crazyjizzy Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I copied this from summit post. Some people are lucky. The most enlightning portion is high-lighted in blue. Machame Route on Kilimanjaro Post a Comment to this Trip Report Date Climbed: Aug 20, 2004 Posted by abidevan on May 09, 2005 (513 Hits) Except of course the sheer physical exhaustion and abusing one's body to its limit, my trip to Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania was a memorable one. We achieved our only objective, to make it to the 19,340ft summit. After that, everything else seemed unimportant. So much so, we didn't have the energy nor the inclination to do so many other things that people do when in Africa - big safaris, sightseeing, etc. But the climb itself was something to remember. We all stayed at the Moivaro Coffee Plantation in Arusha, one of the larger towns near Kilimanjaro. The place was peaceful and serene, built along the old British colonial theme. Our chief Guide, Abel, came the night before the climb to brief us about the climb. The briefing itself made several of us nervous about what we were about to undertake. "Only 45% of the people make the final day ascent," he said. We were told time and again that the final day would be the most grueling, starting at 1:00 am, summitting at 7:00 am and returning to lower camp at 6:00 pm. We were warned that the temperature and wind conditions would be so severe that everyone was asked to wear 5 layers of clothing on the final day. The route we chose, Machame, would take us over 70 Kilometers and a vertical climb of about 14,000 feet from the base. We would spend the nights at Machame camp (10,000ft), Shira camp (12,500ft), Barranco camp (13,100ft), Karanga valley (13,700ft), Barafu High camp (15,900ft) and after summiting, back down to the Mweka camp (10,500ft). The first 5 days of the climb went off like a breeze. Each of the first five days were pretty similar. We would wake up at 7:00am, eat breakfast, break camp and start hiking by 9:00am. Usually by 4:00pm, we would arrive at the next camp. While long and tedious, we all had plenty of reserve strength to cope with the trek. Abel and his crew made things easier on us by ensuring that every thing happened like clockwork - the tents were set-up when we arrived, food prepared on time, and every need taken care of. The only thing we really had to do was hike. The scenery of Kilimanjaro was very beautiful, changing drastically everyday. From the first day to the sixth day, we went through the lush tropical rainforests; Heather, which is covered by mist and fog throughout the day; Moorland, cool and clear, consisting of short shrubs; The Alpine desert, full of rocks, above the tree line and has temperature fluctuations from 35 C in the day to below 0 C at night; and finally the arctic conditions at the summit where the oxygen level is nearly half of sea level. The sixth day (summit day) started at midnight, high on the mountain; the Barafu high camp (15,900ft). On the previous night we had another group briefing from Abel. The plan was to have 4 guides go up with the 8 of us to the summit. None of us slept that evening. At midnight, after only three hours of rest, we all wore 5-6 layers of clothing along with plenty of covering for our heads, hands and feet. Everyone's spirit was high - we were ready for the task. The four guides - Abel, Nixon, Remedy and Nagabona would take us up. We started at 1:00 AM under a waning gibbous moon, assisted by our headlamps. Our first leg would be to reach Stella Point before sunrise (located at the rim of the Kibo crater at 19,000 ft). The climb from Barafu high camp to Stella Point was very steep, dark and sometimes very dangerous. As a few other climbers in our group were very slow, we decided to split the group up. Latha, in particular, started to become very sluggish, as she stopped to catch a breath every few steps. At one point things were moving so slow that there now was a danger that we would be at a high altitude for too long. Immediately, Abel began using a tactic often called as short-roping to speed her up. Using this technique, very slowly, she made it to Stella Point at 8:30 AM, almost 2 hours later than was planned. From there, it was only another mile to the summit. At Stella Point, Latha was in a very bad shape - face bloated, lips black and blue, and completely drained of energy. Clearly, we would not have made it up to this point without the guides pulling her up. As soon as we reached this point, she slumped down and in a muted way said that she would go no further. Having come so far, we were not about to let her go back down without summitting. Everyone started to coax her to go the last mile. Within 20 minutes of taking a Dextramethorphan tablet, some slight energy came back to her, and reluctantly she started following us up the last stretch. It was the most tenuous and most grueling last 1 hour to the Uhuru Peak. By the time we made it to the summit, it was almost 10:00am. The time at the summit itself was very brief - some muted celebration, photographs, and hugging all the way around. We left soon thereafter and arrived at the lower camp around 6:00pm. On the way back, it was the same routine, two guides literally lifting Latha by her shoulders and running downhill to reach lower altitude quickly. Without the "Dex" and the guides, who knows what might have happened? Others felt the strain too. Vasu and some of the other climbers had severe altitude headache. It was a long day indeed for us. Everything after the making it to the summit of Kilimanjaro was just routine grinding it out till we reached the lodge exactly a week after we started the trip. Do these people have any idea that their friend almost died? That they almost killed her? OMFG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foraker Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Sheee-it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I smell a troll. Only one comment on that TR after 8 months? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 THANK GOD THEY SUMMITTED! Jesus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZimZam Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 That is some scary shit. Are their real idiots out there like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyjizzy Posted January 17, 2006 Author Share Posted January 17, 2006 I smell a troll. Only one comment on that TR after 8 months? It's not a troll, at least on my part. And on their part, I think that it is just plain old fashioned stupidity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 but how could no one speak up about those dumbshits after 8 months? Does anyone read trip reports on that site? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 If there are anymore gems like this one on there, maybe I should check that site out more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyjizzy Posted January 17, 2006 Author Share Posted January 17, 2006 but how could no one speak up about those dumbshits after 8 months? Does anyone read trip reports on that site? 1) Maybe lots of people at Summit Post are stupid. I know that Klenke and Allison both go there. 2) Maybe, also, people don't read trip reports there. Go there yourself, and tell me if it's a troll. I don't think so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 HERE is the guys profile. Here is his picture: He is a filmmaker from Berkeley, CA. LINK to his filmmaking website. LINK to his homepage I suppose he is not a troll. Just dumb. :shrug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZimZam Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Perhaps he should watch NOVA tomorrow night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Dextromethorphan is a cough remedy. The Dex he was referring to was Dexamethasone. Anyone sick enough to need Dexamethasone should be going down and not up. The guy is a fool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZimZam Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 We achieved our only objective, to make it to the 19,340ft summit. After that, everything else seemed unimportant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 yeah but you can get really high off dextromethorphan, and in this situation, perhaps that would be the best option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 ...The Dex he was referring to was Dexamethasone. ..l. No shit? I thought he was talking about the phone book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Actually, what I suprised about the most is that this story wasn't published in the American Alpine Journal. It would fit right in there with those articles in the first part of the Journal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Don't forget to email the guy the link to the cc.com thread. Remember how much fun it was when the other dumbass posted here that Colin's trip up Robson was a lie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 but how could no one speak up about those dumbshits after 8 months? Does anyone read trip reports on that site? 1) Maybe lots of people at Summit Post are stupid. I know that Klenke and Allison both go there. Yah but I go there too, which helps a bit to raise average intelligence levels. Mt. Erie beta anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyjizzy Posted January 17, 2006 Author Share Posted January 17, 2006 Don't forget to email the guy the link to the cc.com thread. Remember how much fun it was when the other dumbass posted here that Colin's trip up Robson was a lie? Done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EWolfe Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 remote flame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychedelic Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Wait, what did this Colin guy do? I remember hearing something that i though was bullshit cause it was that rad! But just because something is rad doesn't mean it is bullshit. I'll just keep believing what people say because I like to believe that there is no reason to lie about it. Fuck the disbelievers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfiles Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Good catch CBS...I'm saddened that it took the rest of you almost an hour to realize that this gal needed a little more than cough medicine. This goes to show that (and I'm ready to be slaughtered here) mountain guides will do anything for a buck... is there any way to drag a gamow bag uphill over technical terrain? I'd like to climb the west rib but don't want to waste time acclimatizing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I think you'd have better luck lugging up a bunch of phone books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Wait, what did this Colin guy do? Colin rescued that famous guy (whatz iz name? Tumor?) on Nanga Parbat. He ran up there and carried him down over his shoulder! It was rad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychedelic Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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