KILIMANJARO CLIMB
Photo: Rosemarie Giltenane and Seamus Martin from Limerick at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.
DAY 1: We began our ascent at 3pm on the day of our arrival in Tanzania. It didn't take long for us to suit up and head "poli poli" up through the spectacular tropical rainforest. Five hours and 12km later we reached Mandara Hut, completing the first stage of our climb. We were glad to eat and have a rest.
DAY 2: We rose early for breakfast to fuel us up for the 15km trek ahead. We continued our ascent through the alpine meadow, grassland and moorland up to Horombo Hut. Here we stood at 12,000ft in altitude…looking down at the clouds surrounding the rainforest below!
DAY 3: To help avoid altitude sickness we had to spend this day doing a 10km acclimatisation hike to Zebra Rock. This meant we had to climb high during the day and sleep lower that night.
DAY 4: Oh, what a day!! Departing Horombo Hut we continued through the moorland passing the 'Last Water Point' before the slope eased as we reached the high altitude desert expanse of The Saddle. The walk to Kibo Hut was not so challenging but the view of the summit path was quite daunting! Upon reaching this hut 15,000ft in altitude we began to feel some of the symptoms of altitude sickness but, nothing enough to hold us back from completing what we had set out to do. We rested from 2pm until 11pm, knowing we would need our energy for what awaited us!
DAY 5: After our midnight snack, we kitted up in our long johns and thermals and began our final ascent. The moon shone brightly guiding us on our path to the summit. This is where the real challenge began! With low percentages of oxygen in the air and water bottles which had already frozen, every step felt like a 400m sprint, with pounding headaches and shortness of breath. We battled on and reached Gilman's Point (18,640ft) at 5.25am. Now we were standing at the rim of the volcanic cone! The cold didn't allow us to rest for long. We viewed the amazing sunrise over Kenya and Tanzania.With Uhuru Peak in our sights we were not ready to give up yet! We continued through the ice and glaciers reaching the peak at 7.25am. We were delighted to have completed this challenge reaching the "Roof of Africa". The trekking for this day was not over yet...what goes up must come down and this is exactly what we had to do! We had to return down the mountain to Horombo Hut to ease all sickness symptoms and rest for the night.
DAY 6: We continued our descent back to Marangu Gate, received our certificates and breathed a sigh of relief that we had completed what we had set out to do for such a worthy cause. It was such an amazing sense of achievement looking back up at the glistening glaciers realising where we were just a few hours before!
"We would like to thank all of those who sponsored and supported us throughout this challenge. We hope our efforts have made a difference. We wish the NBCRI the very best and we hope you will continue with the fantastic work you are doing". - Rosemarie Giltenane & Seamus Martin
|
