Kilimanjaro - Part 1

August 2012, Moshi Tanzania - The first time I laid eyes on Kilimanjaro was from the balcony of my hotel room in the rural Tanzanian town of Moshi. On the neighboring balcony, somebody kept pointing and saying “There it is! There it is!”. I honestly had trouble making out what they were talking about and all I could see were puffy white clouds starting to clear up over the tops of the trees.

Then I saw it. I literally had to force my vision to zoom out and take in a wider swath of the landscape, for Kilimanjaro was not some distant peak on the horizon, but a massive wall of snow capped earth that rose much higher and much wider than I could have possibly imagined.

“We’re going to climb THAT?!” I thought to myself. “Shit, wasn’t this supposed to be a pretty easy trek? That mountain is massive.” At this point in my climbing career I was a relative newbie to the sport, having put on crampons for the first time just three years prior on a guided ascent of Mount Rainier in Washington State. Rainier dominates the skyline of Seattle, the place I call home, and somehow I was expecting Kilimanjaro to be close to the same size when viewed from Moshi. This is simply not the case and before we could even pack our bags the specter of Kilimanjaro was looming over us.

This was my first international climbing experience and was on this trip with my dad, an avid outdoorsman and long-distance backpacker. We were part of a small group of guided clients led by Max Bunce of International Mountain Guides (IMG) and two local African guides. Coincidentally, one of the other clients on this trip was a classmate of mine from business school who was doing the trip with his stepfather. I did a double-take as I made my way down the aisle of the plane to the bathroom as we cruised over Libya at 30,000 feet. “Dan! What the hell are you doing here!?” The world can be so small sometimes.

The whole group had met up at Kilimanjaro International Airport as we navigated our way through the crowded and humid terminal. My first impression was that the team was a really fun and positive group of people and that we’d have an excellent time together on the mountain and subsequent safari.

"Kilimanjaro was not some distant peak on the horizon, but a massive wall of snow capped earth that rose much higher and much wider than I could have possibly imagined"

After packing our bags at the hotel, getting an orientation on the mountain from the park service, and touring Moshi, we were ready to shove off the following day. We planned to ascend the mountain via the Machame Route which climbs gradually through half a dozen unique ecosystems and wanders in a circumnavigation of the southern aspect of the mountain. This circuitous climb would afford us the opportunity to ascend gradually and acclimatize to higher elevations. We’d stay at five camps on our climb up, tag the summit, and spend one night on the descent via the more direct Mweka route.

The Machame Route begins at, drum roll please… the Machame Gate at 5,900 feet of elevation. The drive from Moshi to the Machame Gate was beautiful. We passed through vast stretches of ranchland and coffee fields, working our way up the broad fertile slopes of the mountain. We took a group photo at the trailhead and started our adventure. The trail was really well established and in great condition as we slowly, veeeeerrrrrry slowly, moved our way upward through dense forest.

Trips to Kilimanjaro are designed around client success. The first strategy is to afford lots of time for acclimatization and to climb up the mountain in a slow and deliberate way. “Pole pole” (pronounced Po-Lay Po-Lay) is what the locals say which in Swahili means “slowly slowly”. This expression is ubiquitous on the mountain and served as a constant reminder to not overexert oneself and take it easy. The second part of the strategy is to employ legions of porters to help carry group gear, tents, sleeping bags, and even our personal bags except for what we needed in our day pack. In fact, it is compulsory for every group to use porters on Kili as it helps provide work for locals. At the time I climbed the mountain in 2012 there were really good regulations in place as to how much weight a porter was allowed to carry and for how long they could travel. I was pretty impressed with how organized the porter system was, and the only thing more impressive than the system was the porters themselves. These guys would start 1-2 hours after the guided group they were supporting each day, carry more weight, and arrive 1-2 hours ahead of us and have the whole camp set up before we arrived. In addition to being hardworking, they would always pass you with a smile and were very kind and genuine people. It was great having them around in every regard.

"While beautiful this was certainly not a solitary nature experience and we were constantly rubbing shoulders with porters carrying tents, cookstoves, and even plastic sitting chairs"

The first day of our trek was to hike through the forest and ascend nearly 4,000 feet to the Machame Hut at 9,850 feet in elevation. The hike was through dense tree canopy the whole time and so there were limited views of the mountain above us. I had to pinch myself a couple of times to remember where I was… this was no ordinary hike at home, we were on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro! After five to six hours of slow climbing, we ascended into thick cloud forest before making our final steps to the Machame Hut. It had sure taken a long time to get there, but the “pole pole” strategy was really working and I had tons of energy as we walked into camp. Of course, the tents had already been set up by the porters and our personal bags were organized in a tidy pile. The porters brought us hot tea as we rolled out our sleeping bags and blew up our pads. After a few hours of reading in the tents and dinner in the large cook tent, we went to bed to rest up for another day of trekking.

On day 2 we’d leave the dense forest behind and climb to Shira camp at 12,000 feet. From here we’d get more expansive views of Kilimanjaro and the surrounding landscape. Leaving Machame Camp there were a handful of pretty sick looking trekkers speaking hurriedly in French and I had to imagine that they would be headed down. I mean, if you are feeling bad at less than 10,000 feet in the comfort of the forest how could you expect things to get better higher up?

The trail narrowed as the trees gave way to smaller shrubs and bushes. The trail was extremely crowded with hundreds of porters passing by at all times. While beautiful this was certainly not a solitary nature experience and we were constantly rubbing shoulders with porters carrying tents, cookstoves, and even plastic sitting chairs. Nonetheless, the terrain and landscape were beautiful as we stopped for a snack break with huge ravens circling overhead. As we gained altitude the trail headed west toward a wide plain between Kilimanjaro’s central “Kibo” cone and the crumbled remains of the lower “Shira” cone. We made it to Shira camp in the mid-afternoon right as a thunderstorm rolled in and I was grateful to have the tents already established so we could escape the rain and dive into the dry confines of our shelter. The team enjoyed another great meal in the palatial dining tent and the clouds broke right in time for the setting sun to bathe the mountain in spectacular golden light.

The following day we would traverse SE towards Barranco Camp at 12,700 feet. While our net altitude gain was minimal, the route ascended up to 14,500 feet to the base of “Lava Tower” before dropping into the stunning Barranco Valley filled with exotic Dendrosenecio Kilimanjari, a giant groundsel (aka. tree) found only on Kilimanjaro. These trees are really wild and look like they come straight out of a Dr. Seuss book.

Leaving Shira Camp, we climbed a gradual and well-established trail towards Lava Tower. As we climbed past 13,000 feet most of the vegetation disappeared and the landscape took on more of a martian-like appearance. Some of the group were feeling the altitude when we reached Lava Tower and quickly continued onward (and downward) into the Barranco Valley towards camp. Myself, along with our lead guide Max and a few others stayed back and did a quick scramble to the top of Lava Tower. Normally Lava Tower affords a spectacular view of the mountain, but that day it was shrouded in a dense fog. It was still a fun side trip and I was feeling really strong considering I had only been above 14,000 feet once before.

Leaving Lava Tower, we descended towards Barranco Camp. While this should have been a fairly quick descent I was so engrossed by the vegetation that I was rubbernecking this way and that. I’ve never been all that interested in plants, despite my grandfather having been a world-renowned botanist, but I must have taken more than 100 photos of the various flora on display. Coming into camp, I could see to the imposing Barranco Wall in the distance. We would ascend this “technical crux” the following day and I was really excited for the 1,000 feet of sustained class 3-4 climbing that lay ahead. But for the time being, it was time to relax, soak in the exotic environs, and bask in the success we’d had so far.