KILIMANJARO day 6

Until starting the summit climb on day 6, we'd been tempted to think that the tough part of the trek was over; we'd climbed to within 1300 metres of our goal, and now all that remained was the quick dash to the summit, right?  Wrong.  This photo was taken at around 6am, following 6 hours of breathless, ice-cold slog up unstable scree slopes as we coped with frozen water bottles and high winds.  "When the sun rises, all your troubles will be over!" said Cobra, 5 hours into our summit attempt.  He was wrong, but it was good to see sunshine all the same.

Above Mawenzi, 7 miles distant across the frozen Saddle, at about 6.10am.  The idea behind the midnight start was to ensure we were deposited on the summit in time for sunrise, but our glacial progress, "the slowest group I've ever seen" according to our guide and veteran of 250+ summit attempts, John, meant that the summit was still over 4 hours and 400 vertical metres away.  Our guidebook described the final haul to the crater rim as "a painful, tear-inducing half-hour on sheer scree.  The gradient up to now has been steep, but this last scree slope takes the biscuit; in fact, it takes the entire tin."  There's nothing I can add to that. 

The sky lightens, but we're no higher... 

This may look a rather dull bit of landscape, but I'll remember it as one of the most beautiful and welcome sights I've ever seen.  Shortly after taking that tin of biscuits, we arrived at the crater rim and this was a section of the vista that greeted us; a most important section, as it happens, because for the first time, following six days of trekking, several months of preparation and many years of dreaming, the summit was in sight - it occupies the high point on the left side of this photo.   

Looking back along a section of the path around the crater rim.  The summit is just a few minutes away, behind the photographer.

Proud moment at 10.30am on Sunday 26th July 2009, but it nearly didn't happen: just a few minutes before the summit was reached, Etsuko collapsed with altitude exhaustion and her subsequent struggle to complete the climb verged on the heroic, as did John and Cobra's efforts to encourage her upward progress.  Here, she has recovered enough to enjoy her achievement.  I seem to be either gasping for air or whooping.  Hopefully, I'm gasping for air as I'm not normally the whooping type.  Despite suffering with a tight chest all the way up, Boz looks healthier - and a lot less worried - than he's looked all week.  The high point to the left is Furtwangler Point, only marginally lower than the land in the foreground, and predicted by some to become the summit - due to erosion caused by trekkers' feet - within the next few decades.  Which means we'll have to do it all over again.   

Etsuko and I lean against each other for support as the altitude turns our brains to mush.

Clouds begin to obscure Mawenzi as we retrace our steps along the crater rim.

Red Bull doesn't give you wings.  Following our halting passage around the crater rim, during which Etsuko struggled to stay upright, she rests at Gillman's Point.  Neither of us could finish the drinks that guide John had provided, presumably to speed us up, and shockingly, I left the two cans to slowly rot away below the sign.  I should really go back up there and tidy away my litter.  Within a few minutes of this photograph being taken, Etsuko collapsed to the ground and appeared to be incapable of descending further.  While I dithered, Cobra grabbed her by the arm and dragged her down to the safety of the thicker air at Kibo huts.  There, she vomited, recovered, then completed the descent to Horombo, which we all reached together after nightfall, following a summit day trek of 19 hours. 

For easily the best guidebook to Kilimanjaro:



Kilimanjaro DAY 7

Thankyou to Team Kilimanjaro , the very friendly, knowledgeable and efficient company that arranged our trek.  They have the best guides on the mountain.