14
JAN/FEB 2019
15
ADVENTURE TRAVEL|
MOUNT KILIMANJARO
BY RANDAL SEATON
“WE LEFT BASECAMP AT MIDNIGHT AND, WITH OUR HEADLAMPS ON, EN-
DURED A SEVEN-PLUS HOUR HIKE TO SUMMIT. WE WERE ACCOMPANIED BY
70 MPH WINDS AND BELOW-ZERO TEMPERATURES”.
My wife, Kiri, and I traveled to Tanzania, Africa, in September 2018 to attempt to summit
the “Roof of Africa,” Mount Kilimanjaro. At 19,341 feet, Kilimanjaro presented a chal-
lenge that called to us for a variety of reasons both daring – the adventure, the sense of
accomplishment (and the fact that we both just turned 30!) – and also practical, climbers
have a high summit-success rate and the acclimation period is gradual.
Living in Bend has given us both the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time
in the outdoors, hiking, snowboarding, skiing, and fly fishing. Like most Central Oregon
residents, Kiri and I have enjoyed hiking Green Lakes, Broken Top, Tumalo Mountain, and
South Sister in the summertime.
This summer, having booked our adventure with the guide service Kilimanjaro Brothers,
we spent several months hiking and running to prepare for our seven-day trek. Mount
Kilimanjaro offers several routes to its snowy summit, and we picked the Lemosho route
because it is considered the most beautiful route and gave us more time to get accli-
mated.
Kiri and I flew into Kilimanjaro International Airport on September 2 and began hiking
September 3. Our group included two other climbers, two guides and 18 porters to get
us up (and down) the mountain. On day one, we packed into a van and hunkered down
a four hour drive to the trailhead, which was deep in the jungle. For the first few miles,
monkeys accompanied us along the way.
It was amazing how much the landscape changed throughout the hike. As we ascended
from the thick forest, the landscape changed dramatically and resembled something out
of a Dr. Seuss book - giant groundsel trees and volcanic debris. A day later, the land-
scape resembled the South Sister above the tree line, with barren scree fields slowly
giving way to ivory glacial patches.
The weather for the first couple days was pleasant and sunny, but we were faced with
rain, snow, and wind the higher up we went. Four days into our hike, we started feeling the
altitude. Our guides would check our oxygen levels every night and reminded us that it is
always “pole pole” on the mountain, which means “slowly slowly” in Swahili.
On Day 6, we were ready to face the summit. We left basecamp at midnight and, with our
headlamps on, endured a seven-plus hour hike to summit. We were accompanied by 70
mph winds and below-zero temperatures. This was the final test, for which (we hoped) all
our training had prepared us. I remember at one point looking down at Kiri’s hiking boots in
front of me and following her feet. Our guides continued to echo the same advice in Swa-
hili they had been giving us the entire time: “pole pole.” Our slow and easy pace brought us
to the false summit of Stella Point just as sunrise was lighting up the Furtwangler Glacier
in front of us. It was the most memorable sunrise of our lives.
Our guides poured us some hot tea in preparation for our final hour-long push to the
summit of Kilimanjaro’s Uhuru Peak. The trail squeezed between knee-high icy spires of
wind-blown glacial ice that looked like a brigade of silvery stalagmites. Around 7:30 a.m.,
we approached the infamous summit sign. There we were, standing at 5,895m (19,341 ft).
To be honest, it was a 15-minute blur of strained breathing and overwhelming urges to get
off the mountain; however, it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we will never
forget.
The descent seemed arduous and endless. However, the physical demands of coming off
the mountain were constantly interrupted by our sense of accomplishment and relief that
we had grasped the goal we had set for ourselves so long ago. It was, without a doubt, the
hardest thing that either of us have ever done – but the trip of a lifetime.