Day 8: Climb 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 KEENER GILL
“In one hand he holds the mysteries of the earth and in the other he holds the highest mountain peaks.” -Psalm 95:4
Thank you prayer warriors - WE DID IT!!!!!
We were honored to accompany our fearless leader Drew Voyles on his 25th ascent of the highest mountain on the continent of Africa and the tallest freestanding mountain on the planet. To borrow a phrase from from an old commercial, we did more before 9:30 am than most people do all day.
“This endeavor has been as physically and mentally challenging as anything I’ve ever experienced.”
Keener Gill & Rod Long, USMC Veterans
One way or another this is all my fault. For each of us this adventure originated with my wife’s gift to me of this trip for my 50th birthday. Thus several times during the morning I wondered if members of this crew were finding satisfaction in blaming me for the challenge which we were now experiencing.
Our day started with a midnight wake-up, a breakfast of porridge and toast for those who could eat, and then we stepped off at 1:15am (6:15 pm Atlanta time) accompanied by five guides and five porters. We were blessed with truly incredible weather for the ascent. While it was cold - we all had at least three layers on our legs and four on our upper boy - the sky was still and we weren’t affected by wind until just shy of the top. All along the route we had amazing views of the stars. In fact a few of us were surprised when what we thought were the headlamps of other climbers were actually stars that seemed to be sitting on the top of the mountain. Marching along “pole pole” style single file uphill with little but head lamps to light our way from camp at 16,000 feet to the summit we paused at Stella Point (18,885 ft) for tea and to watch what we collectively agreed was the most amazing sunrise any of us had ever seen as the light of day crested the clouds revealing the brilliance of God’s glory. Another 45 minutes beyond Stella Point we culminated our six hour trek at the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro, Uhuru Peak at 7 am (which according to the sign is 19,341 ft however my Garmin recorded 19,343 ft and Rob Mackey’s iPhone said 19,350 ft)!
We celebrated our accomplishment with a group prayer thanking God for His being our true trek leader. Pictures were the next order of business (words cannot really do the views from the summit justice - we look forward to sharing our pictures). While some of the crew struggled more than others, every single member exhibited max fortitude during this climb. The cold temperatures and burning sun compelled us to head down the mountain to camp. Now this was a task none of us had really factored into the equation for the day. For two hours as we descended through a scree field our knees ached and thighs burned and camp slowly got closer. Along the descent we collectively agreed that for the right amount of money we might consider another ascent however it would have to be contingent upon our not having to walk down. Arriving in camp exhausted was nonetheless a joyous experience as the cooks greeted each trekker with a chair to rest in and pineapple juice while the porters removed our boots and gaiters. We were all back by 9:15 am. It was then that Drew reminded us that we had more hiking to do today. Camp for the night was 5 miles and 3000 feet below us. Immediately the notion of hiring helicopters to come get us and just fly us to the hotel was raised. When the morning weather prevented that option, our response was that if we had to do it on our own two feet we required food and a nap or the porters would have to carry each of us to the next camp. During lunch I asked each trekker to share the one word that describes their experience. I’m sure you’ll hear a lot about trip when your trekker gets home, in the meantime here were their responses - try to guess your trekker(s) response:
Gratifying
Worth-it
Rewarding
mostchallengingthingiveeverdoneinmylife
Emotional
Sick
Ordained
Phenomenal
Humbling
Love
The only way to describe why it took us six hours to get up to the peak would be to ask your trekker to walk you to your mailbox first thing in the morning “pole pole” style, just don’t do it on an empty stomach since you might not get back to your front door before lunch. You’ve probably never seen any of us walk that slowly and if you did you likely thought we were doing it just to annoy you. This morning especially it was essential to ensuring that we didn’t get sick from the gain in altitude and didn’t step off the single track trail up the mountain and roll to our death.
So after lunch and a much welcome nap we saddled up once again and hit the trail ... for another three hour trek downhill. While some of the crew practically sprinted to the next camp, most of the older trekkers just prayed for it to be over soon so our knees, thighs and backs would quit screaming at us. It was during this section of the trail that we learned that Drew’s dictionary has definitely become African as his version of “flat” really means a downward sloping knee jarring trail with very few rock steps”. A few of us wondered aloud whether we should opt for the “mountain ambulance” to get us down which actually resembles a stretcher of grated metal attached to a single wheel which is man handled down the trail by a crew of 8 Tanzanian Park Rangers at a dizzying speed. Watching one fly by us during a rest stop we quickly decided to gut it out.
As we descended to camp at 13,000 feet we found ourselves able to breathe a little stronger and were anxious to get through dinner so we could rest our weary bodies.
During dinner I shared that one of our esteemed guides, Samia, asked me along the trail if we all knew each other before the trip and came from the same city. He was surprised when I told him we didn’t in either case, to which he replied that we get along and joke with each other as if we are from the same tribal village in Africa.
Tomorrow we will trek through the rain forest down to a Kilimanjaro National Park gate at 7000 feet during what is likely to be an exciting but knee-jarring final descent. We are super anxious to get down to the park gate tomorrow because:
#1 We really need showers
#2 We look forward to sleeping in a real bed
#3 We can pack away our boots until the next adventure
#4 (the real #1) As much as we’ve enjoyed making this trek together, it means we are that much closer to getting back to our families at home.
*And on a personal note my knees ache for flat ground!
I share the verse at the top and the one below as they were the ones that I repeated to myself at Uhuru Peak early this morning in honor of God’s manifested Glory.
“But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them.”
Matthew 28:16