Day 10.5: Sweet, Sweet Gravity...

... and the primer on how to run down a mountain.

We spent about 20 minutes at the top, where we definitely felt light-headed. Still, we were determined to take our pictures, so we did that, and then finally, and somewhat reluctantly, we started to head down.

We had probably walked about 30 minutes, when I realized something...

As you can see, however, despite not taking the video at the top, there was no way in heck that we were going back even 20 minutes. We knew when we were beat. Nevertheless, this is still a video from over 19,000 feet. Pretty coherent for that height.

So, we said goodbye to the glacier (we think Ratzner glacier) and began our descent. Or so we thought.

We had actually forgotten that around the crater rim on our ascent, it was mostly flat, with some uphill, but also so downhill. Hence, on our descent, it was mostly flat, with some downhill, but also some uphill. And let me tell you... after psychologically telling yourself that you were done with the uphill when you reached the top, to have some uphill facing us on the downhill was almost too much to bear. It's at that point that my body gave up, and I got a full on headache... the worst headache I have ever had. It felt like a blood vessel was about to pop somewhere in my brain and give me an aneurysm which, given the altitude, was not out of the realm of possibility. I had to concentrate most of whatever energy I had left to not keel over, but instead put one foot in front of the other. It sucked.

And the ugly crater in the unflattering sunlight of midmorning definitely didn't help. Remember that path through the crater I told you about where people camped? Well, you can kind of make it out from the bottom left of the photo going to the center right where it meets up at Gilman's Point. As I said before, it's a long way down to the bottom.

More ugly crater panorama.

At this time, the clouds are starting to move in, so we need to get going. We come back to the nice view of the glacier and Mawenzi Peak for the last time.

Taking a break on the path. First Resha...

... and now William...

... and Jonas. Resha is using the walking poles at this point, but I find them to be more effort than they are worth, despite the assistance in balance, and besides, I have already broken mine. Luckily, they were extra ones that Ronald brought with him for us, as none of us had brought them to Africa, so that was both nice of him, but ultimately unnecessary for me.

This is roughly the halfway point with, once again, looking down the Machame route down to Barafu Camp. Man, what we would have given to descend here, instead of more horizontal walking.

Looking back, you can see Uhuru Peak at the end of the cliff on the right side. The middle peak seems a little better, but that's just the perspective... the right peak is actually the peak, and although you can't make out the people at the peak, trust me... they are there.

Oh wait... there they are!

And while I was taking those photos, Resha and William had gone further down the path. Even though they had only gone about 20 meters, I was actually jealous that they had already gone that distance.

Some guides hanging out before descending down the Machame Route to Barafu Hut. As you can see, it's pretty steep and scenic here.

And then we came to a dread uphill of like five meters. It took us like twenty minutes to get over this part. To get to where William is, I probably stopped like twice.

Buh-bye Machame Route. I think I took a picture to have an excuse to stop walking. I can't really do justice to how awful we feel right now. Resha is still reasonably good, but William is as bad as I am.

Last panorama at the top looking down the mountain. Bye bye Uhuru Peak.

The wooden cross-like think you see is Gilman's Point. We've almost made it!

Last panorama at the top, this time of the central caldera.

And so we began descending the rockpile or gravel pit on the outer face of the mountain. Now, you would think that when I said before that you would sink into the ground every step you took, that this would be a plus on the descent. After all, you descend faster right? Well, the problem in that theory is that we are bone tired and have no balance. So, each step was still excruciating - probably not has bad as the descent, but annoying in that something you take for granted, such as balance, is so difficult here. As you can see, William is most definitely NOT happy at this point. I am putting on a brave face for show... trust me.

Looking back up at Gilman's. Can't see the sign anymore. This was also the point where we saw some porters jump over the edge of ridge onto the rocks, carrying stuff from the central crater camp, and then run down the rocks. Show offs.

This is a monument to Hans Meyer, the first European to summit Kilimanjaro in 1889. It's a but unclear whether an African climbed to the summit prior to that. The answer is "probably," but there is no record of it, and since there really was no good reason to do it other than to "do it," many of the locals don't see the appeal. And neither do a lot of other people I know. I guess I am the crazy one.

As we keep descending, the clouds have moved in, but we see a break to see Kibo Hut... beautiful, beautiful Kibo Hut. At this point, some of the porters had come to meet us, possibly to carry or stuff, and they genuinely seemed glad to see us. As the oxygen increased as we descended, our muscles still hurt, and their was fatigue, but my headache started to go away, and I breathed easier. I finally felt like I would make it to the end.

Our guides and the porters actually suggested that running was better, since it somehow provided a surer footing when you didn't try to completely balance every step. I could only do it for a few seconds since I was tired, but William was able to do it for long stretches, as seen in the video, and it did indeed seem to work.

This is at Kibo Hut, and well, at this point I feel completely crappy, so I tell Kibo to take a hike in a not-so-polite way. But we did it... we were at least for a minute the highest people in Africa, scaled one of the Seven Summits, and did something that will be with us all of our lives.

At Kibo Hut, we were given delicious mango juice, a warm welcome by everyone, and Goodluck had made us a delicious lunch of chicken, potatoes, carrots, celery, and rice. I ate first, and then fell asleep, while Resha and William did the opposite. He actually admonished me to eat more, but after about half a bowl, I couldn't fight off the fatigue any longer. So, I slept... soundly... for about an hour before we had to get moving again. More about that cruel joke next week...

Day 10.4: Postcards from the Roof of Africa...

... Uhuru Peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. 19,340 feet or 5,895 meters. For a moment, we were the highest people in Africa. Huzzah!

After four days of "enhanced walking" and one day of brutal climbing, we reached our objective. Our emotions when we reached the summit were interesting, in that our outwards appearances did not reflect our inner sentiments... sort of. Inside, I was personally ecstatic. When we finally stopped ascending and reached the flat plateau at the top about 50 meters from the sign, I immediately threw off my pack and "walked briskly" over to the sign to touch it. Outside, I was severely winded from that last bit of "brisk walking," and I started getting a bit light-headed. Up to that point, I had been pretty fine physically, aside from fatigue, but it seemed like my body was saying to me "alright, I got you here. The rest is up to you." Deal.

One common theme William and I had heard from people who had climbed to the summit was that they wished they had taken more pictures. They said that when they reached the summit, they felt so weird and were so fatigued that the only thing they could think about was getting down. So, they took maybe a picture or two before descending into oxygen heaven. Perhaps partly because we had kept this mind our entire journey, and perhaps partly due to stubbornness, we were determined to get our fill of pictures. And get our fill we did.

It was first William's turn to play Vogue model. I kind of bummer was the tattered flag ribbons and random metal bar with box in the background. It kind of made some of the shots weird, but no way in heck we were going to waste energy moving them.

He certainly felt well enough to remember to make a Cornholio appearance. Related note, did you know Beavis and Butthead is coming back?

And of course, the gnomes. I don't think I am going out on a limb when I say that this is the highest that the Virginia Tech and Maryland gnomes have ever made it... or for that matter, any gnome from the new and expanded ACC.

I was next. I don't know exactly what that expression is, but I think it was mostly frozen face. I am happy on the inside... really!

From another, worse angle.

I also don't think I am going out on a limb by saying that this is the highest Obama yard sign (or really any U.S. campaign yard sign) ever. I do hesitate to say highest political yard sign ever, since a "Mao in 66!" probably made it somewhere in the Himalayas. Or something like that.

There is a back story to this one. Back at wonderous sea level prior to our journey, I had conceived of this great plan to replicate my moves made on top of a rock in Chesler Park of the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.

So, I had dutifully loaded my crappiest MP3 player with appropriate tunes, brought my no-battery needed speakers, and taken it to the summit with the full intention of busting out the running man and lawnmower once again. Alas, when I got to the top, I realized that gettin' jiggy wit it at that pace would have made me collapsed. So, I settled for the jumping shot above... which still took all of my energy as it knocked the wind out of me.

And finally, we have Resha. She really was as fresh and springy as the picture above shows, with Brutus.

In fact, she was the most appreciative of all making it to the top, as evidenced by the above.

This is looking back at both the glacer and the road we came on, which winds to the left. The guy sitting down is our guide Jonas, hanging out with another guide for the french group that summitted about the same time we did. They came from the Machame Route.

Jonas with Mawenzi in the background. Again. I think I have a Mawenzi addiction.

Great picture of the closest glacier and its ice profile.

Even closer photo. The deep blue in the glacier was amazing.

A panorama of the whole glacier.

And different panoramas of the summit, with the central cone to the right on the top photo. Behind the sign is actually a steep ridge drop of about 200 meters.

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You can see the falloff a little better here. And the central core is still ugly.

This was kind of cute. So, William's girlfriend (now fiance) Bonni had written and sealed a letter for every day William was going to be in Africa and Dubai. And William dutifully opened a letter on every day. Bonni even included one specifically for when he summitted (guess she knew something even we didn't know), so the above is William opening that particular letter. As you can see, he is beside himself with joy.

What a long, strange trip is has been, Barack.

The sign by itself, in case you couldn't actually read it before.

And with that, we say adieu to Uhuru Peak, a culmination of almost a year's worth of planning. See ya Kilimanjaro. We hardly knew ya... and we have no interest in coming back.

But don't think this blog is over folks. While this is perhaps the culmination, there is still more to come... like the very, VERY interesting descent. Until next week...

Day 10.3: The Road From Gilman's Point...

... to Uhuru Peak is a bumpy one. But first, some satisfaction.

I can't really understate how ridiculously deliriously happy we were to make it to Gilman's Point to watch this sunrise.

Even if we couldn't make it one step further, to see the red African sun rise over Mawenzi peak made the entire journey worthwhile.

I look forward to seeing more of God's creations that rival and eclipse what I saw that morning... but it may be awhile.

As we turned our eyes away from crater edge into the center of the caldera, we noticed something white in the distance. Ice! Icebergs! Glaciers! Hemingway's snows of Kilimanjaro! Unfortunately, due to global warming, all of our guides told us that the glaciers will disappear in ten to twenty years. Tragic. But selfishly then, I am glad I got to see them. Especially with the awesome, awesome pink sky behind it as the red dust from crater colored the morning sun.

Of course, since we made it this high, we had to take advantage of the opportunity to take pictures as "proof." Here is William with his children "Terpy" and "Hokie."

Here is me with Barack, and possibly Barack's long lost uncle cousin, Jonas. See the family resemblance?

This is us at the sign, doubling up, since there was about a dozen people who wanted to take photos, so we had to be quick... at first.

But then, the people left, so we took our time. This would have looked better without all the junk around the sign (a common theme, as you will see) but Hokie looks happy nonetheless.

As does Terpy.

And Brutus. Et tu Brute? Hehe. Had to say it.

And last but not least, Barack, looking a little crooked.

At this point, Jonas wanted to be in another picture (he was actually pretty pushy about it, which was sort of out of character, but we didn't mind, since he did get us to the top and all), so we did a last one with William.

At this point, Jonas asked us what we wanted to do. Our options were to (1) head on back down, since we technically did climb to the top, or (2) head to Uhuru Peak, the highest point on the mountain. While the journey to Uhuru would be flatter, it was still at least two hours each way, and we were at over 19,000 feet - funny things happen that high. Whether it was the high (pun intended) from getting to the top, or just our stubbornness at that point, we readily agreed to soldier on. And so we walked.

William agreed, but was a little more reluctant. But a trooper, nonetheless.

So, we headed down the path, which initially included this uphill between these rocks. Now, the path doesn't look that steep in this picture, and in truth it probably wasn't that steep. But that didn't matter. At 19,000 feet, you get only half the oxygen you do at sea level, so every step was painful. Seriously. It quickly got so bad, that I had to make a deal with myself to continue... for every twenty steps I took, I allowed myself ten seconds of rest. Without that pacing, no way I would have made it. Fortunately, none of us had the other symptoms of altitude sickness yet, except, of course, fatigue. We took frequent breaks about every twenty minutes, but we knew we had to get going while the weather was clear and before the afternoon gloom set in.

As we passed through the crack in the rocks, we saw another glacier, much closer this time. We also saw the path leading up from the Machame, Mweka, and Umbwe Routes and Barafu Hut below the glacier.

From what we could tell, the path up from Barafu Hut was longer, but less steep than from Kibo Hut. In fact, if you stood right where the paths met and look down, you could easily see Barafu Hut... and the little ants of people coming up the path. That was actually pretty cool.

Here is the panorama of this portion of the trek. As you can see, we are high enough that the horizon curves. While it is slightly exaggerated in this photo when I made the panorama, it's actually not that exaggerated, as I immediately noticed the curvature when we made it to the crater rim. It seemed surreal.

As you can see, William is happy about all this...

... as is Resha. I should note that Resha was the big trooper in all of this. Out of the three of us, while we she may not have been the strongest climber, on summit day, she fared the best out of all of us, keeping the briskest pace along the crater rim, and suffering the least in altitude sickness, despite taking less Diamox than the rest of us. Good job Resha!

So, one of the things people ask is "how did the top look?" Well, obviously some of the photos I took were spectacular, but they were actually few and far between. Most of the time, the center of the caldera (with the central cone of steaming something in the middle) was the only thing, and boy was it ugly. Like REALLY ugly. Just brown dirt and brown rocks. Desolation at it's finest. This was actually one of my biggest disappointments.

The dropoff from the path down to the floor of the caldera a few hundred meters below was actually pretty steep at times. We weren't in any immediate danger of falling over the side, but given that I was so fatigued and had the possibility of getting loopy, it was possible. And I didn't even want to contemplate what it would have taken to climb back up the crater rim if I had fallen down. I think I would have just laid there and let the porters come get me. Seriously.

This panorama was the more spectacular view that we passed. On the right is the largest glacier we passed, and to the left is Mawenzi shimmering in the distance. Again. God I love Mawenzi. What an awesome peak.

Some of our fellow trekkers coming around the bend in front of Mawenzi.

A panorama of the caldera bottom and, once again, how ugly it is. If you look closely, you can see a path roughly starting in the bottom middle of the photo, and then heading to the upper left. That wasn't our eyes playing tricks on us. One of the options on some of the treks is actually camping at the caldera bottom, and that is the path. Not many people do it, since even the caldera bottom is around 18,000 feet, and it really isn't advisable to spend that much time that high, but it is done. The campsite is approximately to the upper left, and joins our path at Gilman's Point on the right. When we were there, we are sure one group stayed in the caldera, because on our way down, we saw a bunch of porters jump (yes, jump) over the crater rim and then run down the path to Kibo Hut. With stuff on their heads. These guys were clearly the cream of the crop.

William, on the other hand, was not as buoyant.

Don't fear William! Have heart! The peak is but a short distance away...