FRI. MAR. 10 DAY 5 MACHAME-SHIRA

For me, the good night's sleep did not arrive. As a consequence, I hated today and, as I write these lines, am utterly spent. I'm so tired, I didn't perform well on the trail. I put my head down and endured, but enjoyed little of the spectacular landscape. We arrived at windswept Shira Camp around 1:30 pm, had lunch and tried to relax. I can't think clearly. I shall try to recount the experience more fully later. As for now, if I don't get some rest, I have severe doubts as to whether I'll be able to summit. I'm sure that's the exhaustion talking. I've never been this tired.

Those were the words I wrote in my notebook on the evening of Day 5's climb. It sounded quite stark and depressing, didn't it? In retrospect, I chalk it all up to the fatigue. The day wasn't as bad as I had initially indicated, and, besides, there was much more bad stuff to come. But I was dealing with an exhaustion debt I have already written about and it was having an effect on me.

Jeff maintains that I was nowhere near as tired as I thought I was. He was quite impressed with my ability to soldier on despite the fatigue. Those are nice words, and probably quite true. We both had to deal with doubts and fatigue, and they were worse at the outset of the trek. As we trundled on, we developed a grim acceptance that this was the way it was going to be, and, if we were to be successful, we had to just get on with it and make the best of it.

But it was more than that. Despite the hardship, we did indeed enjoy the climb. It's hard to put into words how we felt at the time, and that will, hopefully, partially explain what you're going to read in the next few entries. The fatigue took its toll, of course, but it didn't stop us. We dealt with it in our own way. My way was to be completely honest on a daily basis with the strain, stress and toll the climb took. If you take my upcoming words at face value, you'll come away with an impression that I hated the climb and cursed myself for taking the challenge on. Nothing could be further from the truth. I enjoyed it all, even the bad moments, and there were more than just a few of them. So, be prepared as you venture further in this blog. It will be both very dark and very uplifting.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SUN. MAR. 12 DAY 7 BARRANCO-BARRANCO WALL-KARANGA

Image
If you research the Kili climb, the phrase "The Barranco Wall" appears as a kind of gatekeeper to the secrets of Kilimanjaro. It is about 500 feet high ( not that big on this mountain ) but is in places a sheer wall of volcanic rock that involves hand-over-hand climbing. If you get through the Wall, you've really accomplished something. Others say "no big deal" or "exaggeration." I'm here to say that it is a big deal. In some spots, you have to hug the rock like a lover, pray to whatever god you suddenly believe in, don't look down, and trust your guide's instruction. When you get to the top of the Wall, you behold an incredible vista all around and a sense of elation and accomplishment: a type of "small summit" if you will. So, in our case, we took it on after a hearty breakfast and in brilliant sunshine. We hit the Wall right away and, right away, we felt the challenge. Both of us were terrified but we powered through. While
Read more

MON. MAR. 13 DAY 8 KARANGA-BARAFU

Image
After yesterday's "terror" on the Barranco Wall, today's climb up to Barafu was relatively easy: I use the word "easy" very advisedly, for nothing is easy on this climb. But the distance was fairly manageable and the scenery was interesting. It was a lunar landscape of sand of varying shades of brown and strewn rock. Mercifully, the trek today was relatively short in duration and I arrived in Barafu Camp in good spirits and brimming with confidence. Barafu is at 15,000 feet and we encountered our first hint of ominous weather: cold winds and sleet. Elly told us that he doesn't trust this camp because of the sudden and changeable weather. He then started to prep us for the midnight assault on the summit. All of a sudden, my good feelings and optimism disappeared. This is for real: this is hard-core: this is either triumph or heartbreak. This is what we came for.
Read more

WED. MAR. 8 DAY 3 MOSHI

Image
A good night's sleep followed by a nice breakfast does wonders for the soul. After breakfast, we met our guides, Elly and Stanford, and a driver called Frank. All are good guys, friendly and good-humoured, but completely serious about the job. A million questions about life in general and bowel movements in particular led to a growing sense of anxiety. This is going to be a test! We then walked around central Moshi. This is a "typical" backpacker town. Active, bustling, noisy and dusty, but also quite clean and friendly. The drivers here are active but not frantic as you would find in, say, India. We changed some money, took in the all-encompassing markets, had a good lunch and enjoyed the good vibe. But all the while, we had the sense that Elly and Stanford were watching, assessing, judging: they talked to each other constantly in Swahili, a cool language to listen to. At the end, we asked them how we did and they smiled and said "good." Well, I felt better a
Read more