My life as an Expat: 5985 m, Kilimanjaro

When I'm an old lady, if my brain is still functioning well, ha ha, when I look back at my life and speak of my life accomplishments, having a successful summit up Mt. Kili will definitely be up there on my list. Much closer though, when I leave Dubai and think about what I've done and accomplished, this will definitely be up there as well. Ahhh.... what an experience!!!!

Even while I was hiking, I was thinking about this blog... and how I wanted it to be extra detailed so I remember everything. Sooo... forewarning, this will be a bit lengthy! I'll try to undo it being too too boring with some pictures :-)

When I got back, I sent a mass email that got some surprising responses when I mentioned that Kili was "probably one of the toughest mental and physical challenges I have ever had." Especially from people that know I've done 1/2 ironman's, triathlons, and other random things in between. It's hard to describe why that is. Some of it was the novelty of the experience - I have never camped before in my life. My hiking experience is minimal at best, a few sporadic minimal hikes here and there (it's been ages since I've last done one), I've never slept in a sleeping bag or tent (nevertheless with strangers, well, the tent part, not the bag!). I wouldn't describe the actual hike itself as "very hard," which may surprise some people. There were some tough parts, like rock scrambling,

but it was kinda fun and again, not too too bad. When I say "physical" challenge, that was more my bodies reaction to everything.

Soo... here goes: The 1st day I was fine, 2nd day was less distance, but more vertical, was mostly fine during the hike, a short period I felt super fatigued, but okay. But then when we got to our base camp, we did this extra mini mini hike to this area that had a nice view, and after that started the fun.... I started vomiting... and vomiting. Felt and looked "green," and of course felt weak. Why out of ALL the side effects do I have to get that one? Vomiting and nausea is just the worst. I was drinking so much water (which they encourage you to do) that that was what I was vomiting (sorry for the details). Come dinner, I just had some bread and rice. Nighttime rolls around, and ugh, I don't think I've had a worse night in my life :-( gain, I'm in this small'ish tent with 2 others (a mom and daughter, super nice), but obviously being in such close quarters, you can hear everything. So my vomiting in my barf bag was obviously heard and I felt bad to wake them up. Then I had a fever with sweating, then fever and cold sweats, kept on feeling like I was going to throw up, and... you can get the picture. Blah! And then comes the mental challenge.... the thoughts of why I was so sick so early? Would I be able to continue? Would I even make it to the top? Could I do this??? I tried to stay positive, and it actually was the support from all my friends and family that helped with that. The morning FINALLY roles around, thank gawd.... was feeling off and didn't know what to expect. I leave the tent... then darn it, MORE vomiting! Ughhh. Thankfully, I felt better after it... and thank gawd that was the end of that. Needless to say, I didn't have much of an appetite, but knew I had to eat so had a little carbs to hopefully sort me for Day 3. With a quesy and weak start, we started Day 3, which was much more gradual and... by late morning and into the day, I kept feeling better and better. Besides diarrhea that day (again, sorry for the details, but these are all side effects of altitude!), by the end of the day, I felt like me again - regained my appetite and energy. After a good nights sleep (almost 10 hours!), the 4th day I felt 100%!

Then it was like the 1st and (most of) 2nd day, loving the FRESH crisp air, the atmosphere, and just being outside in nature. I wish I could take a picture of the stars, because they were soooooooooo beautiful!!! It was chilly, but still comfortable (thank you Chicago roots!)! In the meantime, some others were having their own altitude issues (mostly headaches and fatigue), so when it came down to the "summit night (the night of the 4th night, or 5th day)," where people typically leave at midnight, we made a TEAM decision to leave at 2am, just to give everyone some rest. For the 5 of us, we had 5 helpers, 3 of the guides and 2 porters (who were awesome). In order to help us, they carried our day bags with water and we just had our many layers and energy snacks. I have to say that climb was tough because it's very vertical, it's pitchblack (we used headlamps), and 1st part of the climb was almost like rock scrambling), it felt more fatiguing. After that part, our super mom 60- year old backed down :-( She was really struggling and it was really sad to see her go, but her kids were still going strong and that was motivating. I had sooo many layers on, I really looked like a marshmellow, was warm enough, but when we did our quick stops for water (and they were quick), because I was sweaty, I got really cold, and then it was hard to get started again. Although people were already at the top for this, we still saw an amazing sunrise that was really beautiful.

So then it started to get brighter, hence warmer, which was fine, but then the fatigue REALLY set in. The guides were amazing and kept gently encouraging us and saying that it's guaranteed we will summit, which was good to hear. Of course since we started late, people were already on the way back down, which was 1/2 motivating in that "we're getting close" but also un-motivating because they had already got to the top and it seemed we were sooo far away. Besides TOTAL body fatigue, literally, just felt every muscle in my body was tired and exhausted, I generally felt okay. We were rightfully going sooo slow, "pole pole" (the #1 lesson in doing the climb, it means 'slowly slowly' in Swahili), so the top just seemed sooo far away and each step was more tiring than the one before it. But ah ha! We finally see the ridge where Stella's point is - we ARE almost there! Then the time just seemed to pass, and wah la! We were there! I was behind the guide and he turned to High 5 all of us, and I just felt sooo overwhelmed, literally like I was about to cry (maybe I did?).... I can't even describe the feeling. We sat to take it in, had some tea. One of the guys was suffering and wanted to go down, but our awesome guide Baraka convinced him to get to the Peak, Uhuru's peak - the HIGHEST peak in Africa, the official 7th Summit of the World. He (and someone else I was sitting next to) said, "it's only 30 minutes, you're really almost there." Sigh.... So after probably less than 10 minutes, we were off again. I took my position in front behind the guide (no one else seemed to want that spot) and we trudged along. It is more or less a gradual climb, but my gawd, I can't even tell you how exhausting it felt. We got to the 1/2 way point at like 25 minutes, and we didn't even stop... it literally was like a slow motion "must.... keep.... going." Then, those last 15 minutes probably was the hardest part of the entire climb. Everything just hit me at once - felt totally and completely delirious, lightheaded, some nausea, just totally out of it. I don't even know how I put one foot in front of the other, it literally was extreme effort. Every single muscle and joint in my body just felt utterly exhausted. One step.... one step.... one step.... You can see the sign, but it was sooo.....far.... away. One step closer... one step closer..... really, I can't even describe it. When we got to it, it again was one of those moments where I felt really emotional, again felt like I wanted to have a hearty cry, but also too exhausted to do so. We gave each other a group hug, all almost holding on so we don't fall over, and then sat while this group in front of us was taking a picture in front of the famous Uhuru sign. They say not to stay there for too long, most people the cold eats them, but because at that point it was... I don't even know, like 8:30am-9am? It wasn't too bad.

OMG, I look like such a marshmellow! :-) Believe it or not, I actually lost weight, about 3-4 lbs, but it doesn't show here!

REALLY couldn't have done it without the help of the our AWESOME leader Barka, the awesome assistant guides Denis and Peter, and the 2 porters. THANK YOU!!!!

We took our group and individual pics, soaked in the feeling and environment (nice little glacier near), and of course the altitude affects people, so we were there maybe like 15 minutes? I got a little 2nd wind up there, all of a sudden like, "YAY!!! I DID IT! I'M HERE! I"M AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD!!!!" Feeling happy, but of course utterly exhausted and almost faint. Then started the descent.... you work so hard going up, you kind of forget the down part. We did another stop at Stella's point to take pictures,

and then came what seemed like the looooooooooooooooooooooongest part of the climb. For some odd reason, the altitude hit me a lot on the way down, I REALLY felt nautious, maybe a couple of times like I wanted to get sick, but started to get a headache and just felt really faint and lightheaded. Our group kind of broke up at that point, and poor Baraka was stuck with me. Here's him, all bored, la de la, resting with me:

And BTW, this was his 201st climb! 201!!!!!! Anyway, I took sooooo long to get back down! 1st it was not feeling well and needing to take breaks, 2nd it was this bizarre thing I had for majority of the climb that I couldn't hold in my bladder!!! Really weird, but sometimes I hardly even made it out to the toilet or bush. THEN the descent was just sooooooooooooooooooooo dusty, didn't feel I could even breathe right with all the dust and.... ugh. Just not fun. Then, as most people know, it's the coming down part (eccentric loading) that is always hard, and after that loooong tough climb up, my legs were pooped as it was, but they really felt like jello on the way back down. I was the last one to come down by far (around 1:30pm?), and hardly even made it into the tent before I stripped off my 304983208 layers of clothes (at that point, I was also boiling because the sun was super strong), and just passed out. OMG, it felt sooo good to lie down!!!! Here's a nice view from the tent, I didn't even get up to take the picture:

Unfortunately, we didn't have too much rest time because then at 3:30pm we had to start getting sorted again to leave at 4pm to go to the next base camp. Fortunately, at that point I was already feeling better and although that 2 hour hike to the next base camp seemed long, it was nothing like the climb down from the top, and of course it was less altitude and I felt much better. Phew! The next was a breeeze.... we all went to bed early that night and the next day we had a moderate 4 hour climb down to the bottom, and that was it!!!! DONE AND DUSTED MT. KILIMANJARO! I DID IT!!!!!!

Can't believe I climbed up that!!! :-)

Here are a few tidbits of popular asked questions (SP!):

Which route I took: Macheme route, aka. "whisky" route - 6 day total trip.
Medications for altitude sickness - yes! There are some and I had it: Diamox. HOWEVER, diamox is know to treat the symptoms of altitude sickness, however the side effects are the same symptoms of altitude sickness (headache, lightheadedness, nausea), sooo.... the general consensus was to not take it, which as you can imagine, was quite a discussion point among the climbers. One girl, Amber, who we referred to as "mountain goat" because she was great the whole time, took it, and got a big headache for the 1st time. BUT, an "herbal" variation of that is gingko bilboa, is supposed to help with altitude and memory (nothing wrong with that!). It's hard to tell and to know what to do and what not to do, but I would basically advise other people just to take the herbal gingko because it has no side effects. I took it those couple of days after I was sick, and I had no problems after that day. Everyone should decide invidually.
Malaria - I had malarone for the duration of my 3-weeks in Tanzania. There is some prevalence of Malaria in Dar Es Saeem (where I was the 1st few days) and also in Arusha (the town close to Kili) as well as Zanzibar. BUT obviously the mosquitoes don't survive in high altitudes and you don't need it in Kili. But because with maralone you need to take it 1-2 days before travel, every day during, and then a week after, I basically took mine while I was up Kili.
Camping: The company I went with provided tents and sleeping padding for the tents. I rented a sleeping bag from them. Kili is considered an "easy" climb because there are porters who take care of everything, they carry the tents, your own personal bag, their own belonging, cooking/kitchen stuff (table, chairs). So we only had to carry our day bags the whole time. But camping was pretty fun! There is something special about sleeping outdoors, I'll say that. Don't worry, I won't say I'll become a camper now, but I might do it for just a night or two one day... we'll see :-)

Nice dry view of Kili in the background.

Our last camping night, nice view of Kili in the background, we CLIMBED THAT!
Toilets: Umm.... well, heheh, an important question! All of the camp sites had toilets, but either they were these disgusting outcrops or a squat toilet. When we were hiking, we did bush toileting, and sometimes, again, because I somehow had this weak bladder, I even did bush toileting at the camp site (hidden of course). Of course, we had no showers the whole 6 days.
Time for the climb: To get up it took almost 5 days, and down (a different route) took 4 hours the last day, and 2 hours the day before. All and all, 6 days!
Packing: The porters, who are rail thin and soo strong, by law, should not carry more than 15kgs (about 30 lbs) and they had proper weigh in points to make sure that they didn't exceed that, which I thought was really good.

For us and our day-packs, around 6-7 lbs was recommended. Key words: PACK LIGHT! For yourself and for someone else! It's almost a must to have 'soft luggage,' aka. a travel backpack (which I had, borrowed from my friend).
Company: I went with Good Earth Tours, an agency out of Canada, had an office in Florida and an office in Arusha. In my group there was a mom, Terry, 60 year old librarian, her two kids, Amber (28 y/o geologist but now becoming a teacher) and Andrew (30 y/o, construction worker) - all from Alberta, Canada, myself, and then YZ (abbreviation for a hard spelling and sounding name) from Malaysia, 33 y/o that was in IT.

Fortunately, Terry and Amber, my tent-mates, not only loooved camping and hiking, but they also lead and taught groups about camping! So they were excited to teach me a few tricks as I was to learn about them (Andrew too). I definitely recommend the agency, had a great experience, all the equipment I rented (down jacket, hiking poles, leg gaitors, fleece pants) was in good condition. They were also very organized, efficient, and the staff was great! We stayed at Planet Lodge, this quaint nice hotel in Arusha.
Success of the climb: As I mentioned, Kili as an 80% success rate. We right on with 4/5 of us making it (Terry was with us in spirit).
Water: Staying hydrating helps greatly with altitude. It's recommended to have at least 2 L/day hiking. I probably averaged 2-3 L, thanks to my handy camelback! How did we get water? The 1st day or so we had our own stashes of water, then the porters would take the fresh water from a stream close by, boil it and there you have it! I didn't have any stomach issues from that and no one in my group did. Some people (in other groups), bought iodine tablets, and I'm sure that is fine, but we were all good with the 'natural way.'
HELP on the mountain, the porters: So for 5 of us, we had 19 porters (including a head porter, a cook, and 2 waiters) and 3 guides (2 assistant and 1 head). They ALL get tipped at the end, and these porters, I can't even tell you how amazing they are! They leave after us, load up all our gear, rush past us (all you could hear sometimes was "porters coming!" - meaning, get out of the way), then would get to the next site before us, have everything set up, and dinner would be almost ready. AWESOME!!!!

Above and below are the group shots we took our last day, everyone happy that it was DONE! They sang a little song, "hakuna matata" (no worries) song for us :-)
Equipment (ME):

Things I couldn't have done it without:

Electrolytes! Luckily I'm an athlete and have these things, but they proved soo helpful to me and my group: Gu gels, shot blocs, jelly beans, energy/protein bars - most all with electrolytes. They really gave a boost and was the perfect quantity and energy I needed. It's a MUST!!!
Compression socks: I have yet to run with these, but a few weeks before I left, got a wind of it, and bought some and boy, was I happy I did!!! As my body is not used to 6-8 hours of climbing a day, it would have been guaranteed I'd have some kind of calf soreness, BUT the compression socks really helped with that and I didn't get it at all!!!
Facial and cleansing wipes: Soooooooo glad I had this! Obviously we can't shower on the mountain, so this was my 'dry' cleaning. They did provide us with a small bucket of hot water, but because you're always in public, it was cold in the early mornings and nights and evenings, it was just more comfy and suitable to do cleansing with these wipes.
Anti-bacterial gel: Yesssssss. Self-explanatory :-)
Headlamp (thanks Lal!): A MUST! Obviously for night-time but also imperative for "summit night." You needed 2 hands sometimes to climb up, and a flashlight won't do.
Iburprofen: Ahh.... soo happy about that! Myself and my fellow climbers. It's guaranteed you will get some kind of headache, and normally I don't like taking tablets unless I have to, but those came quite in handy!
Melatonin: Campsites can be loud, and the tents are paper thin, so you are bound to either here people talking or someone snoring. This was another BEST.THING.EVER.
Leg gaitors (rented): Came REALLY in handy for bush and squat toilets, but also the 1st and last leg are in a forest-like area, kinda muddy, so it was great. As well as the climbing and the dust! Kept the shoes and pants less filthy.
Camelback: Really, probably the most important thing! I had a camelback/backpack, which was awesome! To have the easy access of the water was a good reason why I had a successful summit. Others had their water inside their backpack, and although we stopped frequently, you need water more than that. We (well, Amber) made a game that every time we tripped or stumbled, lost footing, yawned or sneezed, we would take a sip!
Sunglasses! This is obvious, but thanks to my mom, I had these great UVA/UVB ones that had a slight covering above the eyes and to the sides, so sun couldn't creep in. It got obviously extremely sunny, and I felt well protected in my eyewear!!!
Ziplock gallon sized bags and plastic small baggies - this just came in handy for weather protection, for storage, ease of packing, just really great to have!

Merino wool liners (long-sleeve shirt and leggings). Can I just say BEST.THING.EVER! This is a total and absolute must. Not only does it keep you warm, very warm, but also i you are sweating, it kinda absorbs in the material, yet more or less keeps you and it dry. OMG, just awesome!!!!
Puffy vest - Thanks to my friend Lal, got a puffy down vest, which was AWESOME! It was great for evenings having dinner, and also I used it as a pillow :-) It kept me warm summit night, and I just loooved it. Sooo soft and nice!
Solomon hiking boot - Can I just say (again), BEST.THING.EVER. I can't say enough how happy I am with these hiking boots! I got them a month before the hike, used them a little bit, NEVER got blisters or NEVER felt uncomfortable, and when I did the hike, it really felt like it fit better than a glove. Sooo comfortable!!!! It absorbed sweat well, didn't get too stinky (hehe), and are just AWESOME! I almost want to go hiking again just so I can wear them!
Toilet paper :-)
Scarf - okay, I do happen to love scarfs, but really - they are so great! Came in handy for that in-between weather, when my feet or head got cold at night, they are great!
Eye mask and ear plugs - I know that is a bit comfy, but sometimes my tent-mates would read at it night with the light, so hence the eye mask helped. AND then the ear plugs really helped for getting some sleep!

Things I WISH I had:

Blistex. Oh dear, if I only knew. Because of the sun and dry air, my lips totally got sunburnt and blistered, to the point when I actually managed to use someone's blistex, it hurt to touch. Well, at least now I know what I look like if I ever decide to get Angelenia Jolie lips. I usually always have some kind of vaseline, but it was really stupid to not have that.
Electrolyte tablets - used to put inside drinks. I think they are helpful and we all felt good when Amber let us take some.
More toilet paper! I had to take an extra roll from my fellow climbers. Went through it a lot quicker with all my altitude issues!

Overall packing list:

Shoes: My awesome hiking shoes (MUST) and old worn out gym shoes for evening times and just to get out of those boots! Some people had flip-flops to change into, but it was cold at night, so closed-toed were better for me.
Socks: I had 2 compression socks, and then 2 regular hiking socks.
Accessories: Wool warm hat, liner gloves, my ski gloves (summit night), a gator (summit night). p.s. glad i go skiing!
Pants: 2 pairs of hiking pants (wicking, UVF), the merino wool bottoms (yess), fleece pants, ski waterproof liner pants.
Tops: Merino wool long-sleeve top, 3 short-sleeved coolmax tops, 1 long-sleeve cool-max top, one t-shirt (pajama), a light long-sleeved fleece (with thumb holes), a rain-jacket (only used once when it drizzled), a puffy NorthFace down vest, a puffy downjacket.
Comfort: pillow case, blow up neck cushion x2, yes, I had an airport one and one for an air mattress, ipod and kindle,
Meds: I had everything from ibuprofen to immodium to sleep aides to things for blisters to antibiotics, so felt good in that department. The only thing I used was the ibuprofen, immodium, and melatonin.
Other: Headlamp
Miscellaneous: Flashlight (which I never used), extra batteries for the headlamp and flashlight, a cocoon silk sleeping inner liner (from my backpacker days)

Daypack/camelback: water, sunscreen, anti-bacterial gel, rain jacket and pants, energy gels/bars snack stuffs, toilet paper. ibuprofen (yes, I kept this handy!).
Stuff I rented: Hiking poles, down jacket, fleece pants, leg gaitors, sleeping bag (good for -15 C! Was SUPER warm!) - all super useful and in good condition.

sdfsdfs

Food: Umm... can I just say delish? As I've never been camping, I was expecting canned beans and other ... bland foods. But alas we had quite hearty meals (all prepared by the cook porter). Breakfast usually omelette, porridge, toast, sausage. Lunch was often packed: egg, chicken, a chocolate bar, some kind of sandwich, and some kind of cracker/cookie. Dinner always was soup (I love soups! Carrot, potato, leek), pasta, rice, veggies, salad. We had all the right condiments and also had ample supply of teas, coffee (which we tried to avoid because of its a diuretic, and I don't drink coffee anyway, and hot chocolate (which i had a lot of!). They also frequently had my fave snacks - popcorn and ginger snaps. Yummy!
Weather: Only once on day 3 I think it rained a little bit for a couple of hours, not a downpour, just a light rain. It was rather refreshing (again, I don't see rain in Dubai), and glad that my rain jacket and rain pants got some use! Other than that, the mornings and evenings were brisk, in the 20's F (around -6 C) and during the day it got up to 50 deg F (10 deg C). The summit night->day, it was probably about that starting and at the top it was in the 30's F (-1F)... which was actually really nice because some people have said it was frigid and couldn't stay on top because it was so cold (my friend got frostbite). Being that we were at the top (Stella to Urhu's point) for over an hour, weather and the cold was NOT an issue. And no, there was no snow at the top :-)
Terrain: From foresty at the start and finish to barren to seeing a glacier at the summit to ending at the forest again. They say this is one of the more scenic routes of the other hiking options.
The hike: Start at Macheme gate, end at Mweka gait). Key to success - climb high, sleep low, we did that on the 3rd day.