BigBlog

Our Kili montage is finally complete!

You can find the video on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYTL4UwPARg 

Enjoy,

Sandeep 

Hi Back from an incredible journey and a very memorable one!! We made it to Uhuru Peak at approximately 8.30 local time on 6th October 2008!!We realized that it was close to the time that Hans Meyer and Puscheller(the 1st ever to climb Mt.Kilimanjaro) made it up there....10.30am on 6th October 1889 to be exact!! That added an extra, exciting dimension to the whole process. Almost exactly 119 years later!!

And what a process!! I guess we knew it was going to be tough but I did not contemplate how tough exactly!! The first 2 days were a literal 'walk in the Park". It gave us time to forge friendships with the rest of the group and get to know our guide..Henry Stedman. My advice to anyone attempting Kili...go with Henry!! One of the nicest guys you could hope to meet and totally committed to making sure that he does everything possible to get you to the top. You can find him on climbmountkilimanjaro.com

The third day for me ,personally ,was a little scary...horrendous nausea and projectile vomiting!! I honestly thought that it was going to be my last day on the mountain...and I did NOT want to leave!!But lo and behold...got up the next morning to no headache and the niggling feeling of hunger! Yes!! I could attempt another day!! Just wished I could get some sleep! Hadn't slept much at all so far!!

Day 4 and 5 passed ...walking past Mawenzi and listening to Henry's recount of events there, added mystique and awe! The scenery was breathtaking!! Day 6 we were at Barafu Huts and at 11.45pm we started our 'assault' on Kilimanjaro! The first 2 hours were a doddle....we were very lucky with the weather...apart from a few bursts of cold wind...we were as snug as bugs in a rug!! Breathing for me was getting difficult at this point and I was having to stop every few yards to get a full gulp! Henry had decided that I would not be carrying my back-pack and I was SOO grateful to Alex(one of the porters) for taking it off me. About 4 hours into our very slow and by now difficult climb, one of our team of ten started to show signs of fatigue. At this point when you are almost ready to give up yourself and go home, it is heartbreaking to think that someone may not make it!! In an odd way that gives you more determination to plod on. It's all mental at this point....the body is tired...the legs are ready to call it quits and the spirit is slowly breaking!! But I was given a very simple Mantra by a dear friend who grew up in the Himalayas...she said 'don't look up..don't look back..just put one step infront of the other and maintain a rythm". And that's what I did...I tried to blank my mind to everything around me and just focus on a rythmic walk...and it worked!! 

7am local time we reached Stella Point! Hot tea and crisps awaited us!!God those porters!! Bless them all....they were our lifeline and we were in awe of them the whole time!! So we get to sit for about 10mins on sharp jutting rocks before we hear the dreaded call.."TWENDE" which means let's go in Swahili. So started the one and a half hour walk to Uhuru peak!! It's only143 vertical metres from Stella but what an effort was required!! Kept thinking...it's round that corner..NO!...okay it's got to be round this next one...NO!...Oh God please let it be round this one!!

Finally...the most anticipated sight of the whole journey...The wooden posts of Uhuru Peak!! The rest of the gang had arrived a few minutes before Michael and I. And what a reunion...Jane and I burst into tears as we had a BIG group hug. I was just so overcome with emotion....I tear up even as I write this....finally I could salute the spirit of my dear departed Uncle who lived in the shadow of this incredible Mountain all his life....always in awe. I did this for you Papaji. And for all those incredible women and men who climb their own mountain everyday as they battle with Breast Cancer. I salute and pay tribute to you all.

Well you'd think the hard work was over!! No way Jose!!! The descent to Kibo huts was LONG and HARD!! Your knees are about to wrench themselves out of your legs and all you see is an endlessly STEEP loose scree,leading to the huts, 3.5 kms below you!! I was almost ready to chuck in the towel when Alex(my hero) grabbed hold of my left arm, telling me to hold tight....and launched us into a ski down the Scree!! If I hadn't been so tired and breathless, I would have enjoyed the experience! However an hour and a half later we were met at Kibo Huts by Henry(sadly he did not come to Uhuru with us as he had to attend to Michael who succumbed to fatigue just before Stella Point!!). Just when you think it can't get worse....you are told that there is only 1 hour to rest and then it's on to Horombo...almost 10 kms away!!

First night of sleep for me in 7 days!! My body was exhausted!! I had lost my appetite in the last 2 days and wasn't able to keep anything down, apart from water! Even now I am in total shock when I think what the Human body and Spirit is able to endure!! What an awesome machine!! The last leg of the journey was a sheer push for me. Almost 20 kms to Marangu gate, which took us  7 hours and resulted in my getting horrific, painful blisters on both feet!!

It was amazing to reach the end!! The Dance that the Porters entertained us with was fun but equally it was hard to say goodbye. 30 men fed and carried our stuff for us over the 7 days and most of the time we did not even know when they had overtaken us along the way ..to go set up camp before we got there!!  Alex and Freddie and Patrick and Yohan and Dona and Abel and my dear friend Jina...it is because of you that I made it ...so thankyou from the bottom of my heart.You forge relationships with everyone as they journey with you. And it is always hard to say goodbye. The bus journey to Arusha was spent in quiet contemplation as our minds tried to absorb all that had passed in just a week....7days that have changed my life.

 I have a new respect for this awesome body of mine. I am so proud of my gorgeous son Sandeep who inspite of our fears about his ability to climb,being an asthmatic,made it up God's Mountain at his tender age and fulfilled his ambition of 7years. I feel so priveleged to have connected with so many wonderful human souls,in that 1 week,who have left a significant imprint on my life. I have had a chance in this lifetime that few get...and I am very grateful. THANKYOU Amarjit(my dear husband) and Husveen(my darling daughter) for holding the Fort while we went on this fantastic adventure and for giving us a reason to come back!!

We will be adding captioned photos real soon so watch this space!!

We did it!

This was the most challenging thing I have done (to date), both physically and mentally! 

At the risk of boring you to snores, I have attempted to provide a brief summary of some of the highlights (and lowlights) of our amazing trip.

Day 2 took me most by surprise as I had expected to reach a much higher altitude before I succumbed to altitude sickness, with the Mother of all headaches and projectile vomiting, nice! I was the first ‘victim’ in our group. However after an initial dose of the wonder dug Diamox, I bounced back overnight to a complete recovery.  I kept on taking the Diamox for the duration of the climb, with the only side effect being a rather pleasant (and normal side effect) of a tingling sensation in my feet and hands at the end of each days walk.

Day 4 was the only wet day of our climb. When I say wet, we were walking through the clouds and so it was more of a misty sort of damp fog that we walked through, enough though to warrant us wearing full waterproofs. For me this was actually quite boring because we didn’t get much of a view of anything for a few hours, however once we were above the cloud we were once again surrounded by the amazing site of the landscape of Kili.

Days 5&6 were the toughest challenge for me as this was summit day and the start of descent day. We were woken up at 11pm, although I hadn’t slept as I was too excited! Hot drinks and biscuits were waiting for us in the dining room tent! I was very well insulated in my 4 layers of thermals and a thermal ski jacket on the top, a pair of thermals, a pair of trousers and waterproof leggings on the bottom and my thermal gloves and beanie. (No wonder you can hardly recognize me in the photo at the summit).  About 11.30pm we all set off with 5 guides and 2 porters for our long slow trudge up to the summit.  The dynamics of our group were very different this evening, nobody talked, whereas in previous days we had all been talking and encouraging one another.  I think this final push to the summit required so much focus and energy that it had to be reserved for you only. For me the first 2 hours passed very quickly and despite a bighting cold wind, I was very snug and warm in my thermals. The path was very steep and narrow and we walked single file. Every now and then the guides stopped us for a drink of water (My hydration pack had not yet frozen) and to check if we were all ok.

After 5 and a half hours walking at 5am in the morning my legs decided that they didn’t belong to my body anymore and I developed ‘jelly’ legs. Some very PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) and self-reassurance somehow managed to push me through the next half hour and I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. At about 6am and just before we reached Stella Point (This point is still about an hour away from the summit), the sun started to rise.  What a blessing that was as the warmth that it radiated was most welcome on my back. Just after 6am our whole group were all smiles and hugs as we had all made it exhausted to Stella Point having set out 6 and a half hours ago. Here we rested for about 15 minutes and the guides and porters produced hot sweet black tea and Pringles, which were very gratefully enjoyed by us all. During our rest, one of our group became overcome with exhaustion and sadly two guides had to take him back down the Mountain. This had quite a negative impact on the group, however once we were reassured that he would make a full and complete recovery, once he was taken down, we hauled up our weary bodies and started the final ascent to Uhuru. By now it was completely light and the skies were bright blue and the sun warm.  The view of the glacier to our left as we ascended was an amazing sight and kind of distracted you from the steepness of the climb. On and on we trudged until finally confirmation in the form of a ‘signpost’ confirming that we were at Uhuru, appeared ahead of us.

Hugs, kisses tears and lots of photos were shared amongst our group as one by one we all made it to Uhuru. Although I was on an emotional high it suddenly occurred to me that we now had to turn round and start our descent. By the time we reached it back down to Stella Point, we had been walking for about 10 hours (with no sleep).  The next part of the descent was extremely challenging for me as it was a ‘downward climb’/’slide’/’slip’ into scree. I had a spectacular tumble going down and although I didn’t hurt myself by the time I arrived at our lunch stop 2 hours later I had grit and dust everywhere! We were all so exhausted on arrival at our lunch stop that lunch was delayed whilst we had an hours sleep. After a very welcome pasta lunch, we set off again to our camp site (Horombo) for the evening stopover. Needless to say when we arrived at Horombo we were all absolutely exhausted (but extremely proud of our achievement) having walked for about 17 hours. That night I slept like a log and woke up feeling refreshed and elated.

The 30 porters who came with us on the 7day trip, were absolutely amazing.  They carried all of our food, camping and cooking equipment day to day and set up and dismantled our camp site.  So, basically all we had to do was walk every day with our day packs, containing our waterproofs and water. The food that they managed to produce under the mountain conditions on a day to day basis was delicious, nutritious and healthy. We were woken each morning at 5:45am by our guide Henry and two of the chefs with a hot drink and a kind word from Henry to make sure that we had slept well and were feeling ok.

The sky at night was literally filled with stars, which seemed to shine so brightly and intensely and the Milky Way was very clearly visible. It just goes to show how much the pollution and street lighting in urban areas hides our amazing galaxy of stars.

When Preet gets back from Tanzania, I am sure she will add her own personal account as well.

After 7 gruelling days of trekking all of us are back at sea level! We acheived what we set out to do and the feeling of accomplishment is overwhelming for all of us. Sorry for the blackout over the past month, the preperation for the climb reached such a fevered pitch that the blog went on the backburner. Preet is still galavanting around Tanzania and has all the camera equipment that we took. It will be back by next week so we will update the site then. We have many stories to share...

Thankyou all for the support, keep checking in for updates.

Sandeep