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Dorota on Brighton Beach

Climbing Kilimanjaro Day 6

Climbing Kilimanjaro Day 6 - feature photo

Ok now i am feeling incredibly so knackered! It’s 4am and we have a 7-8 hour trek to the summit, it’s so cold here at Barafu camp 4600m. I am so glad for my brother Kyle lending me his thermals. It is pitch black and we will be walking like this for 1.5 hours. Thanks go out to whom ever invented the head torch.

The climb to the summit was hell, not only sliding back down after every step, it was just soo boring and tiring. I was the unsociable one and had my ipod on, not that people had the energy to talk anyway. This way I could just shut myself off and climb.

Surprisingly only Tom K and I were the ones not suffering from altitude sickness, and only had to physically struggle to the summit. Doug was throwing up whilst David Coats kept collapsing on his knees and Dave Hughes was seeing things which didn’t exist. (Unfortunately for him Penelope Cruz wasn’t one of them).

After about 6 hours of walking up the scree which is down the side of the volcano we got to Stella point where we got a view of the inside of the crater.

The highest point, Uhuru Peak only looks a few hundred meters away but due to the lack of oxygen & altitude sickness of others it took us 1.5 hours to get there. Coats and I were the first there and it appeared that it was only Doug and I who weren’t crying.

Due to the sheer coldness, lack of oxygen and the majority of the group being far from perfect health we couldn’t risk going to the crater. So after a few photos and yes a nude one, we started our descent.

Walking down to Stella point i saw Will and David Coats almost fly passed me, being dragged arm over arm by the guides…. shortly followed by Jon and David… oh dear I hoped they were alright!

Sliding jumping and falling down the scree was extremely painful on my knees. We all eventually made it back to Barafu after about 3 hours where we had lunch, packed and then had a 4 hour trek down to 3600m half of which was in pitch black. Luckily we all had our head torches.

There Are 6 Responses So Far. »

  1. Wow, what an amazing trip. I’m really looking forward to spend some more time hiking around and…perhaps one day…getting into climbing.

    Safe journey home.

  2. Wow, what an amazing trip. I’m really looking forward to spend some more time hiking around and…perhaps one day…getting into climbing.

    Safe journey home.

  3. Really… amazing trip.. cool.!!!. hope one day can do that… great travel..

  4. Really… amazing trip.. cool.!!!. hope one day can do that… great travel..

  5. Great account of what it is like to climb. Everyone thinks that Kilimanjaro is a cake walk just because it isn’t a technical climb. Once you hit about 5300 metres the altitude really hits you. We thought it was going to be easy because the first few days were so pleasant, but once you start that summit push it is a killer.
    Congrats on making it! I don’t know if you were like us, but by the time we were relaxing on the beach in Zanzibar, we had forgotten how hard it was and telling everyone that they should climb. They’ll have no problem:)

  6. Great account of what it is like to climb. Everyone thinks that Kilimanjaro is a cake walk just because it isn’t a technical climb. Once you hit about 5300 metres the altitude really hits you. We thought it was going to be easy because the first few days were so pleasant, but once you start that summit push it is a killer.
    Congrats on making it! I don’t know if you were like us, but by the time we were relaxing on the beach in Zanzibar, we had forgotten how hard it was and telling everyone that they should climb. They’ll have no problem:)

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