Day 8 & 9 - The Descent

Monday 03rd and Tuesday 04th September 2012

Day 8 - Crater Camp to Mweke Camp - 18,500 ft to 10,145 ft

Day 9 - Mweke Camp to Mweke Gate - 10,145 ft to 5,425 ft 

Last night we were exhausted after our longest day of climbing and adding the summit in a day early.  So we ate early and hit the tents for a well earned sleep.  At this altitude we were at the coldest point of our climb and had to really rug up to keep warm.  I decided to just crawl into the sleeping bag with all the layers I had climbed in - minus the very dirty  gaiters and weather proof pants.  So on my legs I had 4 layers plus 2 pairs of socks and on my upper body I had 4 layers of  tops plus my feather down jacket, balaclava and jacket hood on my head and 2 pairs of gloves.  All of this encased in the mountaineering type sleeping bag.

It was too cold for the nightly body cleaning session and I knew it would also be too cold to do it in the morning.  At this point, personal cleanliness came second to staying warm.

Despite having no shower for the past 7 days, I had managed to stay relatively clean and sweet smelling, thanks to a variety of body wet wipes......good job I packed these little beauties!  The only part of me that was really feral was my hair and I had taken to covering that well by day three!

So here I am all rugged up and cocooned in the sleeping bag when the first call of nature comes.......the first of five toilet dashes that night!   Only our coldest night on the mountain and I need to pee five times, like what was all that about!  At least I got to see the Furtwangler Glacier by moonlight - several times!  Later I realized that it was brought on by me taking a double dose of Diamox, the Altitude Sickness medication.  It has the side effect of being a diuretic - hence the many toilet dashes during the night.

I have made it to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro and now I have to face getting down.  To this point, all my training had paid off in bucket loads.  Sure, my hip had played up, but that was a given considering my Arthritis and Fibromyalgia.  The fact I am impressed with is that I had suffered no muscle soreness of stiffness in my legs from the ascent climb.  All those legs presses, squats, lunges and hill walking over the past 12 months had worked....thanks to Christina pushing me at the gym and Louise pushing up Mt Stuart with me!

We are up at 5.00am for a 6.00am start on the descent.  Hosea sends Nick off first with Shadrock and a few porters because they will be faster than me.  Going up the mountain, I had managed the pace and we had stayed together but coming down from the summit yesterday I had fallen behind Nick.    With my crook hip and general reluctance to move fast down hill due to weak hips, back, knees etc, it is going to be a slow descent for me.

Shortly after Nick leaves, I set off with Hosea, Boz who is a porter and my personal porter, Umbwe AKA Charles.  Today we are to go from Crater Camp to Mweka Camp and we start off by crossing the Crater floor, part of which is covered in an ice field that we have to walk over - wish I had taken photos but I was just too tied and cold to even think of photos.  As we were crossing the ice we could here the shouts of joy from people who were reaching the summit above us.  It brought smiles to our faces as we felt good knowing just how they were feeling at reaching the summit.

We then had a short climb out of the Crater to Stella Point.  There's a lot of activity in the area as we were now on a section of the track where many individual ascent routes converge on the final summit push and the first section of the descent route also backtracks over the same point.   There are climbers still going up and others coming down.  These people have been on the summit push since around midnight last night to reach the summit for sunrise - so some pretty exhausted and elated people.  

Stella Point also has a sign of congratulations to climbers, similar to the one on the summit, Uhuru.  Some climbers reach Stella Point and just can't find the energy to push on to the summit so these climbers are awarded a climbing certificate noting they reached Stella Point.

The trip notes from Kiliwarriors states "The way down is either a lot of fun or pure hell - depending on how your legs adapt to the downhill conditions.  It's like walking down a huge sand dune".  Well for me it was pure torture!  As I said above, other than my hip playing up for about three days, my training had prepared me well and I had not suffered muscle soreness in my legs from the long and steep climb (other than normal Fibromyalgia pain - of course).  However, coming down was a different story and I really struggled.

Now the young, strong and fit ones made the descent look like heaps of fun by "scree skiing" this is my name for it.  They take leaps right then left - like a downhill skier, sinking deep into the sand and scree before making their next leap.  

I, on the other hand, made my slow and careful steps to prevent injury.  After about 30 minutes, Hosea offered to help me get over this scree section.  He braced me under one arm and Boz braced the other arm and we set off at a much faster "scree skiing" style and pace.

After the scree there is a mix of loose rocks, bush paths, boulders and steps to negotiate down to Mweke Camp.  The descent to the camp took us around 11 hours and it was supposed to take about 8.5 hours - like I said, I go very slow downhill!  

Halfway through the descent, I was having trouble with both hips and the back of my right knee was hurting - I think I may have over flexed the achilles tendon, so I was going very carefully to prevent further injury to the tendon.  Hosea and Boz helped me over several of the harder sections, with their arm brace hold, almost carrying me in a way.

As we were getting near to the camp, Hosea asked if I would like a shower at camp tonight.  I was surprised at this late stage of the climb to finally be offered the shower but I was also very grateful to all the effort Hosea had put in helping me descend that I declined his kind offer.  I just couldn't ask any more of him today.   I also figured my hair would take much more than a bucket shower to get clean so one more day waiting to get to a real shower in a hotel was really okay.

I finally limped into camp about  90 minutes behind Nick and was welcomed by Nick and the whole crew clapping me in and high fiving me with shouts of "well done".  I think Hosea and Boz deserved it more than I did - but it was a nice welcome into camp.

On checking my feet I found I had my first blister for the climb...not bad really!

The following morning marks our last day on Mt Kilimanjaro as we descend from Mweke Camp  to Mweke Gate.  It is supposed to take us about 3.5 hours but I know it will take me longer and Hosea has also worked that one out and sends Nick and Shadrock on ahead of us.  

We set off on our last hike and it becomes a journey of reflection as my mind goes over all that's happened in the last 9 days.  Good times, hard times, struggles, achievements, the cold, getting to know my fellow climbers and the wonderful Kiliwarrior team.  And most of all, reliving the summit experience over and over in my mind.  I will never forget that moment!  

This section of the trail was easier than yesterday as it was mainly a man made track of steps.  However, Hosea again could see I was struggling with hip and knee problems - not to mention that my thighs were turning to jelly!  So he and Boz again gave me heaps of help - I don't how I would have got down if it wasn't for all their help.  I told Hosea that they should build a Zip Wire at the summit for people like me who find going down harder than going up and he told me that I wasn't the first to suggest something like that.

After 3 hours 45 minutes we were coming to a point where the steps stop and we turn right onto a dirt road for the final stretch to the camp gate.  I could see the road ahead and parked at the bottom of the steps was a Red Cross van.  I couldn't believe it! Had Hosea radioed ahead for them?  Surely not!  

This was another section of the path where Hosea and Boz had grabbed my arms and braced me to help me get down some steeper steps, so it was obvious that I was struggling big time  The Red Cross guy was watching us and Hosea signaled for him.  He jumped out of his van and ushered us into it.  I have never been so relieved to see a Red Cross vehicle in all my life!

I estimate the section of dirt road we drove down would have taken us another 1 - 1.5 hours to walk down...this was a very welcome ride!

We also stopped and picked up another lady and her guide who were just in front of us.  She was also doing it tough and she later told me she didn't make the summit but got to Stella Point.

Finally at Mweke Gate and the end of the trail..............Woohoo!

We headed straight for the rangers office where we had to sign in and enter our summit date and time for our certificates to be prepared.  We then worked our way through the many souvenir sellers -  where I quickly brought a "been there done that T shirt" and a Kilimanjaro bracelet - to get to the quite area Kiliwarriors had secured for our Certificate Ceremony.  The whole team was there and they all gave me a wonderfully warm welcome with hugs and high fives all round. And Seth had also come along to welcome us back.

While we were waiting for the Certificates, a local girl was pestering me (in a sweet way) to clean my boots.  I finally asked how much and when she replied US$2 I could hardly refuse.  She sat me down, undid the leg section of my water proof pants, removed my gaiters, took off my boots and placed my feet on the inside of the gaiters she had spread out on the ground.  I felt like royalty!  Then she smiled at me and disappeared around the side of a building with my $2 and boots in hand.  For a moment I thought, I hope she brings those boots back! - but hey, what was I thinking?  Of course she came back with the boots looking smick, just like new ones.  What a service!

Hosea then proudly presented Nick and I with our Certificates with much cheering and applause followed by the Kiliwarriors Team bursting into song and dance, sending us off with another special moment and treasured memory of this wonderful adventure.

Now it's time to leave.  We pile into a mini bus - quite a cosy fit with the entire crew but most of us get a seat - and head off towards our hotels.  I am to be the first drop off at Kia Lodge which is inside the airport gated area for an early departure the next morning (my flight is at 6.00am and that means 4.00 check in for an international flight...yuk!).  After my drop off, Nick and Seth will be taken back to the hotel we started from, Mt Meru Hotel.

At first the crew are quite noisy with excitement of getting home but slowly they quieten down.  One of the men has a radio playing and every now and then some of them sing along to a song they like.  Nick and I are very quiet and reflective, lost in our own thoughts and memories while we gaze out at the passing scenery.  We travel alongside beautiful coffee plantations, to open pastures with the stunning Mt Kilimanjaro in the background and then on through several villages and small towns before reaching Arusha.

It's sad that it's all over, we have shared such a incredible experience together, Nick the Kiliwarriors and myself, and I cant help but wonder, will we ever meet again?