The Climb - part 3

We started day 4 with the other four climbers on "the climb for sight, and, after a good afternoon of rest, alot of enthusiasm. we got out of camp early and, with a good trail, were able to move fairly well even though there was a constant gain in elevation. brad did fine and the views were great. we were hoping to get to lava tower for a late lunch and, even though our pace slowed as the trail became alot rockier as we climbed, brad worked hard, kept moving, and we made it not too long after our normal lunch time. we were now at 14,544 ft, sitting in a saddle at the base of a big lava cone on one side and the steep western breach route to the summit on the other.

after a short lunch (which brad didn't do a very good job of eating!...not even the gu gel!), some of the guys took a short side trip to climb to the top of lava tower while brad, brian and i continued down the trail toward the barranco camp. on this afternoon, we were to now descend 2500 of the 3000 ft we had gained earlier in the day, a good way to help acclimatize to the elevation...but it made for a very long day. there were a handful of tricky downhill rocky slopes that slowed our pace considerably. the slow pace then allowed the sun to move to create alot of shadows for brad making every step more difficult...which slowed our pace some more. which allow time enough for the clouds to roll up the mountain with some drizzling rain...which slowed our pace some more. which allowed the sun to start going down for the day...which, of course, slowed our pace some more. this was a VERY difficult day!!! you talk about a chain of events. the long term problem was that with every situation that slowed our pace, that meant that brad had to visually concentrate for that much longer, putting more stain on his already wore out eyes...but he did it! day four was over and brad was able to lay in his tent and rest his eyes for...well, 'til morning. the scenery on day 4 was nothing short of specatular. huge rock walls with glaciers hanging from them loomed over our left shoulders to the north with white clouds whirling around the upper mountain as we slowily marched toward camp. as we neard camp the giant senencias and lobielias peppered the hill sides creating a contrast from the snow and rock that was incredible. it truly was a beautiful sight! our 9 1/2 hours or up and down on the mountain had visually exhausted bard for the day, so as brad rested to prepare for day 5, brian and i found out that the next day was to be considerably shorted and we starting perparing for the barranco wall.

The Climb - part 2

we had a good start on day 2. while the over hanging trees made for shadows and there were alot of roots, the trail was gradual and not too rocky. we were doing well and making descent time. about the time we broke out of the forest that all changed. the terrain got noticably steeper, the tall heather (that was everywhere) cast plenty of shadows, and the rocks seemed to grow from the trail. with this set-back, our pace slowed considerably but our spirits remained high. we were working our way up a ridge to the rim of the shira platue and as we gained elevation and could see over the trees, our view changed. we could now see were we came from, and where we were going. as the day progressed, the strain on brad's eyes increased as he intensely focused on the trail through the shadows that were starting to be more of a problem as the sun was sinking in the sky. this turned into a long day! to add to the discomfort, where there weren't rocks on the trail, the dirt was a fine powder that "puffed" up around you with every step. when we finally rolled into camp, we were all dirty and dusty and glad to have finally made it to camp. being only the second day on the mountain, we were still learning what was going to be easy for us, and what was going to be more difficult. the big picture wasn't showing us much of anything that was going to be easy!...but we had made it through the first couple days on the mountain and were resting, getting ready for day 3.

the camp was nice. it was fairly flat, not alot of rock, but dusty! i think it was brian that put his crocks on to walk the 20 yards to the dining tent and ended up with brown/gray feet and legs almost up to his knees! if we knew the volume of climbers we would be with from the next camp forward, we may not have thought the dust was too bad! this day also afforded us our first good look at the upper mountain. it was all we had hoped for, and just what we needed to keep us hungry to keep pushing up the mountain.

on the third day we were hiking across the shira platue. this was a shorter day, both in distance and in time. it was a good acclimatization day as we had gained quite a bit of elevation in the last couple days. this day we were only gaining a few hunderd feet, and the trail was the clearest we had seen so far (or would ever see again!). brad cruised today and finished the day in the "normal" time range. this got us to camp just after lunch and gave brad plenty of time to rest his eyes from the strain of the day before. though this camp would fill with people by night fall, it was a beautiful setting. a layer of clouds had formed below us on the mountain giving you a feeling of being higher than the 11,600 ft that we were. also, kibo was directly behind us to the northeast showing itself between the clouds that were rolling through with a big moon above it. it was a nice place to camp.

this was also the day we met up with the other 4 climbers on the "climb for sight". this was only their 2nd day on the trail as they had come up the machame route. they all seemed to be good guys and we were all excited to get further down the trail together. the sunset from shira 2 camp (day 3) was very nice, and brad, brian and i walked to a nice rock outcropping to watch it before dinner. had soup for dinner (but that's a different story), and got a good night's sleep for a big day 4.

The Climb - part 1

Hello to all! i guess i'm hoping that someone out there is still following the blog at all at this point. today i'm going to get a start on a summary of the climb itself. there was SO much that happened on the mountain that if you'd get any of the three of us talking about it i'm sure we could go on for hours. i'll try to trim that down to something reasonable for print, though it may be difficult. just the other day i was talking to brian on the phone, looked out the window to see a full moon rising over the horizon and ended up talking about the sky in africa for half an hour! brian brought up the fact that it was exactly one lunar cycle (about a month) ago that we were watching the full moon from kilimanjaro, and climbing hours at night with the moon blazing above us before watching the sun come up over the layer of clouds that blanketed the view beyond mwenzi...but that's getting ahead of myself!

the climb was great! the mountain was great! climbing on the mountain with brian and brad (and the rest of the climb for sight team) was great! you may be starting to see the pattern here! but even though everything about it was "great", there were definately times throughout that were difficult, intense, stressful, and sometimes overwhelming. personally i believe that it was the combination of all those aspects that helped make it "great". for the first three days of hiking we (brad, brian and i) were without the rest of the team...without anyone else around really, which made for small quiet camps and trails free from the hords of climber we would meet on the rest of the mountain. we didn't realize how nice and peaceful that was until it was gone. our first day on the trail was hiking into a rain forest, though to our good fortune it wasn't raining at the time and was a beautiful sunny day. after taking only about 18 steps on close-to-level ground after being dropped off at the trail head, we started going up. really UP! it was steep, there were roots from all the trees sticking up in the trail, and alot of shady patches, from all the trees, that made it trickier to pick out the roots and a clear trail. after training for 6 months to prepare for the climb, we had spent the last week and a half traveling and this was a rude awakening for our legs. without a "warm-up" walk to get the blood going, they were put to work, and seemed to take offense to it! also, starting out in an area that required quite a bit of verbal assistance from brian or i kind of caught us off guard too. needless to say, it took us alittle time to get ourselves in order and get comfortable. we were all thankful that the first day was a short one! we had dealt with the initial difficulties of getting started, hiked through a rain forest that provided poor light for brad to see with, gained over 2500 ft of elevation, saw an elephant slide, and made it to camp 1, "the big tree". we got some dinner, some rest, and felt good. now we were ready! or at least we thought we were.