Kilimanjaro Tomorrow

Mount Meru

2008-02-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

As dusk approached, the clouds and fog filtered through Shira plateau creating a surreal visual drama. Forty four miles due west from Kilimanjaro, the 15,000 foot active volcano Mount Meru wasn't about to be outdone by it's more famous neighbor

Kilimanjaro viewed from Shira Camp

2007-03-12T00:38:00.000-07:00

In the late afternoon, as we waited for dinner at Shira Camp, the clouds began to open for the first time since early morning. Looking due east, we caught our first glimpse of Kilimanjaro at this altitude. The last time we saw it was leaving Machame camp, where it appeared like a distant peak in the horizon. Now we could make out the details of the glaciers, and we realized how far we had come in only two days.

Sasquatch on Kilimanjaro?

2007-03-12T00:22:00.000-07:00

Shortly after arriving at Shira camp, I shot these series of pictures of a rather cumbersome creature with a long mane moving at a high rate of speed in the distance.

Actually, it was only Jeremiah, who had volunteered to sprint around the camp in order to let me test the auto-tracking feature on my new Canon 20D. This was no small feat, as any exertion at 13,000 ft left you pretty winded.

February 2, 2006: Shira Camp Arrival

2007-02-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

We more or less stumbled/wandered into Shira camp in mid-afternoon. We were still surrounded by the cloud line and so the views were rather unspectacular. However, this belied the views that were to materialize a few hours later at sunset. We were greeted by a winged sentinel, the white necked raven. Although ground fauna were few and far between, these birds were still abundant, jockeying for whatever scraps were left unattended by the trekkers. Unlike Machame Huts, vegetation was sparse at this camp site. You could see tents sprawled over a flat 1/4 mile stretch of rocky earth when the clouds slowly started to lift.

One year anniversary of Kilimanjaro summit day

2007-02-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

This is being posted at 10:45 pm EST on February 5. In Tanzania it is 6:50 am, February 6th; almost one year exactly that Jen, Ajay, Jeremiah and I summited Mt Kilimanjaro.

If you happen to be waking up in Moshi, and the early morning clouds are just right... this is what you would see. You would peer towards the summit and wonder who was standing there- on top of the world for a day.

Day 2: The Enchanted Forest

2007-01-07T08:21:00.000-08:00

After lunch, we continued our trek to the Shira plateau. The remaining distance to the camp was about the same as what we had done earlier in the morning, but was much easier in terms of effort. We were now essesntially hiking west along the slopes of Kilimanjaro with relatively little change in elevation.

A dense fog rolled in over the earthy landscape that surrounded us. Old man's beard covered the gnarlled vegetation that we walked through.

February 2, 2006: Lunch and the fresh vegetable dilemma

2006-12-03T12:42:00.000-08:00

I've taken a bit of a hiatus from working on this blog, but I'm not one to leave things half finished. It's been over a year since our Kilimanjaro trip began to take shape, but it seems like a longer time has passed. In any case, continuing our trek to Shira Plateau...

Along the midway point of our hike, our first lunch was served. Our guides had set up a table with a blue table cloth and served us a lunch of sandwiches (cheese and vegetables if I remember correctly), biscuits, and fruit, as well as bottled fruit juice and tea.

The cook and waiter (yes, the tentman in charge of setting up camp doubled as a waiter) had done a great job making our meals feel like something special. At least as good as anyone could do under the circumstances. Speaking for myself only, anytime I'm camping, it doesn't take a lot to make me happy in terms of food... I can eat anything. However, we were faced with one dilemma. The cook had prepared the sandwiches using slices of fresh tomatos and bell peppers. We inquired as to how these vegetables were prepared and were told they were washed using boiled water that had also been sterilized by a portable UV irradiator. There was certainly no reason for us not to believe that they had in fact done this. One of the reasons Ajay had choosen Zara Travel for our trip was based on their good reputation and track record. They didn't earn this reputation by cutting corners and leaving a wake of sick customers. However, we had all done enough traveling to realize that we alone were responsible for avoiding the things that might make us ill, such as eating potentially contaminated vegetables and fruit. We were torn between being ultra-cautious and not eating the sandwiches versus possibly offending our cook who had really worked hard to do something special for us. After investing so much time and money to finally make it this far, the last thing any of us wanted was to fail to reach the summit due to a nasty case of gastroenteritis. In the end, I believe Jeremiah and Ajay chose to avoid the veggies, while Jen and I rolled the dice and went for it and ate the sandwiches. Part of my decision was made because I typically have an iron stomach compared to others. The other part of my decision was made because the sandwiches looked and tasted good. To make a long story short, none of us got sick in the end.

February 2, 2006: Trek to Shira Plateau

2006-06-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

Clouds move in as a line of porters and trekkers ascend the steeper lower section of the hike between Machame Camp and Shira Plateau

Gladiolus and Red Hot Poker

2006-06-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

[Photo top: gladiolus; bottom: red hot poker]
The heath and moorland zones overlap into what is known as the lower alpine zone. Although it is much cooler than the rainforest, the sun is intense. The shrubs (heather) begin to shrink as the altitude increases. Grasses dominate the slopes.

Some of the most colorful fauna make their appeareance in this region, namely gladiolus watsoniodes, and the Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia thompsonii).

February 2, 2006: Day 2 Ascending through the heath zone

2006-05-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Although I managed to get up early to see the sunrise, by the time everyone else rolled out of their sleeping bags and we all had breakfast, most of the other trekkers were long gone. We just didn't see the need to move any faster, as we knew we had plenty of time for today's hike.

For the first time, we felt the warming rays of the sun as the cloud cover was temporarily absent. The destination for today was Shira camp. Our hike would take us up another 900m in elevation (roughly 2500 feet), about 2/3 of the elevation gain that we made on Day 1. The majority of this elevation gain would be in the first half of the hike, which proved to be the steepest climbing thus far. The path often consisted of slickrock, which fortunately for us had started to dry from the previous nights rain. Otherwise, the ascent would have been more difficult given the steepness and slippery nature of the rocks. We took it slow. Waking up with a resting heart rate of 100 bpm told me that my body was still adjusting to altitude. Otherwise we all felt fine, and we enjoyed the open views that the lack of clouds afforded us.

Stedman's: Kilimanjaro Guidebook, 2nd edition

2006-05-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

The best Kilimanjaro specific guidebook that I have seen is Henry Stedman's 1st edtion (blue cover) "Kilimanjaro, A Trekking Guide to Africa's Highest Mountain." The second edition is scheduled to come out in June, 2006 (green cover). It will be interesting to see what addition/changes have been made. Definitely worth the investment if you plan to make this trip in the near future

February 2, 2006: Morning, Day 2

2006-05-18T00:28:00.000-07:00

Insomnia is often an indication that altitude is affecting your body. Fortunately, that wasn't a problem for me, at least at this point. It seemed as if it was still dark outside when I woke to the sound of pots rattling and clanging as the cooks began to prepare breakfast. The air was cool, but the moisture inside our tent hadn't frozen, indicating that temperatures hadn't dipped much below freezing, at least to any significant extent.

I rolled out of the tent to see what morning had brought. I wasn't disappointed. The clouds had lifted from the previous night. The rising sun cast a pink hue across the high flying cirrus clouds. Looking to the northeast, Kibo, the peak of Kilimanjaro, appeared for the first time since we had started our climb.

[Photos, top: looking northeast, Kibo is visible to the left of the picture; bottom: the glacier streaked Kibo, sitting 9000 feet above our current position at Machame camp]

Mount Meru again served as our beacon to the west (below)

Moonscape over Mount Meru, viewed from Machame Camp

2006-05-10T22:57:00.000-07:00

Although the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro remained shrouded by clouds on our first night, the first spectacular view materialized like a spectre as the sky opened up to the west. As the sun set behind it, Mount Meru came into view for the first time. This jagged peak sits 14,000 feet above sea level. Although it would easy for Meru to be overshadowed by Kilimanjaro, as we rose higher and higher in the upcoming days, this peak seemed to rise with us. It seemed as if Meru grew larger and closer as we hiked up the western flank of Kilimanjaro.

February 1, 2006: Evening at Machame Camp

2006-05-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

Jen and Ajay break into the biscuits and popcorn snack before dinner while Jeremiah finds that inflating his ThermaRest at 10,000 feet elevation to be a challenge. As the first day on Kilimanjaro passes, we have dinner by candlelight in the mess tent.

Diamox baby: I'm high as a kite and you make me all tingly inside

2006-05-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

In the last post, I indicated that upon arriving at Machame Camp, 10,000 ft, we were all doing well. That's not entirely correct... we were all jacked up on diamox (acetazolamide) and were experiencing numbness and tingling to various degrees, a known side effect of this medicine. Ajay thought that these neurological manifestations were due to potassium loss, also a side effect of this diuretic. Not exactly sure if I believe that, boss, but just doing a brief search for the mechanism of action didn't turn up anything quick explanations. So the jury is still out.

Many people are aware that diamox is used in the prevention and treatment of altitude illness.
We were all taking the higher doses suggested in the medical literature (see below), 250 mg three times a day. Our guide, Bruce, who's opinion and experience I certainly respected when it came to anything about being on a big hill like Kilimanjaro, stated that these were higher doses than most climbers used. He felt that higher doses like 750mg/day of diamox was a dose for treating (after one develops symptoms) severe altitude sickness, rather than preventing the occurence of AMS (acute mountain sickness). He thought we should be taking about half of this dose.

Although the paresthesias (numbness, tingling of extremeties) caused by diamox aren't considered serious (ie life threatening), they did eventually get bad enough for Jen and Ajay, to the point that Jen was having difficulty holding her trekking poles. They both eventually titrated down a bit on the dose and this seemed to help improve the parethesias. Jeremiah and I continued to take the same dose. With the exception of the summit day, none of us had any significant problems with altitude during our climb. On the summit push itself (starting at 15,000 ft- Barufu Camp), Jen and Ajay definitely felt the effects of AMS. It's impossible to tell whether this was due to the fact that they backed off their dosage of diamox; more than likely it was coincidental...I think any of us could have potentially ended up with more severe altitude illness... it's just the way the cards were dealt.

In addition to diamox, we took daily gingko as well (120mg). There have been case reports suggesting benefit of gingko in altitude acclimatization, but I think most of this is still heresay at this point. Our feeling was it couldn't hurt and we all could use a little improvement in our memory.

We brought along dexamethasone, and nifedipine as well for treatment of possible HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) and HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema), but fortunately this was not needed (see New England Journal of Medicine article below).

My hypothesis as to why we all did so well in terms of avoiding altitude sickness for the most part, is that we took our time ("pole, pole"), and just soaked in the trip every second and every step that we were on the mountain. Altitude, not fitness, is by and far the biggest reason people fail to summit Kilimanjaro. And the best way to avoid the effects of altitude is to ascend as slowly as possible... the human body can adapt if given a chance.

Although there's lots of good medical literature about altitude illness out there (check www.pubmed.gov and search "altitude illness and review" some of most useful articles that I found were:

West, JB, et al in Annals of Internal Medicine, 2003. One of the best reviews on the pathophysiology of altitude illness (http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/141/10/789)

Barry, PW, et al. British Medical Journal, 2003. A good clinical review. http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/326/7395/915

Hackett, PH, et al. New England Medical Journal, 2001. Although it's a bit old, its a classic, and not much has changed in our thinking about AMS anyway. This article's got it all: clinical signs and symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, pathophysiology. The one article to read before heading up into thinner air. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/extract/345/2/107

One of many cool websites: High Altitude Medicine Guide.

I'm starting to sound a bit like an Amazon Book review.

February 1, 2006: Machame Camp

2006-05-02T22:53:00.000-07:00

The transition from the rain forest to the heath zone was rather abrupt. As the late afternoon rain quickly tapered to a drizzle, we emerged onto a plateau where the vegetation suddenly converted from the giant moss covered camphorwood trees to the shorter heather bushes. The mist and fog still hung heavy over us, obscuring any view of the landscape around us. Our hike had taken about 6 hours and we had ascended 1800 vertical meters (>5400 feet). This would be the larger gain in elevation that we would do in any single day. Within minutes, our first campsite, Machame Hut, appeared in view.

Our first task upon arriving was to sign in at a small hut. We waited in line briefly to do this behind a large group of loud but otherwise jovial french folk. The hut also had a small scale where the porters reweighed their cargo in order to assure that they were not carrying a significant amount of weight over the dictated limit.

[Photos: The French wait to sign in; Ajay and Jen with Living, our assistant guide; signing in; Machame Camp)

We wound our way through the various campsites to find our tents that had been already set up by our porters.

We all felt well. At 10,000 feet of elevation (3000m), the only real indication of altitude at this point for me was an elevated baseline heart rate.

February 1, 2006: The Rain Forest (cont)

2006-05-01T23:51:00.000-07:00

Our chief guide, Bruce, was MIA the first day, apparently back assisting green porters. His half brother, Living, stepped in to answer the barrage of questions we had regarding the mountain. We didn't think we would stay dry forever, and as we began to approach the highest boundary of the rain forest zone, the skies finally opened up, albeit briefly. We quickly pulled out our rain gear as our 9 mile hike brought us toward our first campsite, Machame camp.
.

Impatiens

2006-05-01T23:33:00.000-07:00

[Impatiens psuedoviola and Impatiens kilimanjaro]

There are close to 1000 species of plants belonging to the genus Impatiens (aka "touch me nots," since the mature seed pods explode when touched sending seeds meters away). Two of these can be seen on the rainforest slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Impatiens psuedoviola and Impatiens kilimanjaro. The latter is unique only to the slopes of Kilimanjaro itself. Shaped like a small tuba less than 0.5 inches in length, the yellow and scarlet flowers line the lengths of the trail and form a striking contrast to the earthy green vegetation that otherwise dominate the landscape of this mountain zone.

February 1, 2006: The Rain Forest

2006-04-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Our trek begins. We enter the rain forest which starts as a wide jeep trail before narrowing into a single track path sheltered by the canopy of trees overhead. This alpine rain forest apparently accounts for 96% of the water on Kilikanjaro. As a result of the moisture, thick cloud cover is the norm, as it was today. The winds carry this moisture upward where they contribute to glacier formation. One contributing factor to the rapid disappearance of the Kilimanjaro glacier cap of its summit is the deforestation of the cultivated zones below the forest. Less vegetation...less moisture.

Gear Bags on Kilimanjaro: Backpack vs Duffle

2006-04-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

[photo: porters weigh gear at Machame gate and argue in Swahili about who has to carry the yellow man's yellow bag]

One of the questions we had when planning our Kilimanjaro climb was what we should use as our gearbag. I went with the North Face Base Camp Duffle, which I already owned. The rest of the team used large capacity backpacks. In the end, either one did the trick.

Whichever gearbag is used, my only advice is to make sure it is BIG and make sure it is waterproof. In addition to the fact that my duffle was waterproof, I also purchased 3 sizes of ziplock plastic bags (regular size, 1 gallon, and 2 gallon). These were great for organizing all my gear and allowed me to quickly find stuff, and to pack when we were at camp.

It seemed to me that most of the gearbags the porters carried on the trail for clients tended to be backpacks. I assume this is because backpacks are what most people have access to. However, I would definitely recommend using a duffle if one is accessible. Packing up in the mornings was never fun for Ajay, Jeremiah, or Jen when every cubic inch of their backpacks was crammed to capacity. My bag was pretty full as well, but it's just easier to squeeze stuff into a duffle. Believe me, this was no easy task at altitude, when every movement seemed to take an extraordinary amount of energy.

REGARDING WEIGHT:
Although our gearbags that the porters carried weren't suppose to exceed 15 kg, we topped off 1-2 kg over this (I think all of us did). They didn't have a problem with this when the bags were weighed at Machame Gate. Ultimately, the porters carried not only our gear but an additional 5-10 kg of camp equipment. The speed at which they were able to hike with this weight was pretty amazing. All gear bags were carried by the porters on their heads, irregardless of whether it was a duffle or a backpack.

In addition to the gearbags, each of our daypacks weighed approximately 10-12 kg. Most of this weight was water (3 liters or so), spare layers, and food. Ajay's and my daypacks pushed 14 kg on some days due to our camera gear.

February 1, 2006: Machame Gate

2006-03-30T22:13:00.000-08:00

Machame gate. No brass bands or ceremonious send-off. When the mini-bus chugged to a stop inside Machame Gate, it was late morning. We were one of the last to arrive, and most of the trekkers had left or were in the process of starting their hike. It took time to unload our gear, and for our guide to assemble a team of porters. It is apparently a law for tour companies to hire a certain number of local men (and it turns out they are all men) to serve as porters in an effort to provide employment to these individuals. These porters in waiting were all assembled on the outside of the triangular gate that marked the Machame entrance to the park, hoping to have the opportunity to carry 35-50 lbs of gear for 7 days to an altitude of >15,000 feet (elevation of the last camp before summit).

It was somewhat anti climactic after the months of anticipation. Nonetheless, we were still thrilled to finally have reached the mountain. We had caught glimpses of the summit through the clouds on the drive up. However, from our current vantage point, our only view was of the rain forest vegetation forming a canopy over the jeep trail that would lead us upward.

February 1, 2006: The 1st Day

2006-03-19T23:40:00.000-08:00

Left: Preparing to leave Springlands Hotel for Kilimanjaro.
Below: Ajay eyes some fruit while we wait for our guides to pick up groceries in Moshi

It had been 3 months since Ajay dropped da bomb of this trip on us, and we had been anticipating it ever since. This day couldn't have come soon enough. It was Monday morning and the courtyard of Springlands was buzzing with adventure travelers who arrived over the weekend like ourselves. Gear was stacked near the front gates as minibuses and Land Rovers lined up to collect trekkers and safari goers and deliver them to their destinations. The excitement was palpable. We waited patiently for our minibus and guides to arrive, while other groups were packed and loaded and sent off. We were practically the last to leave the hotel, but Hakuna matata. Kilimamjaro would wait for us.

Our guides and our minibus finally materialized, and before we knew it we were driving north through Moshi, where we stopped to pick up some groceries. The trip to the entrance gate of Kilimanjaro took a little less than an hour from our hotel. After leaving the main highway, the road turned to packed dirt and we slowly drove our way up, gaining 3000 feet to arrive at our destination, Machame Gate.

January 31, 2006: Pig Summits Kilimanjaro

2006-03-13T22:00:00.000-08:00

Having come from the east coast of the United States in the dead of winter, it didn't take much to convince us that the rest of the day prior to starting our trek should be spent lounging by the pool. It did take a tremendous amount of self control to refrain from starting a running tab of Tanzanian beers which seemed liked the perfect antidote to the equatorial sun. Not sure what to anticipate on the climb ahead, we decided not fully test the effects of alcohol on adapting to altitude.

The evening was spent trying to figure out how to make the 15kg weight limit with our gear bags. I pretty much gave up and called it an early night.

Card Player Magazine Summits Kilimanjaro

2006-03-12T23:23:00.000-08:00

March 21, 2006 Issue of Card Player Magazine
Cover: Phil Hellmuth
Page 24: Phil Yin

I'll do anything for 15 min of fame.

January 31, 2006: Meeting our Guides

2006-03-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

[Pictures: Top, Our Guide (Chief Interpreter), Bruce; Bottom, one of our assistant guides, Living]

In the evening before we started the Kilimanjaro trek we met our guide, Bruce Lawrence, and one of our two assistant guides, Living Thomas, for the first time. The guide issue was a bit sticky from the start. As part of the pre-trip planning, Ajay worked to ensure that whoever our guide was, that person had the status of Chief Interpreter (see below), the highest designation for a guide. Shortly before we left the United States, the guide that was suppose to lead us had some problems with the Tanzanian park service, the details of which we were not privy to. Our replacement was Bruce, who fortunately was also a Chief Interpreter. However, on our first meeting, it was Living who greeted us, who happend to be Bruce's half brother. Living informed us that because of a personal issue in their family, Bruce would not be able to join us, and that he would be the one to lead our expedition. Although the rest of us just shrugged our shoulders, fortunately for us, Ajay realized the importance of having a Chief Interpreter and was more persistent. After speaking with Zainab, the owner of Zara, things ultimately worked out that Bruce was able to join us. This turned out to be an important detail, because although Living, the assistent guide, proved to be quite capable, Bruce's knowledge and experience on the mountain proved to be a tremendous benefit for us from an educational standpoint.

Ultimately our team consisted of 14 members plus the 4 of us: 8 porters, a cook, a server/waiter, a tent person, our guide and two assistant guides (Hamasi Omari was the other assistant guide, who we met the next day). It's unclear why we had two assistant guides, since we were a small group, but that's the way it was. It seemed as if this was quite a large party for just 4 trekkers, but I'm pretty sure that recently the park service passed a requirement that there be a certain number of porters per trekker. Most of the porters are hired by the tour company, but a certain percentage (25% I believe) must be taken from a pool of potential individuals queued up at the entrance gate to the mountain. This is an effort to provide employment to locals.

"Kilimanjaro: a Trekking Guide to Africa's Highest Mountain" by Henry Stedman is currently the best resource in print for preparing for a Kilimanjaro trip. In this book, Stedman discusses the various levels and skills of the members of the trekking team. The job of the porters is essentially to get all the gear, food, etc. from camp to camp. They accompany the trekkers to the last camp, but do not join in the final summit push. The next step above the porter is the assistant guide, an individual hoping to eventually achieve the status of guide. An assistant guide starts as a porter, but in being promoted begins to gain the responsibilities of the guides themselves. They must accompany the trekkers to the summit, and as was the case of our assistant guides, many begin to learn the details of the mountain in terms of understanding is geology, flora, fauna, as well as understanding how to care for their clients in the harsh environment and high altitude. Finally, there is the guide who has obtained a license after undergoing extensive training by the park authorities. They must pass a course where they demonstrate mastery of the essentials that I mentioned above, plus do extensive touring on all the routes leading to the summit of Kilimanjaro. Despite this, the quality of the guides vary. The Park system is attempting to further categorize guides according to their skills and knowledge. At the bottom would be the Route Guide, one that knows the basics of leading the way up the mountain, understands basic cooking, etc., to the Chief Interpreter, who has demonstrated clear mastery of all aspects of the mountain. For example, Bruce, our Chief Interpreter truely had a love of the mountain itself as well as learning skills that would help him better serve his clients. In addition to the required classes for guides in flora, fauna, geology, in the off season Bruce would take classes to learn English, German, etc. He was an invaluable part of our experience. Not to be overlooked is the fact that you have a person with you who has the skills necessary to take care of you if you are unfortunate enough to succuum to severe illness or injury. That's not to take anything away from our assistant guides, Living and Hamasi, who's attentiveness to our group on the final summit push was appreciated by all of us.

For trekkers just wanting to get to the summit and back with little regard to anything else, a Route Guide would probably suffice. On the other hand, anyone who wants to really understand the essence of the mountain they are climbing a Chief Interpreter is highly recommended... I would not go without one. Much of what I hope to tell you about in this blog was built on the information provided to me by Bruce.