A few days in Moshi to organise the tour and check we had all the right gear before we started the 7 day/6 Night Kilimanjaro Hike. There are several routes and varying speeds via which you can ascend Kilimanjaro. I’d chosen the Machame Route over 6 days but after looking at the success rates for such a rapid ascent to 5895m we decided to extend it to 7 days to give us the best chance of reaching the top. Kilimanjaro would provide the opportunity to break the 19,000ft level which I’d never done before. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single free-standing mountain above sea level in the world. Pretty much the rooftop of all of Africa and ever since Everest Base Camp, it has been tickling the back of my mind to complete. It can be seen from pretty much anywhere in Moshi given no buildings are blocking your view of the horizon. For the few days preparation before the hike, I kept catching myself glancing in the distance to see whether Kili was clear or clouded. It is so large it creates its own weather which when on the mountain we found changes very rapidly. Looking at the snowy white peak it was hard to reconcile this cold with the 30 degree heat we were experiencing in Moshi but soon enough we’d be feeling the changing weather on the mountain in person.

Day 1

So we were all packed up and I was full of nervous energy to get going. Off to Machame Gate we went with a van full of our guides, cook and porters. A total of 12 locals to carry all the equipment required to ascend the mountain. This includes tents and camping gear for everyone, food, cooking equipment and a gas bottle, everyone’s clothing and personal accessories and all the other bits and pieces you don’t realise you need when you have to take everything required. There are no shops or storage places on the mountain and you cant take any resources from the mountain besides running water from the streams.

The porters are restricted to carrying a maximum of 20kg each which includes their own clothes and equipment for the week. The food and gear is distributed between the porters correctly and weighed at the entrance gate before the hike begins. The rangers ensure the guides are not exceeding this limit and that the guides have any essential gear they require to safely hike such as sleeping bags and boots. The rangers also check this weight at the next few stations on the way up as we arrive into camp. Given there were well over 50 tourists starting the hike from the Machame Gate on the same morning as us, you can imagine the number of porters that were milling around getting organised. There must have been at least an additional 250 porters, guides and cooks to facilitate these hikers. With all this organisation taking place, hikers didn’t start leaving the gate till about 11 and at about 11:30 it was our time to start. We started off towards an overcast Kili, quickly overtaking many of the other hikers and finding ourselves surrounded by an eerily silent lush green forest. It was as if the cloud had been pulled over the forest like a blanket, muffling all the usual sounds of nature. Its only about half an hour into this dense mossy forest that some thunder rumbles overhead. Blake and I are in high spirits even as the thunder comes more often and it begins to lightly rain. The walk is so serene and our ponchos make us feel like were are cocooned in a warm tent. The next two hours of walking is punctuated with some small chat but mostly we walk in companionable silence, saying hello to the porters as we passed them one by one.

We comfortably reach Machame Camp in just under 3hrs and gratefully unpack our lunch of greasy chicken and chips. After devouring this, we go in search of our group among all the different camps being erected in the area. We hilariously realise none of the groups are ours and so go back to the rangers hut to wait. An hour and a half later our camp is set up and the other hikers are beginning to arrive. I’m not sure if it was the greasy lunch we gobbled down or the speed with which we ascended today but Blake hasn’t been feeling well all afternoon. It has knocked him hard and he has spent the entire afternoon sleeping in the tent trying not to throw up. I spent the afternoon with a hot tea in hand watching the hustle and bustle of the camp like a hive of ants. I’ve never seen anything like it, I imagine it to be like the old days of squads of troops on the march, setting up camp at the end of each day.

From well before 6am I was half awake hearing the camp stirring to life. Porters, cooks and guides starting breakfast for all the various hikers, especially those couple of large groups of 20+ people. I stayed toasty warm in my sleeping bag and watched the sky begin to lighten from around 6:30am. At 7am Blake and I got up to have a quick wash in some warm water provided by Peter, one of our porters and then went for breakfast. Porridge, fruit and then an omelette with smoked sausage.

At 8:30 we started hiking for the day. Many other groups had already begun the hike but even going “pole pole” which is Swahili for slowly slowly, we began to catch and overtake them. 3.5hrs later, 900m elevation gain and just over 5km and we arrived at Shira Cave Camp. The views of the ridge across to Shira Peak and the setting sun made for some beautiful sights as we did another small hike in the afternoon to the top of a nearby hill after lunch. Another was and a delightful change into clean clothes before a chilled afternoon. Its now 7pm and Blake and I are rugged up in our sleeping bags listening to some thunder and light rain outside before the call to dinner. Blake is feeling much better today, although both of us are feeling the affects of the additional altitude.

I got up in the middle of the night to wee (very cold doing this in flip flops and briefs) and the sky was clear of cloud and the moon almost full. The stars and the light reflecting off Kili were absolutely breathtaking.

Again we woke at 7am to start our morning and began our hike at 8:30am. Upwards we trekked for the next 3hrs, traversing 7km and 850m elevation. Pretty smooth ascent with the weather being fairly warm and beautiful views facing Kili for the first half of the morning. We stopped at Lava Tower Camp for lunch. The lunch tent wasn’t set up yet when we’d arrived so it ended up being a long 2hr lunch break. This wasn’t too bad as it helped with acclimatisation being at that altitude for an extended time before coming back down for the evening at Barranco Camp. Lunch was freezing cold and it hailed for half an hour so we threw on all the layers we had in our day packs and tucked into a delicious hot lunch.

Post lunch we sped down from 4600m to 3900m in just over an hour. We explored the new camp area at Barranco Camp and then found our group, had a quick wash, tea and a lay down in the tent as the temps started to drop for the evening.

I finally found the right amount of clothes to wear inside the sleeping bag to have the perfect temperature to sleep. This little discovery and also drinking the right amount of water so I only had to pee once gave me an amazing nights sleep. Blake on the other hand had a horrendous night. He had stomach pains all night and was having some sort of feverish hot and cold flushes. He woke me up once asking for ibuprofen and again later for a plastic bag as he was feeling close to being sick. Not long after he was hunched over vomiting as I hastily opened up the tent for him to lean somewhere and provide some cool air on his skin. I rubbed his back and gathered him some warm clothes which he put on once the cold flush came. He shivered his way through the final few hours of the morning with rapid breaths which had me worried. He needed some extra time in bed and picked lightly at his food come breakfast but rallied and we left camp at 9am.

The first 1.5hrs was straight up the Barranco Wall to emerge at 4200m on the western bridge. The morning views of Kili were some of the best yet with it looming directly above us. From the top of Barranco Wall it was only another 2hrs up and down to arrive at Karanga Camp. We all arrived in high spirits and Blake has gone straight to bed to try and get some rest as again the afternoon clouds and storms roll into the mountain and we listening to more thunder and rain.

Last night was ice cold. I woke up in the early morning for a bathroom break and the ground outside was crusted with frost and the tent stiff with ice. Despite the cold I still had a great nights sleep and woke feeling fresh and ready for another day on the move. Blake too had a much better sleep and his stomach seems a bit more settled.

Once the sun came up in the morning, it was shirt weather even with frost crunching under our boots as we started off. We quickly sorted ourselves out and again left camp around 8:30am. The pace was slow as we switch-backed up the mountain, gaining another 678m to the next camp. It was a leisurely 3hrs with some incredible scenery and I spent part of the walk chatting to two Irish girls we’d met a few days previous. Blake was exhausted from being unwell the last few days and not eating much as a result but he trudged along silently behind our guide Sabi without complaint.

I’m writing this in my journal as I wait for lunch after which I’ll go for a little afternoon nap. It’ll be an early dinner and bed to try and get some sleep before we begin the midnight ascent to the summit. Blake has immediately retired to the tent for some rest. I am a bit worried about him but am generally in high spirits for the ascent tonight. Hopefully the weather is clear and not too cold. The forecast is for -10°C which shouldn’t be too bad as it isn’t too windy.

I slept fairly well, getting to bed around 6pm. I woke a few times, once at 9pm to get up to go to the bathroom. Blake blearily (deliriously?) mumbled if it was midnight already and time to get up which made me chuckle. I was awake again at 11:45pm in anticipation for the hike but waited warm in my sleeping bag until Pete knocked at our tent for us to get up. We scrambled around putting all our layers on in the tent and prepping for the long morning ahead. We’d had hail and ice the evening before so were expecting a cold morning.

Layered up we departed at 00:45am and began the gruelling hike to Stella Point at 5756m. We arrived tired and somewhat delirious at 5:40am, near enough 5hrs later. Given Blakes reaction to the altitude, his vomiting, stomach pains, nausea and lack of food intake the last few days, i was surprised his body didn’t shut down on him. I walked behind him the whole way, frequently reaching out to steady him from walking off the edge or when he started to stray too much from being upright. He later told me this was because he was walking with his eyes 90% closed and pretending he was anywhere else in the world besides slowly shuffling up the side of a freezing mountainside in the dark at over 5000m.

We finally made it to Stella Point, the most difficult part of the morning was over, so we paused only briefly before shuffling the final 700m and 139m ascent to reach Uhuru Peak and arrive at 6:40am. The last 50min was some of the best as the sky had begun to lighten for sunrise behind us and the spectacular full moon was just disappearing in front of us. Its a pity it was too cold to stop and play with the camera settings on my phone to capture some of the incredible night time beauty illuminated by the moon. Especially the snow and glaciers on Kilimanjaro lit up white at night and the other peaks in the distance. We didn’t even use the head torches as the moon provided enough light to walk the mountain.

We took some photos and marvelled at the views from the highest point in Africa before heading down as the peak was quickly becoming crowded. It took us a comparatively quick 2hrs to descend back to Barafu Camp with France setting a blistering pace scree slope running back down. Back in camp we had a rest and some brunch before getting ready again heading down again to the next camp. As we continued to descend, Blake started to brighten more and more with each meter of altitude lost. It was a dramatic change and he started to be chatty and animated as we got down below 3000m. We decided that it would be better to continue on past the planned camp for the night and make it all the way to the end of the hike at Mweka Gate in one day instead of two. The final day ended up being 27.5km and my feet were very sore from all the descent by the end of the day, but we were very much looking forward to a proper scrub in a hot shower and sleeping in a hotel bed so persevered. Overall it ended up being a great hike. Blake said it was one of the hardest things he’s ever done in his life but also very rewarding.