ep8. Kilimanjaro part 2: The Climb!
A continuation of part 1 – this podcast talks about the actual climb up Kilimanjaro.
Thanks to Mattea Fleischner, Shannon Jacobs, Bonnie Louie, Adi Voloder, our guide Davis, our cook, Dr. Delicious, and All the amazing porters who hauled my crap up that volcano!
Music by Audiomachine, Dust Brothers, MB Dog, Diamond, Dayna, Culture, and Cannibal.
Transcript:
PART 2:
<Where in the World is LN? Intro>
LN: Hey guys, I’m currently in Moshi, Tanzania. Just got done climbing Kilimanjaro. This is part two — as part one was about my anxiety, preparation, where I found the company, all that stuff. This podcast is about the climb itself. Everything I experienced, saw, felt and heard, actually- all the music on this podcast is straight from my ipod that I used throughout the climb.
(Any recommendations?)
ADI: Yea, DO IT! Climb up there!
<Music: Kilimanjaro song… clapping>
LN: this is the Kilimanjaro song. You sing this at LEAST once a day while climbing. Here’s what it means:
Jambo! (Hello)
Jambo Bwana! (Hello there)
Habari gani (How are you?)
Mzuri Sana (very good)
Wageni! (Guests….)
Mwakaribishwa (You’re welcome)
Kilimanjaro (to kilimanjaro)
Hakuna Matata … (No worries)
But I’m getting ahead of myself- let’s start from the beginning.
<SFX: rewinding tape>
We started the trek by waking up, assembling at the office, getting into a van, eating boxed lunch, and standing in line with 162 other clients who also decided to climb that day.
DAVIS: 162 clients. Plus a lot of porters. Traffic will be very heavy on the way up.
LN: that was Davis, our guide. He told us that normally, the Machame Route has, max, 100 people, plus porters, plus cook, plus guides. It was probably because of the full moon. After checking in we set off on our first day of hiking through the amazing rainforest. We were too busy chatting with people in our group to pay attention to the blue monkeys that inhabit this side of the mountain.
<Music swell>
After the success of the day, we signed in, I did my 7min of burpees (I did 72) and we were greated by dinner.
SHANNON: Fried potatoes,
BONNIE: mmmmm
SHANNON: quiche, tilapia, vegetable type stew. Delicious food on the table.
Mattea: And great company! Yay!
LN: that was Bonnie, Shannon, Adi and Mattea. My climbing mates. You’ll be hearing from them more throughout this podcast. We actually got along so well that Davis gave us the nickname: Dream Team.
DAVIS: this group- we call it a Dream Team. Right? A DREAM. TEAM.
LN: we also discussed Accute Mountain Sickness (AMS) symptoms.
DAVIS: Sometimes you may feel different, a slight headache. Sometimes you can’t sleep long sleep. Maybe you sleep 50/50. Sometimes you can’t sleep. Maybe 2-3 hours. But worry not about that situation. The other things are gastration and it’ll be difficult to feel normal. You may feel cramping, stomach and whatever. Worry not, that isn’t at this elevation.
MATTEA: Just drink more water?
DAVIS: Just drink more water.
LN: and we were also told about tomorrow’s plan.
DAVIS: So, tomorrow, we will knock on your tent around 0630, the porter will knock on your tent (hello?) with hot water and tea/coffee for your tent.
MATTEA: What?
DAVIS: Exactly. We call that morning call. Then at 0700 we have your water for washy-wash.
LN: that night we all slept pretty soundly at 3,850m above sea-level. We were worken up with tea/coffee just as promised. And this is when the AMS started to affect me. If I drank any stimulant my heart rate went from it’s normal 50bpm to 120. I had difficulty breathing, I was shaky, nauceous. So, sadly I couldn’t drink coffee any more during the trip.
<Music break>
LN: Breakfast was millet.
MATTEA: I’m a big fan of the millet porrage. And peanut butter and chocolate mix.
LN: that day’s hike was… well… pretty rough. It was a lot of boulders, rocks, stuck in mud and that made the day before, on our lovely packed-dirt path seem like a dream.
SHANNON: But the worst thing, for F*#$) sake man, the worst thing was seeing those rocks and boulders sticking up 90degrees- and knowing you had to climb those motherfuc***… OMG.
LN: there was also a lot of traffic jams, as there were 162 of us. Plus porters, plus cooks, plus guides. So that night I started this thing where I asked everyone the best and worst part of the day.
SHANNON: Ok. The best thing today was seeing the tents when you come on home base.
MATTEA: Another positive was coming to camp. With all these smiling faces.
ADI: Today was quite fragrant, beautiful.
(Shannon: Fragrant? Haha)
ADI: and the worst of the day, I have to say, was the lies portrayed to us by our wonderful guide who tried to motivate us- that was quite indignant, I have to say.
MATTEA: the worst part of the day was having to use the rest-room where people have been using the rest-room in the same place, every day.
SHANNON: why don’t you define what a rest-room is… Because there’s no rest, there, mate.
MATTEA: Open space, kinda sorta covered by a rock.
SHANNON: let’s call it what it is, mate, a hole in the F*#%ing ground. And a pole to hold onto.
(Laughs)
<Music>
LN: on day three we climbed up to 4,650m only to come back down slightly to sleep. This climb was hard and rough.
BONNIE: the worst part the rocks…. That I almost tripped over three times…. (Laughs)
LN: the air was crisp and cold and when we finally got to lava tower, as it’s called, it was foggy. We saw some tents there- but then were quickly disappointed when we discovered that it wasn’t OUR tents and we had several more hours of hiking to go.
<Music>
SHANNON: the worst for me was the…. The ice-cold weather that we experienced. (Groans) and the lack of oxygen that we had. I was struggling. Short breaths. And then I got this bloody headache. And then I had a moment of happiness when I had a snowball thrown at me. (Laughs) But that didn’t last long. (Laughs) And it was back to being misery and fog every where and you’re just staring at the floor, one step at a time… And then another part was seeing that camp and realizing it wasn’t ours… That was hard.
LN: I wore my vibram 5-finger shoes throughout the whole trek, dispite Davis’ warnings. Something something cold. Something something frostbite.
DAVIS: I ask you about your finger shoes or the boots. But tomorrow will be a little bit cold. When we get there. Make sure to just apply your boots, thank you.
LN: I argued that me and boots wouldn’t be a good idea, either, because I couldn’t remember the last time I wore real shoes. I begged to keep using my 5-fingered shoes. I’m glad I did! I ended up getting my totem animal that day.
(So, Davis has claimed my totem animal as….
DAVIS: Mountain Goat!)
(Laughs)
LN: that night, again, we did the best/worst of the day… but we realized that everyone was beginning to suffer from AMS pretty badly. The first symptoms was irratiblity.
ADI: the worst part — it’s a feeling of restlessness. Where everything irratates you.
SHANNON: patience is running thin.
ADI: yea. Patience is really thin. And I don’t know why.
(LN: Irratibility.)
ADI: yea.
(LN: yea, you’re not usually a jerk.)
ADI: yea…. (Laughs)
LN: we had a description of the next day’s plan….
DAVIS: Mountain Goat, Adi, Shannon and Mattea will knock on your tent at 0630, the usual time as day 1. After finish your breakfast, we will start to rock and roll. Directly to Barafu Wall.
LN: every night we talked about expected weather, tempratures and what we should be packing, what we should bring, all kinds of stuff like that. Which is all helpful and appreciated.
DAVIS: Don’t forget to pack your rainstuff as well. Especially sun cream, sun glass, which is really important to be with you.
LN: Davis, our guide, also checked our blood-oxygen level with this…. Finger-oxygen-meter-doo-dad thing. I’m pretty sure it was just a toy from a local shop but it made us feel heaps better as our bodies were struggling to adjust to the altidue.
DAVIS: today I’m very happy because Mountain Goat and Mattea are going to share the tent so they will be very warm.
MATTEA: yay! Very warm.
DAVIS: enjoy that, guys, because this is your last long sleep.
LN: thanks to sleeping pills, our sleep was gloriously undistubed until we had to wake up at 06:00 to climb Barafu Wall.
<MUSIC>
BONNIE: Worst? Barafu Wall.
LN: can you describe the wall?
BONNIE: it was torturous. I’m afraid of heights, so it didn’t work well for me. Uh… it was steep. Obviously, looking from below was… not helping much (laughs) and… uh…. Getting clogged with all the people waiting to get up there didn’t help either, so it took longer than usual, so that’s why.
LN: now, this wall is a cliff face. Boulders and rocks sticking up everywhere that would normally be fun for a small group. But when you have 162 people, plus porters, plus cooks, plus guides, this means…. A lot of traffic jams.
SHANNON: Best of the day? Deciding to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Worst of the day? Deciding to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Full stop.
(LN: Laughs…. I agree! With that statement.)
SHANNON: And we haven’t even finished.
LN: of course, because I’m a moutain goat, I just climbed up. Straight up.
(LN: we climbed a sheer cliff/lava wall. Which I thought was the best part.)
SHANNON: that was the the best part for me, too.
LN: once at the top at 4200m I did seven minutes of burpees, which I did 60.
Which is probably not the best idea. Besides being laughed at by a bunch of yemenites, I started getting a migraine that couldn’t be controled by ibprophen or water and that made the next five hours of hiking that much more unbareable.
(LN: HOURS! Of like, desert landscape that never changed and was super rocky and… or… sandy is really the proper term… we had to go super slow. I hated that.)
LN: this is also day 4, which meant that this day, we only slept for 3-4 hours and got up at midnight to summit. Tomorrow we would be at the top. Or at least we hoped.
DAVIS: let me tell you something, yea? My name is Davis- and I’m 100% that all of you will be up there, all will return there. I will sing and dance and then we’ll come back safely.
<Music>
LN: so, down goes the sleeping pill, along with diamox for the altitude sickness and ibprophen for the headaches. Mattea and I had a pep session right before dozing off for the precious sleep that we had right before waking up in….. four hours.
(LN: Ok, Mattea, how do you feel?
MATTEA: I feel nervous. I feel like this is going to be an amazing moment. And I’m really happy I’m with the people I’m with and I feel humbled by nature and (sigh) really looking forward to going up and down. And coming back to this sleeping bag, soon.
LN: yes. Oh man.
MATTEA: how about you?
LN: I’m so looking forward to a milkshake. (Laughs) and a hot shower! No. I’m actually warm right now, which is amazing. You will be, just wait. Put on your pants (laughs) and get into your sleeping bag. So we have… how many? It’s 1930 now… That’s like one REM, that’s good. We’re going to take it slow, I’ll be drowsy, which will be great. We have music which is great.
MATTEA: we have music, and positive attidues. We got to!
LN: dude, we’re going to do this.
MATTEA: yea. It’s bed time. We’ll do this.
LN: ah. Ok. Over and out.
<MUSIC>
LN: then it was game time. We stumbled out of our warm sleeping bags and put on our wet shoes and socks and every article of clothing that we brought. We tried to eat… anything… something… our headlamp batteries kept failing and freezing up and basically, we were walking zombies. But Davis’ voice guided us to where we needed to go.
<Music>
LN: I actually have no recordings from this time because getting my phone out, taking off my gloves and the plastic bags and the mittens and trying to not fumble with a device just seemed way more difficult and energy consuming. My Ipod was jamming though.
<Music>
LN: So… my steps were basically, ‘shuffle shuffle… pant pant pant…. Breathe!…. Shuffle shuffle… pant pant pant..’ We slowly made our way up this mountain, where everything just felt like a struggle.
<Music>
LN: we passed some other tourists who turned back due to altitude sickness. We passed slower people. We went ‘pole pole’ which means ‘slowly slowly’- and the hours crawled by, just like our bodies were crawling up this summit… A bright beaming ball of light was shining down on us and I kept getting annoyed at the asshat that was using a spotlight to spy on me… Until I realized that a) it was the moon. And b) I’m suffering big time from AMS. At least that’s what I’m going to blame it on.
<Music>
LN: about every 100m or so, we took breaks- which doesn’t seem like a lot, but was deserpately needed. We drank some non-frozen water. We caught our breaths, and then shuffle, shuffle, pant pant pant… over and over again…
<Music>
LN: At 0445, Davis told us “ok, guys. Stop for some water… get your cameras out, and look behind you. And this is when we saw the sunrise.
<Music- magestic!>
LN: now, I’ve seen hundreds, if not thousands of sunrises in my life. But this was like nothing I’ve ever seen. We were above the clouds where the only thing that you could see was this ocean of clouds– that expanded in every direction all around us. And right there in the middle was this flaming ball of fire- peaking out — just trying to give me the life force that I so desperately needed/wanted. It raised all our spirits and after that- I kinda felt unstopable. Like I was zeus on Olympus or something. My headache and nausea subsided for about three minutes- and this calm washed over me.
<Music>
LN: and we continued hiking… shuffle shuffle, pant pant pant. But I had this renewed life-force. I also had a pounding headache and was dry-heaving every 4th step. And then finally I threw up and as soon as that happened, I leaped up the rest of the mountain to do my seven minutes of burpees- which I did 7.
<Music>
LN: Actually, our whole group made it up to the top. That’s a huge accomplishment in and of itself, then we made it all the way to Uluru Peak- which in Swahili means “freedom”. This trek, while semi-flat, is the last thing you want to do after summiting to Stella Point, but it’s required to say that you actually climbed the whole thing.
<Music>
LN: So. This is it! 19,341ft above sea level or 5,895m!
So after the obligatory pictures and writing our names on the sign, we started to head down. It was 0800am now and the sun was pelting down on us without any shade or life of any sort to protect us from the magestic rays. We slathered on sunscreen and tried to go down as quickly as possible- as Adi started to get sick, then I felt sick, then other people started dropping like flies, and the only thing you could do was to get back down as quickly as possible so we could sleep and feel better.
Which we did.
In a warm tent.
After drinking hot chocolate.
<Music>
LN: the only unfortunate part was that it was snowing at camp and we still had four hours left of hiking to get further down the mountain. (Groan)… so after getting woken up at 1300, we packed everything and set out towards the next camp, which we arrived way after 20:00.
I don’t even remember eating anything that day, not even soup. I don’t remember drinking anything, except maybe some water. I don’t remember feeling anything- except elation and exhaustion. And we slept….
And slept….
And slept….
<Music>
LN: the next morning we woke at 0800 to climb the rest of the way down. Everyone’s AMS symptoms had stopped, our feet and knees were really starting to protest, but the idea of showering, beer and cake kept us going.
<Music: Kilimanjaro song w/ clapping>
(Moral)
LN: any recommendations?
ADI: yea. Do it! Climb up there!
LN: anything you’re glad you brought, or things you wish you brought?
ADI: More underware.
SHANNON: It’s an amazing experience, it’s hard as F*#@, but it’s pretty amazing when you think that you’re walking up a volcano! I found some magma that I’m taking home with me, that is apparently really rare- and even walking down the mountain- and knowing that’s where lava was flowing… It’s an amazing experience, even if it nearly killed me.
MATEA: yea. Definitely do it. It’s an amazing experience being above the clouds in the middle of the night and seeing the entire world below you. And then seeing the entire world awake in front of you as the sun comes up. And seeing your body push forward when you don’t think it can to get to the top. And, um… Knowing that there are so many positive people in your life that helped you get there and you can do it! And you did it!
LN: the experience itself- I’m really glad we did the visualization. And yea, once the sun came up, that was so rejuvinating. And BEAUTIFUL! So beautiful. I’m really glad we did it on the full moon, too.
MATTEA: me too. I couldn’t look up very much.
LN: yea, me too. Every time my head moved, I got dizzy. Um. It was definitely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done mentally and physically in my life. I thought about that a lot on the way up. But yea. I’m glad I did it. I’m glad it’s done. (Laughs)
MATTEA: and in 3-4 hours we’ll be back in civilization.
LN: oh! And a hot shower! Yes!
<Music>
Thanks to Mattea, Bonnie, Adi, Shannon, our guide Davis, our cook Dr. Delicious, and all the amazing Porters who hauled my crap up that volcano. I want to thank my friend, Peter who gave me all the music that you heard. Speaking of which- the music that you did head- which came off my ipod, includes Audio Machine, Dust Brothers, MB Dog, Diamond, Dayna, Culture and Cannibal. For more information, stories, whatever your heart desires, you can go to my blog at LNLurie.com
PODCAST:
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