We were woken up by Frank at midnight after having a few hour long nap that was too short but thankfully pretty restful considering. The wind was howling and it was painfully cold making it hard to get started, but luckily it wasnt raining, which really was all I had hoped for. As much as we didnt want to get out of our warm sleeping bags the summit called. We quickly drank some coffee and ate some popcorn and cookies and were off.
We were instructed to wear 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of gloves, 4 layers on the bottom and 5 on top so we both slowly waddled up the mountain at the mountaineering pace wed established. We had to put warm water in our camelbaks and had to blow the water from the line after every sip to prevent it from freezing.
We started off strong, looking up at the string of headlamps like a Christmas tree high above and below us. Time and distance ceased to exist and we just focused on the few feet ahead of us for several silent except for the crunch of rock beneath our feet and the howl
My hands and face started going numb from the freezing temperatures and at some point around 18,000 ft. I began to feel nauseous. I ate a ginger candy and offered one to Dennis, which he took, which I assumed meant he was nauseous too, but I was much too tired to even muster the energy to ask, talking just used too much oxygen, which at this altitude is 50% that of at sea level. Altitude sickness symptoms start to occur at heights above 12,000 ft. and there are categories of altitude, the highest of which is extreme altitude above 18,000 ft, which we were now at. You can die unexpectedly from pulmonary or cerebral edemas anytime after 12,000 ft but the risks significantly greater the higher you go.
I started vomiting shortly after the 18,000 ft. mark and started thinking about not summiting. I began setting small benchmarks in my mind I wanted to such as making it to sunrise which we were kept being told was when everything got better. We were told the mountain was 50% mental and 50% physical but at this point I felt it was 100%
phycial when I felt so cold and sick I wanted to crawl beside a rock and just nap. Our guide Omari was pretty strict and wouldnt let us break often or for long knowing it would only make us colder and more tired, because you end up spending more time at altitude, which you dont want to do. He insisted that I eat or drink, only to vomit it up minutes later, trying to just give me sugar for energy. Dennis told me several times he would do whatever I decided to do, his way of telling me he felt awful too and didnt object to turning back. I only grunted an inarticulable response and kept trudging forward. In spite of us making a pact beforehand that if one of us turned around the other would keep going I knew he would stay by my side and not summit unless I did.
Sunrise finally came and we had an incredible view from above the clouds that looked as though we were looking out of a plane window. With the small amount of warmth the sun eventually brought I didnt feel much better and in fact when I saw just
how much further it was to hike and just how steep it was incredibly disheartening. I thought I would just make it to Stella point at 18,823 ft, which is considered the lesser summit and gets you a certificate from the park service as well, but once I reached it I gave a weak half hearted refusal to go on, and then continued with Omaris urging, saying we only had 45 minutes to go.
The last stretch felt the hardest, and physically it was. We crossed several glacial ice fields that were difficult to walk on due to the frozen trenches in the snow and trying to find areas to place your feet without slipping. We were surrounded by glacial walls and ice as far as the eye could see. finally...finally, we made it, the snows of Kilimanjaro. I was so happy I had decided to push on as the entire area looked and different and felt truly like the summit.
