Day 11: 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 NINA BARNETT
Humility. The first ‘big word’ my parents taught me as a little girl. At the age of 21, and a recent college graduate,
I thought I finally was grasping what it meant to be humble, but I had it all wrong. I believed that humility was restricted to material goods and not bragging about experiences or accomplishments. The truth is, humility is given to us by Jesus, and Summit Night was the first time I actually felt humbled.
It’s easy to ask for strength before a big game, an important race, or before finals, but summit night forced me to ask for strength each and every step. Summit night starts around midnight with each of us layered four times over with heating wraps, hand warmers, toe warmers, and head lamps to light our way. The trek is completely in the dark to the summit of 19,341 ft and it takes approximately 6 hours. It takes this long because we are quite literally taking steps that use our skeleton and not our muscles known as “rest pace.”
Within the first hour the air is thinning, some people are nauseous, and snot has literally dried to my face. Before I try to reach for my water bottle there is a porter there with a smile on his face saying, “Good job, good job,” handing me my water. It’s easy to make summiting Kilimanjaro a prideful feat, but the porters embodied humility and kindness every step of the way.
When we reached the ‘top’ we knew this was merely Stella Point, the beginning of the crater rim. At this point it was 5:40 am, we were freezing, tired, and the porters began to serve us ginger tea. There is a difference between trying to be modest or humble and embodying humility in the light of Jesus, and that is what our incredible porters did.
Although the porters embodied humility, the last stretch towards the highest point of Africa humbled me more than anything else in my life. The last stretch isn’t steep or lengthy, but every muscle in your body is jello, oxygen seems to be nonexistent, and the only thing moving us along is the our dependence on God. Each step is a battle, but we were focused on each step rather than the next 50. Life should be approached one step at a time with the strength of the Lord in each one.
Mount Kilimanjaro is naturally awe-inspiring, and the sunrise came right over the crater rim lighting the glaciers into a subtle blush tone, but that is not what was humbling. It is humbling that God has the power to create this mountain, put this team together, and by His strength alone, allow 100% of the team to summit.
Summit night is rough, but I would do it over and over again to realize that it shouldn’t take the highest point in Africa to understand what humility really means. 10/10 would recommend the climb to anyone.
Most people probably don’t talk about the walk down (for a very good reason), but I’m writing this from the comfort of 10,000 ft above sea level and my step count for the day is around ~40,000, so I’m sure everyone can imagine how the walk down was.
All of the prayers and thoughts were well received, and I can happily update that everyone is sharing stories and laughs around the dinner table. If you ever decide you need the literal meaning of humility, Drew Voyles (our leader), Courtney, Carston, Jennifer, Emily, Stacy, Nate, Camille, Hedda, and my patient roommate Chim, would all be able to share a story or two.