Kilimanjaro Trek - Final Day
Late post: Day 6 into Kilimanjaro trek:
The day we struggled for last 6 days arrived at midnight, like India's independence (but we started 30 minutes later). Kibo peak aka Uhuru peak, Uhuru means Freedom in Swahili, our march to freedom commenced just about midnight. After a slight mix up in providing drinking water and the delay in dragging our lazy bums out of the tent, we started only around 12.30 am from Barafu camp. It is 5km trek to the summit, a combination of walk and climbs, with an elevation gain of 1200m. The initial part was steep. We were able to figure out the height from the Barafu camp lights as we move away from it. In the darkness of the night, we were able to see lights aglow in Arusha village which we passed through 6 days back. Up ahead, afar we were able to see few glowing white dots, possibly torchlight of some climber who has started earlier than us. Other than these lights are our own torches and the faint light of the waning moon doing its best to shimmer the white snow patches. In that dark, our motivation is the songs sang by the guides and by the chilling wind.
We started seeing patches of snow within a few hours and it got bigger as we get higher. We made fewer stops than usual in an attempt to summit before sunrise but most of us hit rock bottom of our energy levels soon enough that made our guides change their mind. They had a few summit porters coming along with us in case of any untoward incidents, they also carried extra water and nutrition for the group; even the guides offered to carry the backpacks if anyone seems overly fatigued, constantly checking on us about how we feel, bringing out interesting topics to discuss during the water breaks, waiting and passing message amongst them to ensure people taking pee break doesn't wander off and safely returns back; these are some of the out-of-their-way things I managed to notice that night that was remarkable and worth mentioning about the agency and its guides we trekked with.
Snow patches became more prominent after few minutes, I only wished I had on my snow boots because the hard outer sole of the trekking shoe wasn't capable enough to protect the chillness from seeping in and it was freezing the feet even though I had on more than one layer of sock. I mentally pictured the sad sight of the snow boots lying on the shelf in my room in the house in my native town. With every step, the feet felt colder. I told myself this worrying thought is not going to help because it cannot be avoided then I started telling myself the feet will feel better once the sun is up and mentally imagined myself sitting barefoot under the sun in Barafu camp. I asked guide Magnus, which direction the sun comes up, he pointed towards Mawenzi peak side and pointed out the black clouds and day starting to break at the horizon and it felt as if we were exactly at the same level as the cloud. It was 5 AM and we were into 4 and a half hours of trekking already.
In the light of daybreak, the trail started appearing and it looked like a never-ending incline. The consolating thought is we are climbing on the east face of the mountain which means we will get to see the sunrise from the trail itself (like Mount Fuji-san) and the sunlight warmth will be upon us soon enough. The wish to summit before sunrise crept up in my mind, so I checked with Magnus, but he told it will take another 2 hours to reach Stella Point. I wanted to blame myself for not being able to summit before sunrise. Rather I tried not to focus on any thought of self-blame and focused on the climb instead. After almost an hour and what felt like a lifetime of the climb, we were still one hour short from the Stella point. But when I turned around I was literally blown away. Sun was beneath the clouds still raising and glowing in a reddish hue, that was illuminating the sea of clouds from below. From above the clouds, it appeared very magical. It was a sight to behold that, lasted just a few seconds. Soon the clouds dissipated and we got a clear view in full glory and the touch of warmth felt very soothing.
Most of us got into the frenzy of clicking pictures but I excused myself telling I will join for the photo at the summit. Meanwhile, they took photos and enjoy, I relished by gazing at the sun. At around 7 am we reached the cusp of the last turn that leads to Stella point. Magnus halted at the cusp and pointed his hands towards the direction. As I turned my head I saw the campsite name board, the mere sight of it brought within an overwhelming mix of feelings. We rested at the Stella point for a few minutes. The crater was fully covered with snow and whiteness in all direction. The view was astonishing and we clicked some pictures. All guides and porters congratulated us on the achievement and informed Uhuru peak is just a few minutes walk from that point. By now we were perfectly able to gauge what it meant when Magnus says "a few minutes". I tried not to focus on what he said but rather feeding myself biscuits and juice and advising myself that I have to make it to the summit. When he told us to get ready, we picked ourselves up and got ready to move.
Few minutes into the walk, my stomach felt funnier, soon after started paining. It was as if something sucking the stomach from inside, not sure whether it was because of walking empty stomach for 7 hours and when I finally put some solid food inside this happened or was it an HA symptom. But it made the walk more special. It looked as if we were walking on the snow-covered crater rim, gentle slopes with a steep descent on both sides. After an hour we saw the glimpse of the summit board. When we finally reach there, we were all very excited. Screaming, shaking hands, fist bump and hugging. I knelt down and tears rolled down the cheeks as an acknowledgement. Next moment the tears were flowing uncontrollably and a sense of accomplishment finally settled within. I felt ecstatic. One of the mates mentioned we can offer something as a memento. I checked what I had with me, the first thing I glanced was the Tibetan Khata I had tied on my backpack. I untied it from the backpack and tied it on one of the wooden poles to which the wooden boards were fixed.
We descended down to Stella point in a few minutes and took short rest there. Meanwhile, others from the group reached. We took the group picture and started descending to Barafu camp. Deprivation of sleep started to show migraine symptoms, initially, I thought it was due to dehydration but I was to realise it was migraine only after reaching Barafu camp. The descending trail was loose volcanic soil so we literally slid our way down. As soon as the snow section has passed, we realised it was a sunny day. We reached the Barafu camp around midday. I just sat outside the tent in sun, removed and put the gears in sunlight as well and relaxed a bit. During lunch, Magnus informed us about the option of going directly to Moshi village. I readily said yes, but others had mixed opinion initially. If there is a comfort in walking the mountains there is comfort in civilization as well. It was too good a prospect so all of them except 2 decided to take the long walk. Those 2 couldn't join because they reached Barafu bit late and couldn't rest enough.
Later while walking we felt it was good that they decided to stay back because the trail was flat and just bushes for initial 4 km then it was rocky and rough for the next 3 km. This brought us to the Mweka camp which was the original campsite for that night. Another 10km to the Mweka gate where our transport is, and this 10km trail was muddy, slushy and slippery plus it got dark soon so we were again down to torch-lit rain forest trail. We started descending from Barafu camp around 3 pm, reached Mweka camp around 6 pm and Mweka gate around 10 pm. Overall we have walked for 21.5 hours since early morning, with stops in between of course. We had the first dinner on the way, the second dinner from a different restaurant was ordered to be delivered to the hotel. We reached the hotel around 1 am. After a nice hot bath and eating delightful food, I retired to the comfy cottage bed for a nice and long sleep.
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