Kilimanjaro Day 5 - Barafu Camp to the Uhuru Peak Summit 19,350' altitude

We were woken up at 11:30pm and fed a hot drink of ginger tea to warm us up a bit for our planned six hour hike in the darkness up to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro... Uhuru Peak, located at 5,895 meters (19,350 feet) altitude.

Why are we hiking in the dark? It's a common question, and there are actually a few reasons.

Weather conditions at the top of Kilimanjaro are very changeable and difficult to accurately predict. During the day, it could be anything from a clear blue sky to a blizzard! However at night, things are generally clear and calm. Also, the Barafu Base Camp where most people leave from in order to get to the summit isn't set up for long term stays. There is no water supply there, and with a constant flow of new climbers, they don't want you to overnight more than one night there. So when you come back down the mountain, you have to continue past Barafu Camp and normally on to Millenium Camp which is another 4 kms (2.5 miles) down the mountain. With the climb up, it can take as long as 14 hours to complete and if you started at first daylight, you may not make it down the mountain before dark.

By 12:15am, we had all of our winter summit gear on and our headlamps on, and we were on the trail with guides Kobby and Shalali, and porter Fredy. Fredy had been to the top before, and it's best to have more help if you run into trouble.

It's very steep. The section to Stella Point climbs 1,079 meters (3,500 feet) in 3.3 kms (2.0 miles). You can only inhale so much cold air before it starts to hurt, so you have no choice but to go slowly.

There were other groups on the trail as well. All moving at different paces, and you could see a stream of headlamps all the way up the mountain. 

There was no point in taking pictures... it was dark out.

The hiking was tough. It was slow, and monotonous. Not what we would call fun!

Mawenzi Peak at sunrise... 6:09am.

Mawenzi Peak at 6:45am.

Mawenzi Peak is part of Mt. Kilimanjaro, but it is not often climbed and is off limits due to risk of falling rocks.

By this time, we were starting to think we bit off more than we could chew. The difficulty became obvious to me when we began seeing the odd person heading downhill past us. But these were not people who had already made it to the summit... these were people who couldn't make it to the summit and had given up.

Our goal was Stella Point. Even though that's not the summit, Kobby and Shalali had told us that if you can make it to Stella Point, you can make it to Uhuru Peak. 

The problem was, Stella Point never seemed any closer. It was taking us an hour to do half a kilometer! I could see Ruth tiring. She was taking more and more breaks, and I could tell she was struggling. I was too, but I think I would have made it up faster.

Ruth and I had made an agreement. If either one of us couldn't carry on, the other should continue to the top. At least one of us would make it.

Ruth stopped a couple of times and said she didn't think she could go any further. Kobby and Shalali continued to motivate her to get a few more steps out of her, but eventually she just sat down and said that I should carry on without her. She was done.

Shalali stayed with Ruth, and I carried on with Kobby and Fredy.

At 7:20am, I reached Stella Point.

From Stella Point, the trail evens out. It's still another 1.2 kms (3/4 mile) to the peak, but only another 140 meters (465 feet) altitude.

Me, trudging on towards the peak.

It feels like winter in Canada!

Me and Fredy.

Kobby, me, and Fredy.

I think my smile is kinda forced!

I made it to Uhuru Peak at 8:13am. It wasn't really much of a celebration because Ruth wasn't there to share it with me.

Me, at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

5,895 meters (19,350 feet).

We left a note in the snow, and headed back down.

Me. 

I did it!

Kobby, Fredy, and me.

Scenery at the top of Kilimanjaro.

We came around a corner, and what did we see??

Ruth and Shalali, still continuing our way!!

Shalali would simply not let her give up. She even broke down and cried at one point, but Shalali encouraged her some more... "I know you can do it" he would tell her.

She was so close. I wasn't about to let her give up either. So we went up to the summit again!

At 9:16am, we made it together!

This is the highest we will ever be without the help of an airplane!

Group photo at the top!

Time to head back down.

Taking another break.

Remember I said the weather changes quickly at the top?

Look at those clouds moving in.

Glacier at the top.

All of a sudden there was blue sky!

But the clouds are coming in again!

We still had a long day ahead of us. The plan was to make it down to Barafu Camp where our tent was still set up, have some lunch, then an hour nap, then do another 4 kms (2.5 miles) down to Millenium Camp where we would spend the night. Then another 12 kms (7.5 miles) downhill the next day to the Mweka exit gate.

So that's what we did. I didn't take any photos on the way down. Kind of felt like I was in a bit of a fog between the altitude and the exhaustion. Never did have any symptoms other than a minor headache though, which disappeared as we descended. My stomach was fine and I never lost my appetite. We heard quite a few stories from people who didn't do so well. Some made it anyhow, and other didn't.

We had lunch and then an hour nap. When we woke up, it was snowing (sleet?) at Barafu Camp.

It was snowing as we left Barafu Camp at 2:30pm.

These are emergency stretchers that are used to transport sick or injured people down the mountain.

It was a tough, demanding, and monotonous day. We made it to Millenium Camp at about 5:30pm and we had dropped 2,076 meters (6,800 feet) since we had been at the peak that morning.

The guys already had our tent set up when it started pouring buckets of rain. It rained hard, and some of our stuff got wet, including inside the tent. Fortunately, it was our last night.

Next up... the last day.

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