What an unbelievable achievement to hike the highest freestanding mountain in the world (19,341ft)! By day 4 I'm struggling along and Adam says to me "In the end, you don't remember the pain, just the accomplishment". Well, right now both are still pretty fresh in my mind but I am unbelievably proud hat we made it to the top.
To tell the story properly, it actually starts during our 24 hour layover in istanbul. We got a hotel room and it was late so we just stayed in and ate crackers and drank the tap water. Then the next day we went sightseeing, had a great time and left. We arrived in Tanzania very early Monday morning October 28th. We slept for a few hrs, then our guides came and met us, we got a few last min items in town, got a good night of sleep and then hit the mountain on Tuesday October 29. That day was an easy 4.5 hr hike, climbing to about 9k ft. It was through the beautiful rainforest, where we saw this cute blue monkey. My stomach hurt most of the day but I figured it was just the change of climate and nerves. Wednesday, October 30- the phrase "Istanbul tap water" is flashing through my mind as my stomach is severely cramped up and I am throwing up. I battle painstakingly through a 6 hr hike. I had to stop every half hour or so and I thought that was going to be the last day of the hike for me. Tuesday, October 31- we come across some super boy scout boys from Colorado that have EVERYTHING you need to survive, including some antibiotics for me! The hike that day is another 6 hours, with a lot of ups and downs that help you acclimatize. My legs are getting pretty torn up by this point, I have no appetite and have thrown up everything I have eaten for the last 2 days. Great. Wednesday, November 1- You have options when you book your trip- 8 day climbs give you time to rest each day and help you acclimatize, 7 day trips a little less time and 6 day trips are for crazy fit hikers, oh and it is the least expensive option. duh... We picked the cheap one. So that means that on November 1st we had to hike double the amount. I woke up and saw the massive mountain towering over our little campground and I said "you and me mountain, we have had a pretty even battle so far but only one of us will be the victor. Who that will be is anyone's guess at this point but I've got your number". We left and hiked for 4 hrs and stopped for lunch around noon. Then we had another 4 hour hike to "base camp", which is the last before the summit. The last hour was torture. I had to stop every 10 mins and my legs were shaking so hard I thought I was going to collapse. We were at 15k ft and by that time you can definitely feel altitude sickness. Headache, dizzy, nauseous, etc. We were supposed to get into camp by like 3pm but I was so wrecked. They want you to go to sleep by 5 or 6 because you wake up at 11pm for Summit day!!!! By the time we roll into camp, eat a few bits of dinner and lay down its well after 8pm. It is also wicked cold. I have a below 0* sleeping bag and I am cover head to toe in long underwear, fleece and down and I was so cold my teeth were chattering.
Thursday, November 2nd- ha, what a day. I'm: tired, sore, have a headache, dizzy, nauseous, cold, and the last thing in the world I feel like doing is taking a 12 hour hike up the last 5k ft (the largest increase for 1 day). I put 4 layers on my feet, 3 on my legs, 7 layers on my upper body, 2 layers on my hands and 4 layers on my head and face. Then we start hiking, one foot in front of the other, left, right, left, right. The first 1.5 hrs (12-1:30am) were straight up, over a giant rock face. Placing your feet and taking huge steps, while using your trekking poles for balance. Typically, the total summit hike should take about 6-7 hrs, it's ok if it takes 8-9 but anymore than that and your guide will send you back down because your body will be too exhausted to make it all the way back. I tried to just zone out but it was so unimaginably cold. The guide told us no matter how tired we were we couldn't sit because we would freeze and our body would shut down and we would have to go back down. We could walk slowly but we had to stay on our feet. The cold wind bit through our gloves and my fingers and toes were so cold I thought they might fall off. The next 4 hrs (1:30-5:30am) were very steep as well but more like a super rocky trail. I prayed for strength, I sang praise songs in my head, I counted backwards from 100, anything I could do to keep my mind off the pain and cold. At 5:30am we first started to see the sun on the horizon. I've never been so thankful for anything in my whole life. The third part of the hike (5:30-7am) was straight up through thick gravel. Every step you take you slide back 6 inches. My steps were so tiny I was barely moving. I came to the point where I counted off 20 steps and then paused for 10 seconds for 1.5 hours! Sheer determination, will power and the unexplainable strength of The Lord that moved me up the mountain. I knew in my heart that it would all be over in a few hours and all I would remember is the achievement. Finally, the top!!! One more hour (7-8am) of only a gradual increase and we would be there. Step by step we plugged on until that glorious summit sign came into view. I was so happy that I couldn't hold the tears back. Relief flooded my whole body. We took so many pictures. It was so surreal, I couldn't believe that I was standing on the "roof top of Africa". The highest freestanding mountain in the world at 19,341 ft! I had so much help from Adam who encouraged me, packed our stuff, rubbed my sore back and basically waited on me hand and foot in addition to having to hike through all of this himself, our amazing guides who carried various poles, bags and on day 4 gave me his own jacket because I was too cold, the Boy Scouts with the medicine who saved the trip with their generosity, the cook trying to prepare food I could eat and the 8 porters who carry all our tents, bags on their heads and set up and tear down camp everyday. For the 2 of us we had a crew of 12! 8 porters, 1 cook, 1 waiter, 1 guide and 1 ast. guide. On our hike back down the mountain we joked around with our guides. I asked if they ever thought I would actually make it to the top. They said they have so much respect for me because it was less than -15*C and that is much colder than it ever gets. They didn't think there was anyway that I was going to make it. He kept looking over his shoulder and there was Anna taking her baby steps. Haha. Really amazing guys! We had a 3 hr hike back to base camp, and another 4hrs down to a lower camp at 10k feet. By the time we made camp that night at 5pm, I had hiked of 23 the last 36 hrs and slept only 2.5! Needless to say I slept like the dead.
Friday November 3rd we woke up and had a short 2.5 hr hike back to civilization. We are now sitting in a hotel after taking the longest shower of my life. 6 days without a shower. Haha. Foul! Just so happy to be alive and have the simple things in life. I hope to never take them for granted again. And there is no doubt that this is an accomplishment that I will remember forever!!
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