Sunrise From Mandara Huts
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This is a brief narrative of Amanda and Walter's, Lauren and Damien's trek to the top of Kilimanjaro September '97. Hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed taking a shower after six days on the mountain!

The hiking started on August 31st. The first day we hiked to the Mandara huts at approximately 9000 feet. They were situated in the midst of a beautiful rain forest belt which rings the entire mountain.

The second day we hiked to the Horombo huts at about 12,500 feet. There we stayed for two nights to help us acclimate. Already we were above the Tanzanian winter cloud cover.


Horombo Huts


Rainforest on the way to Mandara Huts
On September 3rd we departed for Kibo hut and the truly hard part of the journey. Leaving Horombo at 8:00 AM we arrived around 2:00 PM. We drank tea. Had a light dinner around 5:00 PM and tried to sleep from 6:00 - 11:00 PM

Gilmans Point at Sunrise 		At 12 midnight we started hiking so as to reach Gilmans Point by sunrise. They say you hike this portion of the trail at night so you can't see what it is you're trying to do and get discouraged. The trail switch-backed a gravel slide almost the entire way. It was a cloudless night with the temperature around 12 degrees Fahrenheit but there was little wind. The stars were stunning as meteors shot from one end of the night to the other. A new moon allowed the Milkyway to arch brightly over our heads before setting behind the dark mass of the crater rim.

Getting to Gilmans was a real struggle. You climbed 3000 feet in 5 Kilometers: 15,500 to 18,600 feet. The lack of oxygen made you breath three times for every two steps. Often your feet would slide back on the unstable trail making you stumble. To make matters worse the four of us (tourists) had cheap batteries in our flashlights which died within the first hour. All of this made for extremely difficult hiking. But as the sun rose over Kenya to the east, our spirits lifted and we made it to Gilmans point overlooking the inside of the Uhuru crater.

At Gilmans were a couple of other groups who had been hiking ahead of us. We had been told that many people stop here with symptoms of altitude sickness. Indeed there were several people not feeling well including Amanda and Walter. Fortunately, Lauren and I felt good enough to continue on and, after catching our breath, we started out for the Uhuru Peak.

Uhuru Crater Looking from the Peak to Gilmans Point. 17k foot Mawenzi peak is in the background 		After climbing 3000 feet in gravel the hike to the peak was a breeze - sort of. You were still sucking wind and any quick movements made you dizzy. Each footstep was about half a normal stride.

The view was fantastic. The inside of the crater dropped sharply to your right while a massive glacier hung on the outside to your left. The changing morning light bathed everything in powdery shades of pink and blue. Black and red volcanic rock etched a silhouette into the purple western sky.
It took us 2 hours to reach the peak. We exchanged "high fives" carefully so as not to faint. A picture was taken and we signed the book at the top basking in our accomplishment. The assistant guide then told us we had to leave since we were one of the slowest groups he had ever seen and we still had to descend to the Horombo camp that day. Too punch drunk to be insulted, we started the long descent down to 12,500 feet.

The hike down was hard and seemed to take for ever. At the Kibo Hut we met up with Walter and Amanda who were feeling much better. At noon we left for Horombo descending in 2 1/2 hours what had taken us 6 going up. We spent that night at Horombo and made the 15+ mile hike to the park gate the next day. There we received our certificates for reaching Gilmans Point and Uhuru Peak, bought "Just Done It" T-shirts and headed for the best showers of our lives.
Lauren and Damien at the Uhuru Peak

Damien, Lauren, Walter, Amanda, and Head Guide Zacharia
at 10,000 feet. Uhuru Peak is in the distance. 		Climbing Kilimanjaro was one of the most fantastic things I will ever experience in my life. It was also one of the hardest physical and mental things I will ever do. I would not trade the experience for anything in the world - but neither will I ever do it again.

Posted by Damien Elwood on September 22, 1997

Last Modified: Wednesday, 29-Sep-2004 03:27:15 EDT