And now the test. I'd gone over in my mind a hundred times that my "progress marking points" would be: William's Point, the trail junction with the Third Cave route, Hans Meyer Cave, Gilman's Point, then, if fortunate, Uhuru Peak. And I was hoping the return would just feel like autopilot. I'd also planned out my iPod mini playlist. Back in the US, it was October 13, the same day my grandmother passed away 11 years before.
Summit (Oct 14)
 |
| The calm before the storm at Kibo |
We awoke (awoke being a loose term, it was hard to get any real sleep that night) at around 11:30 pm and entered our food tent for a snack of tea and cookies. We made our final pack preparations, donned our appropriate layers for extreme cold, and reasonably packed our porter bags for the return trip knowing that we'd have much less energy when we returned to Kibo. I also attached my Team In Training Safety tag to try to be a funny guy. I distinctly remember being mildly annoyed that we didn't actually start moving until about 12:35 am. There is a bit of control freak in me :)
Our pace was nice and slow. Pole Pole. I readjusted my Camelback a few minutes in, then realized that doing so left me slightly out of breath! I also turned my Garmin GPS on as I had done for the first 5 days of the hike, knowing that seeing the elevation on the watch would be a great indicator of our progress and a valuable tool for keeping me sane (and also draw some jokes at my expense from Yitzhak.) Before too long, my watch reported we had reached 16,700 ft and had gone 0.8 miles. Something was wrong, according to that elevation we should have been rapidly approaching William's Point, the first marker, yet the trail was 1.2 miles to there according to the map. To further obfuscate things, a rock on the trail had "16,500" painted on it. Something was awry. Things were either going smoothly thus far, or I was in for a REALLY long day.
Then five minutes later we reached William's Point. GPS elevation was CORRECT, but the distance measurement was off, as apparently was the rock painting also. PHEW. I'll take it. The William's Point sign was surprisingly underwhelming. I'm not sure what I was expecting, though. We continued our slow and steady pace. I worked out a system for drinking from my camelback : one sip, 2 breaths, repeat 4 times, then blow back in straw to prevent freezing, and 2 more breaths. It froze once, but unfroze within a few minutes. Yitzhak asked us how we were feeling, and our responses were a mildly hesitant yet convincing "fine, we're good to keep going." Things were okay. We climbed on to Hans Meyer Cave.
 |
| Calvin at Hans Meyer Cave |
The Cave was also underwhelming. Not really anything more than a rock about as big as the one we encountered on day 2. Nevertheless, this marked our first real break and a significant progress point. And by this time all groups climbing the Marangu/Rongai summit route were on their way up so there was significant company (maybe about 30 people total.) We snacked a bit, sat down to rest, and before long got up for the last stretch to Gilman's Point. In the back of my mind I was thinking about how Yu-Kuan had said he was NEVER going above 18,000 ft again and that became sort of a point of fear for me.
The trail got steeper, but not as bad as our acclimatization hike on Day 4. I got a rhythm going in my mind where I would repeat the number of 100ft left to climb. There were about 1400 ft to ascend between Hans Meyer Cave and Gilman's Point, so it went something like.... "14.... 14.... 14.... 14.... THIRTEEN....13....13...." etc. Something to focus on. Also to focus on was the sounds our bodies would occasionally make as we acclimatized. A source of humor, yet perhaps not something to focus on any further in my blog. Finally, to focus on, was my obsession with finding the Southern Cross and whether or not we saw it on the last stretch was a point of contention. I claim we did. I did NOT however end up needing my iPod to help me focus. At last, Gilman's point was reached.
4:50 AM. 18638ft. We had made it to the rim of the Kibo crater. The hard part, in theory, was done. It was dark, and the views were not YET spectacular, but we felt a sense of accomplishment. We also knew at this point we would make Uhuru Peak, and by sunrise. We took a legitimate break, got ourselves together, and put on our last few layers of clothes as it was very cold. And then, "Twendai" or "let's go." And from this point on the elevation on my watch was useless.
 |
| Gilman's Point |
The walk along the crater was fun, but VERY up and down and not exactly short. I was mildly annoyed not being able to know what our progress was due to rising and falling elevation, but before long we hit Stella Point, where the climbers from the Western routes reached the crater. Then it was again a steady climb, and I at least could measure our progress with the elevation. But there was no need to. The sun began to rise and we were able to see the sign of Uhuru Peak! And I was feeling okay enough to enjoy it!
6:10 AM 19,341 ft. And there we were. On top of Africa. The dream of almost 4 years realized. We took in the moment, got a heartfelt congratulations from Yitzhak and Julius, snapped some beautiful pics and recorded a panorma of the vista, and visited with the other summiting trekkers. Calvin made fun of me journaling and told me a picture was worth a thousand words so he would journal with his camera. In light of that comment, here are some of the best pics I got.
 |
| Yitzhak, Matt, Pat, Calvin, Julius |
No comments:
Post a Comment