Day 9: Barafu to Uhuru to Mweka

Well, technically, it’s still Day 8. But not for long. We awoke at 10:45PM from our very limited evening slumber in order to begin the final push to the top of Kilimanjaro. TIME FOR SUMMIT NIGHT/DAY!!! Or, as Baraka told us… “You have almost eaten the whole cow, you still need to eat the tail!”. (Um… That’s one hell of a tail!)

Waking up after roughly two hours of “sleep” is not usually gonna make you feel great (unless you are professional napper), and doing it at 15,000 feet altitude amid a flurry of nerves makes it even tougher. However, one good thing about the early wake-up call was no longer having to lay in the sleeping bag with super cold feet at Barafu Camp (which was only gonna get colder overnight).

A quick breakfast of porridge (as always) and ginger cookies was prepared in the dining tent, but most of us didn’t eat much. We had plenty of snacks packed for later. A couple bites of a Larabar, some drinking chocolate, and a bottle full of hot tea was good enough for Matt.

The plan for the hike was simple — trudge up the final 2.5 mile, 4,000ft ascent to Uhuru Peak — the roof of Africa! Then turn around and come back down, all the way to the rainforest zone by the end of the day.

Day 7 hike map (part 1)

Day 7 hike (Summit detail)

We were ready and hiking at 11:30PM. As noted, it was pretty cold, and obviously dark, so we used headlamps and lanterns to light the way. A bunch of other groups also started at about the same time, forming a giant line. If you stopped for a moment and looked upward, it was hard to tell — were those headlights or stars??? Probably headlights — but it was nice to tell yourself, “Nah, those are stars for sure, they are REALLY high up there.”

Amazing use for the trusty (belt) lantern

Summit night train

Our four usual guides accompanied us, along with one of our porters (whose name was certainly John) to act as an extra guide in case anyone needed help carrying their bags or going back down. They did an amazing job getting us through the first tough rocky scramble section in the dark (guide James literally pulled me up in a few locations).

We slowly marched onward — one foot in front of the other — and stopped for a few quick breaks along the way. The breaks served a variety of purposes — catching your breath, throwing up, or finding a convenient wifi-tent location a short distance off the trail (probably a good thing it was dark). Stopping for more than a few minutes was not a great idea because you’d get cold pretty quick. Thankfully, we tossed on our extra puffy jackets and continued. Musical inspiration was the Hamilton Soundtrack.

Roughly halfway up, Lily had gotten sick a few times due to the altitude. It looked like she decided to turn around and head back to camp with Baraka. Even Cordwood hugged her and said it’s OK. The rest of the group continued on. But then… a couple of HOURS later, we come across Lily and Baraka sitting on the trail taking a break! WHAT?!? Turns out, once we left, she decided to give it another try and worked at her own pace with Baraka to plow forward (and past us, when we weren’t paying attention). Aaron immediately dubbed them the Hound and Arya Stark of Kilimanjaro. Accurate.

As we hiked into the early morning hours — roughly 4:30AM to 5:30AM — getting higher and harder, the guides provided us shots of hot chocolate or hot water, aka. “Kilimanjaro Whiskey” as August called it. The little bit of warmth perked us up enough to keep us moving, which was vital because the cold was also starting to lull/make us a bit sleepy (combined with lack of sleep, perhaps).

Speaking of beverages, a combination of strategies worked to keep most our liquids from freezing — including those insulated Camelback straw covers (that were a royal pain to put on), and blowing air back into the tube after taking a sip. We didn’t tip our Nalgene bottles upside down, but according to reports, it was ice, ice, baby for a few that were not insulated.

Heading into the 6AM hour, we looked to the east and were motived by signs the sky was starting to lighten. By this time, Matt listened to the entire Hamilton Soundtrack TWICE thru, and was relying on Ed Sheeran’s musical catalog for the home stretch.

Sunrise!

Finally, mere minutes after the sun rose, we made it to Stella Point. At 18,885 feet, Stella Point is not the summit, but represents the end of the super steep section. Only about an hour of a gradual uphill left to go. We asked Baraka if we should take a photo in front of the Stella Point sign and he (semi-jokingly) responded, “NO PHOTOS OF THE STELLA SIGN! This is not the objective!!! You can take a photo with it on the way down if you want!” And that’s exactly what you’d expect the Hound of Kilimanjaro to say.

Stella Point smiles

Contemplating the sunrise

So we caught our breath, picked up our packs and started along the crater rim toward Uhuru Peak. About halfway, we took one final break. Even though we were even constantly climbing in elevation, I was starting to feel hungry. I guess eight hours of hiking will do that to you.

Still need to go all the way up there

Final Snickers break until glory!!

Eventually, we were high enough where the ground was covered in ice and hard-packed snow. YakTraks and micro-spikes were extremely helpful here for stability and speed. We all reached the 19,341 ft summit at about 8:00AM and the celebration began! Hugs and high fives all-around. The weather was perfect while we enjoyed the view of the Kibo Crater and waited in line to take our pictures with the famous summit sign.

Where is the Uhuru Peak fast pass?

Overlooking the Kibo Crater

Made it! Now, where’s the coffee?

Good signage

Amazing Summit team

After about 30 minutes we packed up our bags and started back down the mountain. We had great views of what are left of the southern ice fields — probably not going to be around much longer. We also provided encouragement for the hikers we passed still heading to the top. Matt certainly told everybody to put on their microspikes if they had ’em.

Heading back down

Kilimanjaro Southern Ice Field… for now

Upon returning to Stella Point, we were now allowed by Baraka to take a photo with the sign. We also took a moment to shed some layers (it was getting warmer) and stash everything in our bags — or get a helping hand from the guides to carrying extra items/jackets (Thanks James!).

A good portion of the downhill path from here is slightly different than our uphill route overnight (which makes sense as we did not pass anybody on the way up). It was a bit steeper with loose gravel and pretty slippery. To avoid falling, you really had to use your leg muscles and embrace the “skree ski” method. The summit adrenaline rush only gets you so far. It was basically alternating single-leg squats on a bosu ball for 4 hours. Guess who fared the best? (Hint: The volleyball player)

Now we are allowed a Stella Point photo

This took seven hours to climb up

About halfway back to Barafu Camp, we hear shouts of “ROCK! ROCK! ROCK!” We turn around to see there is, in fact, an extremely large rock/boulder careening down the mountain very quickly — and directly along our path of switchbacks. Some of our group was further down the trail and out of harms way (relatively speaking), but a few of us (James, Adam, Ari, maybe Aaron?), were closer and had to run/dodge to avoid the danger. I believe Baraka literally dwarf-tossed Adam out of the way.

After watching the giant rock tumble further down the hill (picking up speed and eventually breaking into pieces), the guides communicated with the group behind us to assess the damage. And it was not good. A woman was hit directly by the rock, and was badly injured. Our guides used their walkie-talkies to radio for help.

Rock fall incident

Rock fall incident location

Contemplating the close call

While shaken up, but otherwise uninjured, we continued down the path towards Barafu Camp for another hour or two, slow and steady. Good to play it safe after witnessing an entirely new way we hadn’t considered to get injured or killed on Kilimanjaro.

Along the way, we were being passed by an army of porters from different companies heading up the trail to help the injured woman. In the time it took us to hike down, these superheroes hiked up, fashioned a stretcher, and carried the woman down to the helipad (where hopefully an evacuation occurred soon, cloud-cover permitting).

Almost back to Barafu camp

We finished the Summit hike and made it back to base camp right at 11:30AM — a solid 12 hours after starting. The guides seated us and poured cups of the most refreshing celebratory (pineapple?) juice imaginable. The plan was to take the next 45 minutes to rest and pack up our stuff. Some of the group managed to nap, but we finished organizing and preparing our bags. Besides, 45 minutes of sleep would only be a mockery to our actual need for rest at this point.

Before departing, we sat down for a quick lunch, and while I have no recollection of what was served, Matt had his appetite back. Quoting Ari, “Moody, you look like you’re ready to go on another 6-hour hike right now!” And good thing too, because that basically what was about to happen.

Taking our knees into consideration, the guides offered us two options for the afternoon. We could either stick to the schedule and hike about four hours down to the last camp (Mweka), or we could do a short hike to a closer camp (Millenium). We would then have to hike further tomorrow, resulting in a later arrival back to the hotel. We opted to stick to the schedule, with visions of showers and the pool dancing in our heads.

Strap in for four more hours of hiking

Day 7 hike map (part 2)

Day 7 hike (down, down, down detail)

Hardest hiking yet

After such a long day, even a few hours downhill was difficult. The rough, cobbled trail was not doing our sore legs any favors either. But we eventually made it to Mweka Camp with plenty of time before dark. We took our sign picture, checked in, and found our area. The campsite was back in the rainforest zone and was quite large. We had a nice little cove just for us.

30 minutes to go!

Made it to Mweka – the last camp!

Won’t freeze tonight

Dinner was delicious and somehow our chef baked us a celebratory summit cake for a surprise desert! As expected, everyone was completely exhausted by the afterwards and went right to sleep. Tomorrow will be our last day of hiking, as we make our way out of the park and back to the hotel.