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| Collecting the Meat!!! |
Jambo Jambo,
The climb… Day 1
The climb… Day 1
Met with our crew, 7 porters, one chef, our guide Rama and
assistance Cush(ty) yes for only the two of us! A jolly old bunch working
for their tip the minute we arrived.
We decided on the machame route, also known as the whiskey route, 6
days 5 nights.
Stopped before the gate to the National Park for the meat! and also
for a push start up the hill as the bus broke down... Funny moment as the
traffic jam set in! Was this the start of things to come??
Checking in at the gate involved queues and queues of other hopefuls
and 2 particularly people that seemed to be staring at Lee strangely. It ended
up being two of the York University Hockey players who he had coached for the
last year! Small world indeed!
A gentle walk it was through the rain forest seeing blue monkeys and
white long tail furry ones that were so cute but noisey mites! We climbed
from 1800m to 3000m 'Poly Poly' was chanted by hundreds of porters and our guides
meaning slowly slowly. Easy,easy or so what we thought!! Coca Cola route must
have been a walk in the park in comparison!
The camp was chilly but our thermals and sleeping bags (thanks
Baldwin) did the trick. We had our own candle
lit dining tent with the special for the evening being omlette, very romantic
(at 3000m).
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| Candle Lit Romanticism... |
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| Susi grabs a stick... |
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| cosy...Thanks Kate A. |
Day 2
Early morning start, routine ginger tea, wash bowls and eggs. Poly Poly and this was a bit more challenging
and Lee felt like a big kid over again and our first sight of the beast! 3000m
to 3800m. It wasn’t as easy as we had
been told but we loved it even more so.
We do like a challenge and ‘eau d’Killmanjaro was developing. Dinner in our dining tent, eggs, homemade
chips (very good) – card entertainment commenced.
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| Lee with the York Uni hockey trekkers, good luck in the charity work... |
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| No, you are not skiing... |
Day 3
Early morning start, ginger tea, wash bowls and eggs. Poly Poly and this is was the start of
‘actual’ climbing, balancing, jumping, leaping across rocks – made a black run
look like a green. 3800m – 4600m – 3900m – all for acclimatisation.
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| A walk in the park, my arse! |
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| The long drop beckoned, urgently!!! |
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| Susi's turn of many for long drop, doctors orders... |
It wasn’t fun, on the way up to 4600, on the
45degree slope Lee decided altitude wasn’t all that!!! A few chunders later
with no sympathy from susi we reached lava tower at 4600m. The theory was walk
high sleep low! Time will tell. On the decent back down to camp Lee thought he
would like to see a little more of his lunch before we finally reached camp. At
camp Lee was given some suspiciously looking blue pills!!! Back to the dining
tent for more eggs, blowing a gale and a bit chilly with an amazing sunset and
view of the milkyway…
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| Have you seen the film UP, Tepui mountains are on the list... |
Day 4/5
Lee eventually started speaking meaning he was on the mend so we
cracked on with ‘the wall’. Quite intense vertical climbing was involved.
Mountain goats could learn a lesson or two from Susi!!! 3950m – 4600m
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| Susi the mountain goat... |
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| Who's mountain is this? |
This was the seven hour climb before the midnight run to the summit.
Up down, up, down, fried eggy bread lunch and more up, down, up, down for
acclimatisation purposes (so they say!) Eventually we scrambled our way to the
top just in time for more eggs and another suspiciously looking blue pill for
Lee.
I think you will probably have guessed now that only one made it to
the top, but who was it?
4600 - the summit.
It begun with my wake up call at 11pm, leaving a sweaty and breathless
soul lying next to me. We had already made a pact that one of us would have to
try. Not even a good luck hug. Head torch on, 2 cups of tea and more eggs
and I was off with Rama. Propelled by the power of eggs, I reached the top
after 6 hours and 45 mins in pitch blackness on the steepest section of the
beast so far. It was brutal, gale force
winds (I will never complain about the cold again). The sun rose about 10m from the summit and
what a sight it was! The start of the
glacier was amazing and only a few steps away from where I was standing – good
job that trek was in darkness. It really
was the hardest thing physically and mentally I have ever done. The whisky route it truly was……..
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| Happy days, wonderful feeling, very grateful. |
It was a long time on my own up to the summit. Thanks to my man, dad and all those
transplant patients and donors for getting me to the top!! We are all winners J even
Lee with no certificate!!!
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| Our crew day 6, L'eau d'kilimanjaro at its peak... |
Off to see the wildlife of Africa in a somewhat more luxurious environment...
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