the entire way up, the top never seeming as far away as his time estimates…thanks merely to the darkness and the fact that we couldn’t see how steep the climb was.

As we neared the crater’s rim we found the first casualties of our friends, one girl sitting having just vomited, another hyperventilating. We felt the mountain sickness but were overall OK. We’d climbed the hard part, nearly 1000m to the craters rim. It was hard work. We were physically exhausted. It was 5am and we hadn’t slept. We were out of breath when just sitting. We couldn’t sit for fear of growing cold or cramping up. We had to continue. George urged us on, “you’ll make it, don’t worry, follow me.”

Then it got hard.

Climbing over Gilman’s Point we could see the caldera of the crater for the first time. We’d climbed the volcano but we weren’t finished yet. With 200 additional meters to climb to the Uhuru peak the wind picked up, the temperature dropped, our energy levels plummeted, and the air continued to thin. At first it was actually a bit easier, with ground that was relatively flat from what we’d done. Soon the elevation began again and even though it was much smoother than the steep climb we’d already managed, it seemed nearly impossible.

I’m not sure what it was, but at some point my body wanted to do everything a newborn baby does. Breath, sleep, eat, drink, poop, and pee. I could do none of these.

I suppose I was breathing but no where near as much as I would have liked. It was the desire to sleep though that most took control. As I walked I began to count paces before resting and breathing, then I was counting breaths. Ten breaths walking, 2 resting, then 7 and 4, then 2 and 10. There was no system to these numbers but the rest breaks were as much about me leaning forward, resting my head on my walking stick, and shutting my eyes. I felt myself wanting to sleep. Jill knew I was struggling. So did both guides. At one point Coleman, behind me, carefully choosing his words as he barely spoke English, said to me that I must move faster or I’ll freeze. I knew he was right, but I wanted to sleep.

Then Jill started to struggle. For me it was exhaustion and a desire to sleep, for her it was a mounting headache. Seeing her struggling helped to wake me up and we continued to push each other to the summit. It hurt, we were cold, our hands and feet were numb. Our steps were slow. The snow was slippery. We could see it though and we just kept walking. Jill mumbled something along the lines of, “lets just get there and take our stupid picture.”

That’s exactly what we did.

We made it to the summit. Our friend had puked again. Others were delirious. We took our picture. The guide cut off the top of the sign, his fingers were numb as well. We took another picture, then another, finally we got one that was “good enough” and we started back down. While up there we had some tea, it was hot, didn’t bother to eat anything. It didn’t matter.

At 6:30am, on Thursday, March 11, 2010, 364 days after starting this trip, we stood atop Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa and the world’s tallest freestanding mountain.

Filed Under: Africa, Headline, Tanzania, Trek Tagged With: climbing, hiking, kilimanjaro, mountains, tours

Mt. Kilimanjaro- Day 3 Acclimatization

March 23, 2010 By Danny

We woke up in the morning at the Horombo camp, 3700 meters in the air, without much to do that day. We were feeling pretty good so long as we ignored the fact that everyone in our room woke up at least three times in the night to go pee. The best part of the night time escapes were the stars. Above the clouds and the lights of the cities below we could see everything in the sky including plenty of shooting stars. I hoped we’d see plenty on our walk up to the summit.

After breakfast we began our walk to zebra rock…a rock that looks like it has the stripes of a zebra. If that doesn’t sound too exciting to you its because it isn’t. The reason it was important was that we were using the “free” day to stretch our lungs and climb higher in altitude. For the first time since starting we were really feeling the altitude and it was making us walk slower and steadier. We climbed to zebra rock and then we, along with only two other climbers, continued further uphill toward the saddle trail…the stretch of land between Mt. Kilimanjaro and its sister peak, Mt. Mawenzi, climbing to somewhere around 4300 meters above sea level. From here we could not only see Mt Kilimanjaro clearly, but we could also see the seemingly vertical climb we’d have to make two days from now, sometime between midnight and 6 am, straight up the side of the volcano.

We spent the rest of the day sitting in the dining hall, playing cards and psyching ourselves out for what was to come. We watched as nearby clouds displayed their lighting for us, at eye level, and made jokes as none of us could control our bladders. It was a rest day and that’s what we did.

Despite the easy day we were still treated as though we were working hard. We were provided with hot water outside our hut in the morning and after our hike. We drank more tea than we could stomach. The meals were huge, all three of them, plus our snacks. We were preparing for a high altitude climb and were made to felt that way. Medical science dictates that above 2500m you are only to increase your altitude 300m per day…we were going way beyond that limit, which was OK because it was going to be a short trip up and then back down. Still though, we needed the rest and the nourishment to get ready.

Filed Under: Africa, Headline, Tanzania, Trek Tagged With: climbing, kilimanjaro, mountains, tours

Capetown to Cairo!

May 19, 2010 By Jillian

We made it!  Just arrived in Cairo after a day of police escorts and speed bumps, truly it was an adventure!  All is well.  Driving into Cairo we could see the Pyramids of Giza at a distance and it finally hit us- we’ve completed the epic Cape to Cairo overland adventure!

In celebration we’re off for some margaritas and tex-mex at Chili’s- the first hispanic food we’ve seen since December. Don’t judge, after being charged by gorillas, boogie boarding class 5 rapids, bribing cops in Nairobi, climbing Kilimanjaro, hunting with lions, eating all sorts of crazy food and surviving some harrowing experiences we need unlimited chips and salsa. Yum! 🙂

Any interest in overlanding?  Take the poll on our sidebar and tell us what you think!

Filed Under: Africa, Egypt, Headline, South Africa Tagged With: overlanding, success, travel

Danny’s Clothes

Danny’s pack is filled with some of the best in adventure clothing.  All of the clothes are light-weight and quick-drying.  Most are also odor resistant for those unfortunate days where we don’t have an opportunity to change.  It isn’t much, but it is my entire wardrobe.

  • Shirts
    • ExOfficio Halo Long Sleeve – Received this directly from Ex-Officio to test for them. It handled extremely well inside Africa as it was both lightweight, very breathable, and still pretty ‘normal’ looking.
    • ExOfficio Trip’r Shirt – Gave each of these up, the short sleve becuase I preferred polos and the long sleve because I liked the Halo style better.
    • T-shirts – Always super wicking, also withstanding hurricane force winds and can repel Superman’s X-Ray vision.  One from Eddie Bauer and the other from Mountain Hardwear.
    • Mountain Hardware Polo – Traded some of the T-Shirts for nicer looking wicking polos.  This is easily my most comfortable shirt.
    • ExOfficio Polo – Very comfortable, wickable, and not smellyable. The sad part is that it was a bit ‘cotton like’ and with all the wear I put in, there were some pit stains coming out of Africa.
    • EMS Polo – Picked this up on discount before starting our final leg. I’ve found lighweight wicking polos to be the best type to shirt for this kind of travel as cotton like material tends to discolor in places.
  • Pants
    • Convertible Pants – I have two pairs of convertible pants. Pants or shorts…plenty durable no matter what. One pair is ExOfficio and has been with me on this trip since Day 1! The second pair I started with was from Columbia which I replaced with a North Face pair, then an REI pair, and now finally one from EMS. When looking for convertible pants I prefer two secured cargo pockets. Best if both of these have a zipper and velcro but I can live with one pocket or no zipper if the velcro is strong. I carry a third pair of pants as well, currently from ExOfficio, which is not convertible but looks nicer and is lighter weight than the others…Before this pair of pants, I had an old canvas pair of convertibles which were both too big and too heavy.
    • Gym Shorts – For the gym, for exercising, for sleeping…you decide.
    • ExOfficio Boxer Briefs – Wear, Wash, Repeat. Doesn’t get any simpler than that. I have several pairs in addition to a pair of long undies by ExOfficio. I also have a pair of Under Armor undies, as well as EMS performance undies.  review
    • Money Belt – Looks like a belt. Holds my pants up. Has a secret pocket on the inside.
  • Feet
    • Chaco Sandals – What I wear on most days…these sandals are better than most sneakers.  review
    • Vasque Mantra XCR – My new boots.  A bit heavier than the Salomons but I wasn’t really jogging much anyhow.  These are waterproof though which will be a big help climbing Kilimanjaro!
    • Salomon Exit Aero Hikers – I loved these and although they were still “kicking” they didin’t look like they’d make it through Africa.
    • Smartwool Socks – There are tons of varieties. These are lightweight and handle water and sweat well but are also thick enough to provide support.  I have a thick pair for hiking and a thin pair for running.  For heavy hiking I wear both pairs together.
  • Everything Else
    • Osprey Talon 44 – Smaller and Lighter than my Z55.  By downsizing, the weight load on my back has gone down by nearly a third.  I’m still not packing this one to capacity so I feel it was the right move to knock down the size!
    • Gregory Z55 Backpack – All this travel and I’ve learned to pack lighter and I wanted a smaller pack.  It was hard to say goodbye but ultimately I made the decision to pull the plug. review
    • Eddie Bauer Weather Edge Jacket – Wish I had this one from the start.  It weighs a touch more than the Hurricane but it seems to be much strong right from the start.
    • Sierra Designs Hurricane Jacket – Decided to go with a rain jacket and fleece combination but this jacket just didn’t live up to expectations.  After a year of use the zipper was busted, the waterproofing gone, and it had sprouted several holes.
    • REI Polartec Fleece – Started wearing this for South America when we left the REI One behind, it was great but I decided to bring a tent to hot, hot Africa rather than a fleece.  Now that we’re heading through Central Asia, the tent is gone and this baby is back!
    • REI One Jacket – This one didn’t make the cut.  A great jacket  it is now stored safely in the USA.  Ultimately we realized the two pieces I have now for rain and warmth do a better job than the one jacket did…and take up the same space too.

Hiking Mt. Shasta

July 28, 2016 By Danny

After climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in 2010, I felt a strong sense of accomplishment but also that mountaineering was not for me.  More than anything else I hated the altitude but at lease with Kilimanjaro I didn’t have to do anything technical with ropes or ice axes.  Fast forward 6 years and somehow I found myself doing exactly what I never expected to even try on the slopes of California’s Mt. Shasta.  Two years ago I managed to join a group of intrepid colleagues on a hiking trip where I climbed Yosemite’s Half Dome.  The trek was fun, and with a start-to-summit time of about 4 hours, and a round-trip time of about 7 hours’ total, this was relatively simple and straight forward.  IMGP2439

Last year this same group did a 26-mile loop over four mountain passes around Colorado’s Maroon Bells.  This was simply the most difficult day of hiking I’d ever completed.  At the celebration dinner, following our 16-hour hike which had begun at 10pm the previous evening, Mt. Shasta’s (4321m) 14,179 foot snow-capped peak was announced as our next target.  Sure, I told everyone I’d see them next year…but I also said that there was no-way Donald Trump would be the republican nominee for president….  What do I know?

As this was a technical climb we hired guides to help us through the process.  To do that we had a short amount of time on some snow the day preceding the hike to learn some basic mountaineering skills such as how to actually use the ice axe. We learned to walk on the ice, fall and ultimately stop ourselves from sliding all the way down the mountain.  Naturally, we felt the need to practice this by running off the hill (while holding an axe) and diving downhill as though we were superman.  This was fun until one of our team cracked his ankle in a few places.  He was taken to the ER and received screws in his ankle and lots of painkillers.  As a reminder, this was our practice session.  Our group the prior year had started off around 35 people, for what was the hardest day of hiking in my life, we were now down to only 16.
One of the reasons for the low numbers were the odds the various guide services had given to our venture. 

Most guided groups climb Mt. Shasta over two days.  Indeed, while we were practicing, many of these groups were setting off on their trek.  They camped overnight half-way up the mountain, continuing to the summit with us the following morning.  We instead chose to skip the alpine camping and start our walk at midnight.  There were three guide companies in Mt. Shasta that were contacted by our group, two of those companies told us we were idiots for what we were trying to do, we went with the third. (Now you see why I like these people – like minded to the fullest!)

At 11pm on Saturday night, when most people in California were doing Saturday night California things, we were instead waking up from our naps, doing our best to clear our bowels, and gradually making our way to the  Avalanche Gulch trail head for our midnight departure. (Note: All the amazing and yet, WTF am I thinking hiking adventures in my life have seem to start at night.)  I had some general feelings of dread regarding my own fitness level, the altitude, the ice axe, the ice itself and naturally those screws that had been inserted into my friend’s ankle.  Also in the back of my head was concern for the weather report, which featured late morning thunderstorm, but when I saw the clear, starry sky at the trail head I managed to but those fears to rest.

 

We started walking. 

 

The guides kept the pace and I have to say, we had some excellent guides.  They made the walk up this [to me] practically vertical slope about as easy as walking up the stairs at work.  Sure it was long and arduous but many of us felt we were so well paced that, although exerting ourselves, we never felt terribly short of breath or in need of a rest.  Still, several did begin to fall behind but overall our group was on target and moving uphill at a very good pace.

 

With several hikers having difficulty as we passed the overnight camping areas, we had to shuffle groups around a little bit.  Part of the reason for this was that above this point, Helen Lake which is nothing but a flat-ish area of snow on the mountain, guides needed to be roped to their group and a single guide could have no more than 4 hikers attached to them.  Continuing on we were one group of 4 and three groups of 3, I was in a group of 3.

As we continued from this point, the story starts to change substantially.

All of the things I was worried about—the ice, using the axe, my fitness, etc.—were not issues at all and I was actually starting to enjoy myself as the sun came up and I recognized what a special place I was in.  The problem was that as the sun came up most of the other hikers on the mountain started to come down.  Those late morning thunderstorms had shown up several hours early and the mountain appeared to be surrounded by dark clouds and piercing lightning shows.  Via radio we were in touch with another group from our guiding company, who had camped on the mountain like *normal* climbers and were several thousand feet above us.  Their reports were not positive and they turned back as well.  For some reason we kept on hiking.

 

IMGP2448

 

One member of my trio was beginning to struggle and was very vocal about this in a stunningly constructive way, perhaps because he is a former Marine.  He shared that he was feeling the affects of altitude sickness, the items he was doing to help deal with his, and that he wanted to continue but that it was a situation we needed to keep in communication about.  This was important as none of us were unable to travel alone and if he needed to go down, we all did, so we slowed our speed an slightly increased the frequency of our breaks.  The support of the team in this regard was rather spectacular.

Later, using the Marine as something of a model, I expressed my same concerns with regard to the weather.  By this point we had become 4 hikers, rather than 3, as another trio had a member need to descend and one of their hikers was able to join us.  I told the group honestly that I was getting quite scared by the increasing display of lightning, the blizzard forming around us, the presence of the wind, etc.  Mostly though, it was the lightning combined with “my children need to have a daddy”.  Our guide, a former Army Ranger, discussed this with us and we took a vote in which two of us expressed that we felt it might be time to head downhill.  Somehow being led by an Army Ranger, who stated clearly that he had full confidence in his ability to get us safely down the mountain, and anchored by a US Marine who was feeling much better and aching to get to that summit, convinced myself and the other doubter that we should press on, so that’s what we did.

We got to the top of the red line, but not to the summit.
We got to the top of the red line, but not to the summit. 🙁

The hiking at this point was also more difficult.  The snow had turned to ice and was more slippery.  We were often having our boots break through the ice and fall into a knee-deep hole.  The wind was sometimes knocking us over.  We couldn’t see very far in front of us for the blizzard that was taking hold around us.  We were well above 12,000 feet in altitude and thinness of the air was beginning to affect us as well.  Oh, and the slope of the mountain was probably 45 degrees.

You may recall from earlier in this story that one group of four and three groups of three had set-off from the camping area.  One trio, left a hiker with my group and headed downhill.  Another trio was well ahead of us making a run at the summit.  That left my group and the original group of four together as we climbed to 13,000 feet in altitude.  At that point, the other guide, determined that the weather had deteriorated enough that should we continue, and things get a little worse, that we might not be able to safely descend the mountain.  We were turning around.

The first bit of downhill hiking was very difficult and I was again afraid for all the reasons I was afraid before weather was an issue—slippery ice, the axe, slope, fitness, etc.  Thankfully this did not last long.  We made it just below a region of the mountain that was rocky and glissaded about as far as we could.  If you’ve never glissaded before, imagine going downhill in a sled but without a sled.  You just sit in the snow and make pretend the mountain is a giant, cold, slide.  It was fun.

The only part that stunk about the descent was when we finished, and turned and looked back at the summit, and saw nothing but blue sky.

 

Filed Under: Headline, Hike, USA Tagged With: guided hikes, hiking, mountaineering, mt.shasta

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