Incredible, inspiring, life-changing. I knew that my trip to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro was going to be an amazing experience, but nothing could have prepared me for the adventure of a lifetime that I was lucky enough to have had over the past two weeks. All ten of us summited Africa’s highest peak at about 7:00am Tanzania time on Sunday, June 28, 2010, and we really did come together to Make a Difference. Thank you to all of our supporters for your love, encouragement and support: the group has raised over $65,000 for the Strachan Hartley Legacy Foundation, and now that we’re back, we hope we can see that total grow!
I’m now back in London, Ontario and I have been trying to gather my thoughts and emotions since getting back to Canada on July 1st (I posted a short blog to the SHLF site on Friday, and there are a couple of great ones that we put up over the course of the journey that you really should check out http://shlfdoeskili.blogspot.com/), and I’m still feeling a bit out of sorts. I’ll do my best to sum up the experience though and share pictures that bring the adventure to life more than my words ever could. It’s hard to believe that in such a short time, people can come into your life and you can share an experience that changes you forever, and for the better.
Before I get into the stories, I want to say thank you to everyone who has read the blogs, donated to the cause or sent messages of encouragement since I signed on for this adventure. It’s been a wild 6 months and your support has been and continues to be greatly appreciated. I really and truly could not have done this without you.
So now for the fun part…the stories! My trip over to Africa was long, but luckily I had two seats to myself on the flight from Toronto to Brussels, and Brussels to Nairobi. I don’t usually sleep very well on planes, but was able to get a few hours, so when we finally touched down in Kenya at about 10:30pm it felt about right. I booted my way through the terminal to get to customs, which was a breeze, and out to find the driver who was there to take me to the hotel. I have to give a shout out here to Kristin Lovell who looked after transport and accommodations for all of us because everything went off without a hitch. We had decided to bunk three to a room in Nairobi for the night before catching the shuttle to Tanzania the following morning (nine of us flew to Nairobi, and one right to Moshi), so when I arrived, I had no idea who I’d be staying with. We all figured that we’d be getting close soon enough on the mountain, so there was no point in having separate rooms the first night. I was the last to arrive and was sharing a room with Aimee-Noel (who was the central person that everyone knew) and Kiran. Since I got in at about the same time that the football match ended, we all ended up at the room at about the same time and after a couple of cold showers to clean up, went to bed in preparation for our early morning. (Now I should mention that we were supposed to catch the shuttle at 7:15am, so we were up at about 6:30am so that we could grab food before heading out, but Africa time made it closer to 8:15am by the time we saw the bus!).
Breakfast in Nairobi was really the first time that the majority of us met, and the bus ride from Nairobi to Moshi, Tanzania bonded us. It was 9 hours of dusty dirt roads through Maasai lands to get to our final destination, and by the time we arrived in Moshi at the bed and breakfast, it felt like we’d known each other for ages. Kristin arrived that night, so with all 10 of us under the same roof, excitement was high as we met our guide, Antipas, and laughs were contagious.
One of the trip highlights happened even before the climb started on our first full day in Tanzania because the owner of the tour company we were with (African Scenic Safaris – amazing) had arranged for us to go up into a village to volunteer with a program that paired teaching kids about the importance of reporting abuse with playing sports. The kids were adorable, and I’m not sure who had more fun – us or them! It was amazing to experience first hand the type of work that SHLF sponsors.
Post play, we went back to Moshi to get organized for the climb and do a final shop for chocolate and water before cleaning up and heading to one of Aimee-Noel’s friends for dinner. Such a small world, but the girls had gone to elementary school together in Vancouver, and Meg is now living with her husband and their son in Moshi, because her husband works for the UN. It was a great way to get our minds of the climb that was looming the next day, and really cool to get their take on life in Africa.
Day 1 of the climb eased us into the routine that was to follow for the next 5 days. After signing in at the Machame Gate and meeting our assistant guides, we were off. The first day was about 6 hours of walking, with a lunch break in the middle. We quickly learned that the outdoor toilets along the way were not worth the wait, so the ducking or squatting behind a bush or rock began quickly. So too did the conversation about bowel status. It’s very important to share how you’re feeling with the guide and your group, and we definitely took that to heart. The conversations we had were hilarious (and add into the mix that two of our group are ob / gyns) and by the end of the first day, you’d have thought the ten of us had known each other forever. I celebrated reaching the first camp with a rendition of the Rocky run up the stairs in Philly, and I think there may be a video of my pathetic attempt floating around! lol
Being so close to the equator, days were much shorter on the mountain, so by the time dinner was done it was pretty dark and each night, we were likely in bed by about 9:00pm (I didn’t have a watch on the entire time, which was great). The ten of us slept two to a tent, and I was surprised that we were all able to crash so early – I had been wondering if we’d be bored, but that wasn’t the case at all. It was cold at night, so I often slept with a toque on, but thanks to good sleeping bags and close quarters, I ended up staying relatively warm.
Now even though we were camping, we were doing it well….we didn’t have to set up or take down tents, and we were woken each morning with a knock on the tent from one of the porters, offering tea or coffee, and taking out water bottles to fill them with the recently boiled water. We’d put on a layer of clothing (I typically slept in long underwear and then put the top layer on before going to breakfast), pack up our stuff and head to the mess tent for breakfast. Toast, oatmeal (which was more like gruel), fruit, eggs and sausages, along with coffee, tea, hot chocolate and Milo mix met us each morning. Our hiking started about 8:00am each day, and we’d usually go for about 4 hours, break for lunch – the porters would have taken down and packed up camp, passed us on the trail and re-set up the mess tent and cooked lunch in this time – then finish off the day with another 3-4 hours, depending. We definitely stopped for pee and picture breaks along the way which took up time, and one of the highlights for me was on Day 3 when we climbed up to Lava Tower for acclimatization before descending to Baranco camp. We stopped to rest at the base of the tower, but with Antipas’ permission and Isaiah and Macho (two of the assistant guides) leading the way, Aimee-Noel, Kiran and I climbed to the top of the tower. The three of us were feeling pretty good, with no signs of altitude yet, and I LOVED the actual climbing of getting up the extra 50 metres. While most of the hike was walking, we did get a taste of manoeuvering ourselves over rock from time to time, and I loved it.
I was extremely lucky on the climb because I really didn’t feel the effects of altitude at all. I was a little headachy from the sun on Day 3, but two ibuprofen, a hat and a lot of water cured it quickly. In fact, other than not sleeping great, I was incredibly impressed with my body and what it did on the climb because not everyone in the group was feeling good. Although we all were taking Diamox to help prevent altitude sickness, a couple of my friends ended up quite sick. We’re not sure if it was altitude, food, water, or a combination, but Day 4/5 was tough.
Day 4 was a big day because it was about 9 hours from the time we left camp in the morning to the time we arrived at the final camp for the ‘night’. It wasn’t really a full night though because after dinner, we had about 4 hours to rest and then we were woken up to start the summit climb for 11:00pm (start of Day 5). Summitting is done overnight for a few reasons, which we learned after the fact: to have the light of the full moon, to arrive at the summit at sunrise, and so that we couldn’t see what we were climbing up for the 7 hours it took us to get to the top. Aimee-Noel and I were saying that we were the closest we’d ever be to the moon that night, and it felt like we were actually on it. The final push to the top was brutal in a lot of ways, and again, I’m massively lucky that my only enemies that night were the cold and not having slept since I woke up the morning of Day 4. I wasn’t throwing up or fighting nausea or a pounding headache, but many of my friends were, and I was praying for all of us the entire 7 hours up. The terrain itself was brutal too, and for a good portion of the climb, you’d slide back a step for every two you took forward because of the sand. Since I was feeling okay, I was doing my best to help everyone else (including pulling pants down at pee breaks!) and also making sure that I was drinking enough water and eating the summit breakfast of champions – chocolate and trail mix - about every 30 minutes to keep energy levels up.
Finally, at sunrise on June 28, 2010, all 10 of us crested Stella Point at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro – we had made it! I couldn’t help but cry, but quickly wiped tears away so that they didn’t freeze. It was about -18 celsius that night, with the wind making it feel more like -25, so our guide hurried us along so that we could reach Uhuru Peak – the highest point – as soon as possible so that we could get a few pictures and start working our way down. Although we were at the top of the mountain, we still had to go pole, pole (slowly, slowly) for the final 45 minutes to Uhuru because we were still gaining altitude and Antipas didn’t want people to get any worse. It was amazing to see the various states of people, not only in my group, but in general, and I was so thankful that I was able to be taking in most of the experience and not having to fight sickness. My mind was all over the place at the top – definitely on my dad and how proud he’d be when he saw the picture – but also with each and every one of the group members. In 5 days, we had become incredibly close and were looking out for one another like family; I was feeling very very blessed to be experiencing this with them, and also very proud of myself and my body for what it had accomplished. It really was a sense of being able to do anything.
With pictures taken and hugs all around, we started to make our way back down the mountain (about 3 hours of sand skiing in the blazing sun) to camp for a much needed hour of rest before having to pack up and hike 4 more hours to the final camp that night. Yes, this means that in the 36 hours from waking up on Day 4 to going to bed on Day 5, we’d hiked for about 24 hours. We arrived back at camps in waves, and I think it was about 10:40am when I crawled into my tent. Exhaustion and dehydration had hit me on the way down and it was incredible how much the temperature had changed. I’d hiked up the mountain in complete winter gear and was freezing, but on the way down, I’d stripped off as much as I could and was boiling. The sun definitely got to me on the descent too, so when I arrived back to camp and had taken off my wet layer, I was sunburned, but chilled. I also realized that although I’d had hand and feet warmers in my mitts and boots, my big toes were a bit frostbitten – luckily they haven’t turned black, but they’re still not quite right, and I’m hoping that the sensation will come back eventually….
While I hadn’t slept at all in the 4 hours we’d had the night before, I did doze a bit in the hour of rest we had before lunch, and I think that food and the thought that our sleeping bags awaited us at the final camp that night kept us all moving for the 4 hour afternoon hike down. Luckily, with the descent, people were starting to feel better and even though going down was tough on the knees, our final night at camps was hilarious. We were all so pumped that we’d made it to Uhuru and all together (some groups end up having to split up) that it was a great night of laughs, and I think we all slept very well (well, for me, as well as I could have…sleep was the one thing that didn’t come easily on the climb for me even though it should have!).
Our final day was easy (only 3 hours) and bittersweet. Beautiful scenery and good conversation on the way to the Mweka Gate, but we all knew that the adventure was coming to an end. After getting back to the B&B and cleaning up very fast (even though the shower was cold it felt SO good to wash after 6 days of being dirty and dusty!), we went to a restaurant for celebratory pizza. Aimee-Noel had to leave that evening to get back to Cape Town to catch a World Cup game the following day, and Kristin was out early the next morning, but I was thankful that we were able to spend one final meal together laughing. That night, a few of us went out for dinner and drinks (we were very much in celebration mode and it was lot of fun to completely let go – after all, I’d just climbed a mountain!), but it was already feeling weird not having everyone together.
I’ve been playing through the days in my mind constantly and finding comfort in knowing that I’ll see many of the group again soon. I was lucky enough to do a two day safari with Chloe and Fred post climb (it wasn’t originally in my plan, but worked out!) and we met up with Trish, Lucas, Kiran, Camille, and Paloma for one final campsite night together that was definitely one to remember – good food, good friends, good wine and sitting around a campfire under the Tanzanian sky was a picture perfect way to end the trip. And although Aimee-Noel and Kristin weren’t able to be there, I know that Aimee-Noel will be back in Canada this fall for a few weeks, so I’m going to do everything I can to see her, and Kristin is moving back to Toronto from Abu Dhabi later this month!
If you’ve read all 2800 words of this post, thank you…it only scratches the surface, so be sure to read the SHLF blog too to get my friends’ perspectives on the climb. And if you haven’t yet donated to the cause, please consider doing so at http://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1504&AID=968&PID=114230; every one of us really can Make a Difference.
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