Reaching Kilimanjaro’s Summit | Kilimanjaro Day 6

Here we go, the BIG day.  Day 6 of the Mount Kilimanjaro climb!  The day we hope to reach and pass Stella Point on the rim of Mount Kilimanjaro to get to Uhuru Peak, the highest point of the mountain – the highest point in Africa!!!  Or, I should say, the day we attempt to reach and pass Stella Point to get to Uhuru Peak.  I will do my best to convey how reaching Kilimanjaro’s summit climb feels like on day 6 but the physical and mental efforts are hard to put into words that do it justice and help anyone comprehend the experience well.  But I will do my best as it is worth reading about it whether you are planning to do summit Kili or are just curious about it…

Why there are not a lot of photos from the summit attempt

You will notice how the middle of this post is devoid of photos.  First, do not worry, there are pictures towards the last third of the post!  Secondly, that matches what happened for me in the ascent.  Much of what happened in the middle of summit night was not captured by a camera because I was too focused on going up and, for part of it, even my mind did not capture any images.

The goal: Uhuru Peak

Breaking down summit night

I will break down this most important of days during our climb of Mount Kilimanjaro to -hopefully- make it easier for me to organize myself and make sense.  Day 6 consisted of four parts – it was to be one LONG day in chronological time and mental time.  The four key parts are:

1. Going from Barafu Camp (base camp) to Stella Point (at the rim of the volcano that is Mount Kilimanjaro) – expected to be about 7 hours of trekking
2. Going from Stella Point to Uhuru Peak (the actual summit point of Kilimanjaro) – expected to be a short 45 mins to one hour fairly “flattish” walk
3. Coming down from Uhuru Peak back to our base camp (Barafu) for a brief rest, removing inner layers, and having lunch – about 3 hours
4. Arriving to Mweka Camp where we were to spend our last night on the mountain – about 4.5 hours of a downhill, easy walk.

I will cover in this post only the ascent on day 6 (#1 and 2 above) and not the descent that happened later that day.  I will cover the descent on day 6 (#3 and 4) with the final descent of day 7…

Leaving Barafu Camp to reach Stella Point

Barafu Camp at 15,100 ft (4,600 m) was a hard camp to like.  I write about it in my narrative for day 5.  Yet, I could have stayed there a few more hours sleeping that night…  Four of our group left at 11 PM to have an extra hour to reach the summit.  The rest of us saw them leave camp, and then we finished prepping and ate a snack prior to heading out for our attempt at the summit.  At midnight, we left the relative comfort of this camp to do what we came here to do:  tame Uhuru Peak!

I was pumped even while wondering (and perhaps feeling a little nervous about) what would happen, how it would end 8 hours later.  Ah, the fool… I was to learn the end was NOT reaching the summit, but reaching our camp for the night.  More on that later…

What did I wear on the way to Kili’s summit?

I wrote about the particular items to wear for this climb here but a quick recap here.  Though it was very cold at base camp given the altitude and the time of day we were leaving the camp, we were instructed to dress such that we were slightly cold upon setting out since we would warm up as we exercised during the climb – great tip as I would not have thought of it in that state of sleep-deprivation…

So, I wore my two tight woolen tops, then my merino wool light jacket, and my hard shell jacket (which protected me against wind and water though, mercifully, we did not have precipitation).  The synthetic down jacket would wait until we took breaks (when, since you are at rest, you do not want to lose the heat your body has generated) or until it finally got too cold even while walking (which it did at some point).  In terms of my legs, I wore my long wool underwear (all the wool layers by the skin helped wick moisture away from the skin) under my convertible hiking pants and then my hard shell pants.

Still, it was VERY cold on summit night in Kili!

The only place on my body where I felt really, really cold was my toes though I was wearing sock liners and the thickest wool socks I could find.  It is amazing to think that it actually can be much colder than I experienced.  We had milder temperatures than normal up there per what our guide told us.  Ahead of the trek, I had been told I would be exceedingly cold and it did not quite feel that way (feet aside).  Boy, am I glad that was the case on this particular night!

Time is a funny thing

During the climb up to Stella Point, it is amazing how time flowed – or how I felt it flowed…  The hourly five to ten minute breaks we took (a lot shorter than the breaks we got to take on prior days) provided a little bit of rest from the effort and allowed for drinking some water, eating a little something, and handling nature calls.  During one of those breaks, probably as we were beginning to zone out and wear out, they surprised us with hot tea – one of the happiest moments in those seven hours!

Handling nature calls was a little more of a pain than it had been other days of the climb because it was dark.  But when nature calls, it calls.  And no pee bottle here.  In any case, I worked my way up by focusing on each hour’s walk, not on the totality of what was ahead of me.  I was not looking at my watch at all but when the break came, I knew an hour had passed and that was an hour off the seven-hour count…  Keep the focus on the next sixty minutes…

And who said it would be a piece of cake?  No one.  They were right.

After the first hour of the climb, my heart rate starting racing and I was out of breath a lot like on day 4 after we had passed the Barranco Wall.  We had been climbing bigger rocks (requiring big steps) which was exactly what had caused my troubles on day 4 – except now I was four or five thousand feet higher…

That issue was going to slow me down and, tonight, falling behind could mean being turned around.  The guides had been clear with the first subgroup that if we got to Stella Point at the same time as them, they would have to turn back at Stella Point and head back to basecamp.  It meant they would take a lot more than an hour reaching Uhuru and, having already been at that altitude an extra hour than us, it would have been too much time up there.  So, I knew that if I fell behind too much in my own group, that I could miss getting to Uhuru.  That realization really hit me hard.

Guide wisdom.  Trust it.  Don’t fight it.

One of guides, Said, told me to give him my daypack.  My heart sank.  Was that an early indicator that I would not make it to the top?  As soon as the path became less “pronouncedly” rocky, I told Said I could take my daypack back because I was back to “normal.”  He shook his head and said he would keep it.  At first, with pride stepping in, I said no, I could take it.  And then I realized that it may be the worst thing I could do.  I needed to save every last drop of my energy for the big rocks ahead.  I resumed my climb, “daypackless.”  Boy, am I glad I did…

I believe I was the second or third person to lose their daypack in our group.  I felt this would take away from the feat should I reach the summit.  I had nothing to fear.  Within a few hours, more than half (including the four guys in this subgroup) had lost their daypacks too, including our star athlete who had run across deserts and had been carrying a daypack every day of this climb loaded at 30-40 lbs.  I have to digress and mention that this guy, a dentist from northwestern Canada, would carry all sorts of candy in his daypack and, all throughout the week’s hike, would pull out a DIFFERENT bag of candy (gummy bears, sour patches, etc.) to pass around at breaks.  Needless to say, he became everyone’s friend fast!

It is worth pointing out how carefully our guides were watching each one of us even after we surrendered our daypacks.  Clearly, ensuring no one exhibited dangerous signs of altitude sickness (the ones that represent life-threatening danger like cerebral edema).  But they REALLY wanted us to make it to Uhuru Peak as long as we were not exhibiting any serious symptoms and did everything they could to assist us in reaching our objective.  I felt very safe among these great men.

The lights are not always at the end of the tunnel…

Though we had a full moon, we still needed to illuminate the path ahead by wearing headlamps.  I remember that I would look up ahead on the trail and see what was becoming a downer for me:  a long trail of headlamps ahead of us zigzagging the slope of the mountain.  And then you didn’t see any.  That point would get closer and closer, and it felt good to know we were reaching a “milestone” of sorts.  But once we reached the milestone, I would look up and see, yet again, another LONG trail of headlamps going all the way up to a point far up the mountain.  After this, I decided not to look up anymore…  It was disheartening!

Sleep and memory loss – all in a Kili climber’s night!

Maybe halfway up to Stella Point, I was dozing off.  No, not during breaks.  This was as I moved my feet up that mountain and as my arms moved the hiking poles.  The lack of oxygen and being tired had everything to do with that.  (Through chats post-facto, I learned others were also dozing off as they walked up.)  It was insane.

I decided that I needed to occupy my mind but I was too tired to alphabetize countries or come up with some other mental activity.  I was that exhausted and my brain was likely not able to function well.  I want to say that the thought that I was reaching Kilimanjaro’s summit was very clearly driving me.  I was so tired, I may have half forgotten why I was there.

Keeping my mind occupied

Looking at the Southern Cross, which someone pointed out, gave me something think about (or try to look at without tripping).  Some folks had music in their portable devices but I had not brought mine.  That was on purpose.  I actually wanted to listen to the folks stepping on the mountain, focus on the quietness of the surroundings, not being cluttered with noise.  I like not feeling “trapped” within myself when it comes to sounds and that felt more important to me that night.

Give it up, baby give it up

Towards the end of the third hour, our lead guide, Luis, told us that we needed to be sure we were not spending our every last drop of energy in the remaining part of the climb.  I thought to myself  “huh?”.  He said that coming down would be very hard too.  Therefore, it was crucial we managed our exertion level.  I was not sure how we would do that.  But then I started thinking maybe he was trying to subtly tell some people to give up their daypack…

A “happy” place.  Say what?

Then, he said, “guys, the next few hours are going to be very hard; find your happy place because you are going to need it”.  I remember thinking, in my tiredness, “my happy place?  my happy place?  what IS that??  a beach?  no.  wine?  no, wine is not a place.”  I had no energy to conjure a happy spot I didn’t have previously.  And then, all of a sudden, the faces of my sister’s, cousins’ and friends’ kids came to mind.  Their smiley, happy faces.  So I started calling roster on all of them seeing those smiley faces.  I had found my happy place.  And it kept me distracted easily for another hour.  I say “easily” because I think it is after an hour of that that my memory goes blank…

Yes, what happened in the last 2-3 hours prior to Stella Point are a big blank.  I have no idea what happened, when we stopped, what was I thinking, nothing, nada, nil.  Comparing notes with others later, I am not the only one to whom that happened.  We had been told the last bit before reaching Stella Point would be scree (small pebbles).  So for every step forward, there would be a step back.  I have no recollection of scree, of steps forward, or steps back.

And then it happened… Steeeeeeeellllllaaaaa!

So I was in some zone when all of a sudden, to my right, I see a glimmer of light on the horizon.  Sunrise is beginning!  It was like an injection of adrenaline straight to my heart – and mind.  Watching the sun rise and trying to take good pictures became the priority as we continued walking up.  I was awake!

Glorious!

The sun finally broke through the horizon and we could see that Stella Point was just like 20 minutes away.  It was one of THE most incredible moments in my life.  You see, at that moment, I had no doubt I would make it. Though, how could I really tell how the higher altitude and serious lack of oxygen would hit me 20 mins later?  It didn’t matter, I just knew I was A-OK!

We hit Stella Point and I couldn’t believe how quickly it came upon us.  I don’t think I could see it from the final approach.  This was unbelievable.  I was at over 18,000 ft and would only have one more hour up to Uhuru Peak after a short break at Stella Point.  We laughed, hugged, and even teared up some.

Some of the trekkers and guides at Stella Point (I am on the far left)

The view around Kilimanjaro’s crater

My eyes couldn’t believe the view outside of the mountain and INTO the mountain.  Remember the top of Mount Kilimanjaro is a crater from a long-extinct volcano.

Looking around the top of Kili

Immediately the picture-taking began in front of the brand-spanking-new green sign with yellow letters.  TERRIBLE design… you had to be RIGHT IN FRONT OF IT for the letters to show well in a photo.  Thankfully, they changed the sign since I summitted per the photos I see now.

In any case, pictures were taken and then we proceeded to get to Uhuru Peak…  Time was of the essence.  At that altitude, you do not want to linger despite the fact that we noticed tents in the crater.  In any case, we had to mosey to the peak and we couldn’t dilly daddle.  We had to move.

Reaching Kilimanjaro’s summit:  Uhuru Peak

Mt. Kilimanjaro used to be covered in glaciers.  Today, the glaciers are there but they are not as dominant as they must have been.  Sadly, they are expected to disappear completely in a few decades.  Still, seeing them from a distance was impressive with the African horizon behind them.  Yes, a glacier in Africa.  So mind-boggling.  We knew we were close to meeting our objective of reaching Kilimanjaro’s summit !

The hour walk (or maybe 45 mins?) up to Uhuru was much easier and less steep than the prior few hours though we still went up 660 feet (200 m) or so to reach it.

Said and I headed to Uhuru Peak

Everyone was in great spirits as we attempted reaching Kilimanjaro’s summit.  And then, we saw it, the big green sign marking Uhuru Peak!!!  WE WERE THERE!  Laughter, smiles, even some jumping-for-joy all around.  We caught up with the first group. It was so awesome to see all of us together at the peak.  The probabilities were that they would be already on their way down when we got to Uhuru or that they wouldn’t reach it.  Consequently, the fact that we all were there together, this group that had been together for about 10 days, was truly priceless.

One of the many celebratory photos taken: here with Liz and Len Stanmore

Immediately we got close to the sign to wait our turn to stand in front of it and capture the moment in a photo.  Phenomenal moment of joy for all of us.  And just as happy as we were, our guides were beaming that we had all make it – asante sana, guys!

And so reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro comes to an end

The story of the descent is for another post – and the descent was painful.  However, I will share one reflection here about having reached the summit.

Even if I had surrendered my daypack no one moved my legs forward and upward for me, as Luis our lead guide told us once at base camp.  Every step I took on that blessed mountain was my own.  That is the real achievement here for each trekker:  the strength of will and of body to push forward and upward. The strength when you think you don’t have it all together.  When you feel the next big rock may be the one that tips the climb over for you and sends you back to camp.  When you don’t know what is your “happy place”.  I will treasure what I learned that early morning the rest of my life.

A very happy trekker at Uhuru Peak!

Back to Day 5…

… On to the descent

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View from the top of Kilimanjaro on the way from Stella Pt. to Uhuru Peak

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Other posts about the Kilimanjaro trek:

–  Preparing for the hike is more than training and gear

–  The Machame Route:  our way up

–  7 things you will not see me without as I climb Kili

–  Day 1 of the hike (starting the climb!)

–  Day 2 of the hike (getting to Shira Camp)

–  Day 3 of the hike (the Lava Tower and hail)

–  Day 4 of the hike (Barranco Wall)

–  Interview with fellow Kili climber and Ultimate Global Explorer