Kili Trip

Here is the recap of my Kilimanjaro Climb.
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Sep 20th: Left SFO for Kili, via Minnepolis, via Amsterdam
Sep 21st: Arrived Kili International Airport @9.30PM. Arrived Babylon lodge at 11.30. Had dinner with Achmed our tour operator. Chicken with rice.
Sep 22nd: Off day; Had breakfast at the lodge and met with our head guide for the climb (Elia). Visited a near by Falls with our head guide. After coming from the walk our head guide checked our Gear; Met other 4 climbers (Jay, Rob, Mike and Wayne) from Atlanta. They arrived 4 days earlier to do Safari. I think I greatly missed it.
Sep 23rd: Day one. 8 Miles. 6232ft to 9840ft
Drove from lodge to Machame Gate; After signing the register, started the hike around 1.00PM. Arrived Machame Camp at 5.30PM. Overcast and we are mostly inside the cloud. Today's hike was inside the rainforest with a very well maintained and wide trail. Cold and windy at camp site. Lunch: Chicken, muffin, juice, banana, cheese stick, boiled egg, chacolate; Dinner: Soup, Fried fish, potato wedges, mixed veg
Breakfast: Everyday it was same. Toast, egg, cornflakes, fruits, milk, butter, honey, peanut butter, jelly, tea, coffee, cocoa, hot water.
Snack: It's almost same as well. Served few hours before dinner. Tea, coffee, cocoa, hot water, biscuits, fresh fried peanuts, fresh popcorn etc.
Sep 24th: Day Two. 6 miles. 9840ft to 12800ft
Started at 9.00AM. Arrived our camp (Shira Camp) at 2.00PM. Overcast, cloudy day. Very slow (pole pole - slowly slowly in Sawahili - Tanzanian language) day as the pace was set by head guide. Scenary changed dramatically, as today we are above the tree line and into the moore lands. Cold at the camp site. Rob complained about headache and nausea. Lunch: Sandwich, juice, muffin, banana, boiled egg, chesse stick, chacolate. Dinner:Soup, Chikcen and Rice, mixed veg
Sep 25th: Day Three. 7.5 miles. 12800ft to 13000ft (high point 15000ft)
Rob decided to go down as his nausea didn't stop overnight. Our head guide will take him down to the gate and will join us tomorrow (that would be incredible to go down and come back). Started around 9.00AM with bright sunlight and warm. But within an hour we got caught up on the snow storm totally unprepared (I was wearing just t-shirt, pant and had a lightweight rain jacket). It was very cold, wet, windy and misreable. Reached Lava Tower (15000ft) around 1.00PM and had lunch. Arrived our camp (Barrafu camp) around 3.00PM. At the end of the hike all 5 of us felt tired and I felt little nausea. But after a 30min nap my nausea went away and I was fine. It was cold, wet, snow and windy day. It snowed on and off at the camp. Lunch: Sandwich, muffin, boiled egg, juice, cheese. Dinner: Soup, Pasta and meat sauce, mixed veg, beans.
Sep 26th: Day Four. 4 miles. 13000ft to 13200ft (acclimatization day)
Overnight it snowed again. Started around 9.30AM and arrived our camp (Karanga Valley camp) at 1.00PM. Took a longer route than most other people just to stay on higher elevation to get acclimated. Today we climbed Barafu wall (1000ft - almost vertical), using hands to pull up in some places. First time in this trip we are seeing glimpses of the Kili, but the clouds move in and out very fast. It's snowed today as well, but we're well prepared for it. As promised our head guide, after helping Rob to get down, joined us at the camp (he hiked more than 20KM today from the Marangu gate to join us). Lunch: Soup, french toast, vegs. Dinner: Soup, french toast, mixed veg, beans.
Sep 27th: Day Five. 3 miles. 13200ft to 15000ft
Woke up to a clear day with a beautiful view of the Kili. Left camp around 8.30AM and arrived our camp (Barafu camp) around 12.30PM. The scenary is more like moore lands, but with rocks. Also, snow covered. First mile of the hike was very steep and it was very slowing going up. Our plan today is to reach the camp and have rest as much possible, and prepare for the summit hike which will start at midnight. After arriving the camp we got into our sleeping bags and tried to have some sleep as we'll start for summit at midnight. I don't think any of us got any sleep as the camp is very noicy and we're anxious. We've called around 6.00PM for dinner and our head guide breifed us of what to expect tonight: start at midnight and must expect very very cold, so better prepared. After the dinner we all packed our day packs and climbed into our sleeping bags, again to get some sleep. Lunch: Sandwich, Chips, juice, boiled egg, cheese.Dinner: todays dinner was light (means no meat), as the cook explained that some might get nausea and sick with heavy dinner (makes sense)
Sep 28th: Part1: Day Six. 5 miles. 15000ft to 19340ft to 15000ft
We woke up at 11.30PM and it was 28F inside our tent and Praveen's hydration pack and tude was frozen. After dressing we came out of the tent. I was wearing 6 layers of tops: 3 layers of long under t-shirts, 1 fleece long t-shirt, 1 fleece jacket and 1 expedition shell jacket and 5 Layers of bottoms: 2 long pants, 1 fleece pant, 1 nylon pant and 1 shell pant. And 3 pairs of gloves. 2 pairs of socks. Balaclava and wool cap and the hood from shell jacket. My daypack had 1 lit water and 1 lit cytomax (similar to gatarode - but taste better, mostly used by cyclist), 4 Cliff shots, 2 balance bars (they became hard as rock in the freezing cold) and some emergency supplies. I put my water bottles into their sleeves (fleece) to keep them from freezing. But it was of no use as the bottles formed ice, so I have to frequently put them insdide my jacket from stop freezing. After some tea and biscuits, we started around 12.30AM. As usual our guides set a very slow pace. We can see the climbers above and below us, with their head lamps. It was cold and windy, but clear and full moon day. We didn't need our head lamps as the moon light was very bright. When we started, Elia, our head guide offered Praveen to carry his daypack, and after about an hour, he also took Jay's daypack. Now he is carrying two packs on his back!!!. This guy is just incredible. Wayne started to slow down, so we left him with our cook. It got colder and colder through out the night. I felt my dressing was enough except my gloves which was very inadequate. My hands freeze frequently, and I have to put close my body to warm it. At around 6.15AM, our head guide, Jay and I arrived at the Stella point (top of the crater but not the highest point which will be Uhuru peak). Then followed by Praveen, Mike and asst guide then by Wayne and our cook (who is acting as asst guide for the summit hike). We all had some hot tea brought by our asst guide and took pictures. The wind is blowing hard in here and it was very very cold even with all the layers of clothing. So, we decided to goto the Uhuru Peak. We arrived around 7.30AM to the Uhuru Peak. After hugs and high fives, we started taking pictures. After about 45min, we started our decend and arrived the camp at 11.00AM. We'll take about 1hr rest here before going down to Mweka camp for the night.
Sep 28th: Part2: Day Six. 8.5 miles. 15000ft to 11200ft
After the lunch we packed our bags and prepared to go down, as our long day continues. We started around 2.30PM and arrived Mweka Camp around 6.00PM. It was dusty and steep down hill. After calculating the tips (tiping is mandatory) for the porters and guides we had our dinner and hit the sleeping bags immediately, as everyone of us was tired. It was long day. Lunch: French Toast and potato. Dinner: Soup, rice and chicken, mix vegs.
Sep 29th: Day Seven. 6.5 miles. 11200ft to 6400ft
We woke up around 7.00AM and gave the tip $$$'s to our head guide who will distribute to other porters. And we took group pics with porters. Then we set off around 8.30AM and reached the Mweka Gate around 10.30AM. We signed our names and got our Gold certificate (green for those who make it to the Stella Point) for reaching the highest point in African continent. After that we descend some more where we met our ride and Achmed. After lunch at this spot, we drove to the lodge, stopping in Moshi (a small town) for some gifts etc. Arrived lodge around 2.00PM, took shower, first time in seven days. Then we all met at the hotel's bar to have the customery "Kilimanjaro Beer" with our guides and Achmed. After couple of beers we had our dinner at the hotel then set off to the airport. Boarded KLM at 9.00PM and arrived SFO on Sep 30th 2.00PM, via Amsterdam...

Kili

On Sep 28th, I made it the summit of Uhuru peak at 7.30am. I'm planning to write about the whole exp in next few days, time permitting.