The strange idea of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was seeded in my little head Up North a few years ago, when a diabetic Cree patient of mine got off his medications by lifestyle changes and described how he had successfully summitted Mount Kilimanjaro past the age of 50 as a personal challenge. I was very impressed with him and thought that it would be a challenge to tackle one day, before global warming makes the snowcap melt away - even though at the time, I felt I was more of a bag of potatoes than this proud Cree man.
The idea rematerialized in September 2007 after Linda, the midwife in Shamwana, described the exhilaration of running her first marathon at age 50 and how her next challenge was to climb the Kilimanjaro – she had always wanted to do it. She summitted on New Year’s day, 2008. The Marangu Hotel was highly recommended by other MSFers. Linda came back with raving recommendations of the establishment: they had taken her booking from DRC without advance payment (given our isolation), had lent her more winter equipment free of charge, and were superb in their preparation, briefing and organizing of the expedition.
In Johannesburg in January, I had bought a pair of hiking boots, and four pairs of winter socks. The boots were broken with more frequent morning runs on the airstrip. But still, I wasn’t sure that I’d make it, and Linda had actually said that it was the hardest thing she’d ever done, harder than the marathon – a mental challenge, truly – and that she wasn’t sure if she was to recommend it to me although she did believe that I was fit enough (which I wasn’t sure of). It is most definitely not a walk in the park.
Desmond of the Marangu Hotel was impeccable and rapid in his e-mail responses for the booking (I changed the dates about four times on him!) and in the end, he suggested I join a group of people doing the 5-day climb, Marangu route, March 24-28. To quote him: “all people in their 20’s and early 30’s, English-speaking, put together by travel agents so they don’t know each other and you can fit right in.” I was happy with the multiple, warm recommendations from friends and the efficiency with which he organized my dates, and airport pick-ups on my word only.
I was first to arrive in Marangu, Tanzania, after a night in Nairobi, Kenya and still torn at leaving Congo. Within a few hours, a Tanzanian lady did a complete equipment check and loaded me with ski goggles, vibrant green rain pants, mitts, a tuque with ‘Alaska’ on it, and many more things – really a thorough check. One could actually arrive at the Marangu Hotel in flip-flops and a bikini and still be all well-geared to make the summit, all free of charge. The Marangu Hotel is one of the oldest establishments in the region; it is a family business (Desmond and his siblings still run it) and they had been sending climbers on the mountain for the last 50 years. Marangu Hotel is one of the top 3 organizing companies and they get about 5% of the climbers per year.
I was terrified to meet up with a group of trekking experts and was already seeing myself huffing and puffing and lagging behind a group of happily trekking seasoned mountaineers or triathletes. After all, I'd only done Mount Kinabalu at 4000 meters 2 years ago, and been at Macchu Picchu at age 19 - an eternity. Our group of 10 trickled in slowly and it turns out that most people had the trip organized by Intrepid Travel, with whom I had done the Amazing Race tour of South East Asia last year. Everyone was lovely and enthusiastic to meet up. Desmond gave us a very thorough pre-climb briefing about the mental preparation and all signs and symptoms of altitude sickness.
Presentation of our valiant team:
Mick and Georgie: the only couple on the group. Mick is Australian, Georgie South African, they met in the UK and now live in Brisbane, Australia. They were lovely and funny, always smiling and good-humored. Mick had done a previous 10 day trek in Nepal.
Kendra: fellow Canadian, Vancouverite. With her, of course, we formed Team Canada. She is taking a leave of absence from a very stressful job as an actuary and travelling the world for nine months – a series of treks: Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Circuit in April, Inca Trail in July, and the like. Frequent marathon runner.
Jenni: freelance photographer from Sydney, moving to the UK. Originally South African
Teemu and Mikael – Team Black aka the Nordic Boys: London UK investment bankers (or investment wankers, says Mikael), one from Finland, the other from Sweden. They had booked this holiday on a whim, at lunch break one day; and then the next day they walked into a Black’s outdoors store and bought all the gear needed. Team Black because all the gear was black (aside from Mikael’s firy red jacket).
Aoife and Mark – Team Blue: sister and brother from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Aoife is an obstetrician and Mark is her younger brother. Their sibling antics kept us laughing throughout the climb – Mark likes to refer to his sister’s profession as fanny mechanic (rotfl!). Aoife had done the Inca trail before.
Melissa: young American sports management student who was doing the climb as a fundraiser for an NGO supporting streetkids in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
Most people were reasonably fit, and only Kendra was a marathon runner. Most had trained for this, some more, some less. I was reassured that even if I was the second-oldest, it looked that I did fit right in the group. Phew!!!
Factsheet about Mount Kilimanjaro – and tips from Desmond in his thorough pre-climb briefing:
• Highest point: Uhuru Peak at 5895 m; Gilman’s point at the crater's rim is already considered part of the summit at 5681 m, where some climbers turn back.
• Mount Kilimanjaro rises 4600 m from its base. It's one of the highest standing volcanoes in the world. The crater has a diameter over 2 km.
• Can be climbed year-round but rainy season (mid-March to June) least popular (ie... now!) because it’s wet. Busiest season: June-December – the cold season.
• The summit was first reached by the Marangu army scout, Yohanas Kinyala Lauwo, German Hans Meyer and Austrian Ludwig Purtscheller, on October 6, 1889.
• The Marangu route is sometimes described as the Coca-Cola route, because one can obtain sodas at most of its stops and is the only one fitted with huts and cabins. The Rongai, Machame, Shira routes all necessitate camping. However, Desmond insisted that it was a misnomer and bad publicity – although the most popular route, it is not the least steep (Rongai route is) and the summit still sits as high. Most travel agents do not like the Marangu route because the huts must be booked in advance – hence, paperwork. In high season, it is quite crowded. And it boasts the least success of summitting as it sees the highest number of unprepared climbers because of its false reputation of being the easiest route.
• Annually, approximately 15,000 people attempt to climb the mountain, of whom 40% reach the summit. Desmond keeps statistics & quotes 70% success of the climbers passing through the Marangu Hotel, all routes.
• Desmond recommended to use Diamox (acetazolamide) to lessen the likelihood and severity of altitude sickness
• The Marangu Route is straightforward hiking for the first 3 days. Summitting day is the 'harder than a marathon, push your mental limits to the edge' day where we leave Kibo at 4703 m at midnight after a few hours's sleep, climb the frozen scree - a mix of gravel and ice - at night to the crater rim, reach Gilman's point at 5720 m at sunrise, then walk along the crater rim in snow until we reach Uhuru Peak at 5895 m. Then we must descend back to Kibo hut - a total of 11-12 hours and 1200 m ascent & descent. Then we rest in Kibo hut for a few hours only and must still make it down to Horombo hut at 3720 m. We were all terrified about that harrowing summitting day - a total of 14 hours of hiking at least.
• The Marangu Hotel organized our team of guides and porters. The rule is: nb of Mzungus in group +1 – so we had 21 Tanzanians on our team: 15 porters, 1 cook, 4 assistant guides, 1 guide.
• A scary article about the Kilimanjaro (they used the Machame Route) - it emphasizes that this is not to be taken so lightly.
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