Day 10: Ascend to summit Uhuru Peak
MOUNTAIN ROUTE OVERVIEW
Summit is an 11 to 16 hour day. Climbers go to sleep after an early dinner the night before and are woken up around midnight to being their summit attempt. After a light snack, they ascent into darkness, cold, and wind. Temperatures usually range from -4° to 5° fahrenheit. This is where climbers feel the altitude, so they’ll carry as little as possible, hike slowly, and take many rests to ease the symptoms. They’ll make their way up a trail that is flanked by the Ratzel and Rebman Glaciers. After climbing for around six hours, they’ll reach the edge of Kilimanjaro’s crater between Stella and Hans Meyer Points. They’re just an hour from the summit when they get here! After a hot cup of tea and rest, they’ll begin climbing on a rocky and icy trail to the summit, Uhuru Peak, at 19,344 feet which is the highest point on the continent of Africa. Once they reach the summit, they’ll spend a few minutes making sure they touch the sign, celebrating with the group, and taking pictures before descending to Kosovo Camp. Once they reach camp, they’ll eat lunch and take a short nap before continuing their descent to Mweka Camp. Once they arrive at camp, they’ll have dinner and go to bed early after a 13 to 19 hour day of hiking!
MOUNTAIN ROUTE STATS
ASCENT
Starting elevation 15,400 feet
Ending elevation 19,344 feet
Elevation gain 3,944 feet
Distance hiked 4 miles
Average hiking time 8 to 10 hours
DESCENT
Starting elevation 19,344 feet
Ending elevation 10,200 feet
Elevation loss 9,144 feet
Distance hiked 8 miles
Average hiking time 7 to 9 hours
JOURNAL ENTRY BY BRIAN MEYER
“The Longest Day”
Today challenged everything we knew about ourselves physically, emotionally, and mentally. Today was summit day...
We started at 12am (yes, you read that right) where we were awoken for a breakfast of eggs, toast, chocolate, and cookies. We bundled up in warm clothes anticipating a frigid morning. Fortunately the wind subsided and the thermometer only read a balmy 30 degrees Fahrenheit. After taking our necessary medicine, hydrating with tea and warm water, and preparing our day pack, at around 1am, we left Kosovo Camp to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro.
For about the first two hours we were going strong hiking our way up Kili. Unfortunately it only went downhill from there (metaphorically speaking, we were indeed still going uphill). Some of us (including myself) were out of breath, others were getting headaches, having stomach issues, or were experiencing pain in their knees. We all had cold hands and feet. Nevertheless, we persevered past the pain and kept our eyes on the goal, making it to the tallest point in Africa. We walked one foot in front of the other (made easier by the fact that our porters carried our pack). Our porters and guides even sang songs throughout the early morning to give us encouragement for the journey in front of us and also to keep us awake. Yet again we are reminded about how important and indispensable the porters and guides are to completing the journey.
At around 6:30am, the sun started to rise and we were feet from Stella Point, the top of the crater in the mountain. When we made it there, we were greeted with hot tea and muffins. However, we still weren’t at the tallest point on the mountain and thus Africa. For that we needed to walk an additional 45 minutes to Uhuru Peak. We made it there to much celebration. We were ecstatic about overcoming the challenges not only of that morning but of the previous hikes and climbs on the mountain. We took many pictures of the Uhuru Peak sign but also of the surrounding area including the gigantic crater and several glaciers. Eventually the coldness and our tiredness encouraged us to leave after about 20 minutes at the peak.
Our decent was just as adventurous as our accent. We effectively slid down the mountain, riding the sand and gravel of the mountain back to Kosovo at around 9am. Once we got back to camp, we slept and rested for a few hours. We then ate lunch and prepared for ANOTHER hike. We were challenged to hike another four hours down to Mweka Camp at 10,000ft.
Our decent was difficult not because of the terrain but because we were incredibly tired and our legs already felt like noodles. We eventually reached Mweka Camp ready to eat and go to bed. We talked briefly about what tomorrow entails (the final hike to the gate and going back to the hotel) and we retired for the night.
Pamoja Pamoja.