Summit Night. 1 hour 46 minutes.
“As I drift into deep sleep with the shining stars of Kilimanjaro as a backdrop, I can’t help but smile at the many million stars that I have experienced.
Tonight, no matter what the outcome of midnight summit, I am hiking towards the roof of Africa with the same confidence and determination I did with my steering wheel many moons ago.”
~Eliza
The clock strikes 12:00 am, and it’s time to go.
Here I am, a girl on a mission to adventure on the world’s tallest free standing mountain.
It’s summit night, and I have to wake up and get ready to keep climbing to the roof of Africa. I throw on my gear and step outside my tent. Wow it’s COLD and dark, and the wind is relentless, but expected.
We take off towards Uhuru Peak (the highest peak on Kilimanjaro). It starts off rough as we climb over some very steep rocks. I start to feel overheated, too much gear, so I take off some of my clothes.
Pole pole we keep stepping up huge rocks, with only our headlamps to guide us. At one point I look back and see so many climbers with their headlamps looking like mini people in the dark on the Mighty Kilimanjaro.
Everyone has one mission in mind – to touch Uhuru peak.
Should I just stop and call It a day?
One footstep at a time, pole pole we all keep going. About 30 mins in, I see two people starting to descend and returning to camp. At that elevation, Kili is no joke, so you have to listen to your body, and I knew they were listening to their bodies.
One breath at a time, one footstep at a time, I keep climbing. At one point, I realize my body is refusing to move so I sit, but with encouragement from my guide I start again, then sit again. I do this for a while.
1 hour 46 mins
I look at my watch at one point – we’ve been climbing for 1 hour 46 mins towards Uhuru Peak. I tell my guide, “it’s time to descend“.
He looks at me and says, don’t give up, you’ve come so far, you can do this.
I look up at the climbers far ahead, and I look down at the climbers behind me, then I look around the mountain in the dark. That is when I smiled and said, “I am not giving up, I am simply descending“.
For the last six and half days, I’ve climbed things, I’ve crawled around boulders, hanged onto rocks, descended 2,000 feet down a vertical climb, rock scrambled, slipped on gravel, crossed streams, climbed walls – it is simply time.
After climbing for an hour and 46 minutes towards Uhuru peak at 16,000 feet, we start to descend to Barafu camp. The wind is not giving up, and we are not giving up either. I let Kilimanjaro roll its winds around me. I stop at different moments to admire the country of Tanzania from a far distance.
With every step, we get closer and closer to Barafu camp. All I want to do in that moment is to sit in my tent, take it all in, and simply sleep. That is exactly what I did.
This experience is so hard to put into words. It has been fulfuling, it has been hard, it has evoked a deep sense of accomplishment, it has evoked deep joy, it has evoked laughter, it has evoked tiredness, it has evoked standing in awe of nature and the universe.
This has been a journey made a million miles ago.
As I sit listening to the winds, I say to myself, what a privilege it has been to walk amongst the most caring and genuine people I have ever met – the people of Tanzania.
What a privilege to have the health to climb up to 16,000 feet.
The privilege of having my people check on me every day, the strangers I met from around the world, the privilege of sleeping on Mount Kili night after night and viewing the stars at night, the sunrises in the morning and sunsets in the evening.
The privilege to walk through the clouds.
Sitting here at Mwenka Camp smiling and drinking my potatoes in soup, and yummy mangoes as I reminisce about this adventure that started only 7 days ago.
Tomorrow it will take us a mere 3 hours to hike down to Mweka Gate and say a warm goodbye to the mighty giant Kili.
“This is the last lap”, I say out loud with a smile, to the strangers I met a few times, days before on the mountain, as I jog down Mount Kili.
In this moment, I feel strong, I feel like a conqueror. At the same time, I feel like I am fleeing from Kilimanjaro.
Am I trying to tell Mount Kili something, or is Mount Kili trying to tell me something? Either way, I am loving all the feelings that are passing through me at the same time as I make my way to the final exit off Mount Kilimanjaro.
There is nothing ‘regular’ about climbing Kili. Sometimes, doubt will creep in – HARD. The mountain will test you, it will give you flashbacks, it will welcome you.
You will think Kili is trying to break you, but it is simply remolding you to capture all of it’s essence.
Thank you Mount Kili.
I hope you always choose open roads to a new adventure.
~Eliza
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