Trip Reports

Kilimanjaro - Lemosho Glades 13 to 22 Feb '10

Dawn on summit day - Kilimanjaro Lemosho Glades

Written by Leader Mark Campbell, February 2010

The team of Denise, Iwona and Nick met up in Amsterdam for their flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport, where they would meet me flying in from South Africa. What should have been an ordinary exercise nearly ended in tears when airline staff in the UK informed Denise that she had been randomly selected for offloading due to overbooking of the leg to Amsterdam. Fortunately it did not occur and all members and all their luggage made it to the Keys hotel by 11pm where a late buffet supper and some cold beers were enjoyed.

The next day all were up at 7am for breakfast and final packing arrangements, before heading off in a 4x4 for the mountain, only half an hour behind the scheduled 8.30am departure.

The drive to Londorossi Gate was over quickly with a short stop just outside it to watch some Colobus monkeys playing in a tree just off the road, what a lucky sighting! Whilst we enjoyed our packed lunch on the grass our guides quickly organised the weighing in of all the equipment and the finalisation of the numbers of porters required – we were off down the road again before we could even swallow the last mouthful of lunch. After being dropped by the driver the team grabbed their daypacks and began the warm yet inspiring walk of 3,5 hours through the rain forest to Big Tree camp where we enjoyed tea and a large bowl of popcorn!

Day 3 (Big Tree to Shira 1) was bright but occasionally windy and after a bacon and egg breakfast we continued through the forest for another 1,5 hours before breaking out onto the moorland slopes.

The terrain steepened quite harshly and unfortunately by the time we stopped for lunch at 12 so did the wind and the temperature soared to 35°C and there was no shade to be had. It was a fairly exhausted team that made it into camp after walking for 6,5 hours.

Day 4 (Shira 1 to Shira Hut) A more gentle walk today through beautiful scenery – but still no real views of the actual mountain we’ve come to climb. Charles, the assistant guide, reckoned the God’s had taken the mountain away for cleaning! The highlight of the day was the crossing of the Shira river and a chance to get into the water and rinse off some of the last two days of sweat and dust – but only the “crazy” leader was up for the challenge.

Day 5 (Shira Hut to Baranco) After the fierce thunderstorm of yesterday afternoon, the morning was clear and bright. All members were beginning to feel the effects of the altitude now and it was hard going up the steep slope.

As we approached the ridge the clouds began to move in and the temperature dropped. By the time we made it to Lava rock at 4600m we had just enough time to shelter under a small overhang before the heavens opened again with rain and hail!

We enjoyed the rest and lunch but as soon as the storm tapered off we scooted downhill for camp which was reached after a total of 7 hours walking. It rained on and off the whole afternoon.

Day 6 ( Baranco to Karanga) The promise of a shorter day’s walk and the guides decision to try and avoid the early rush on the steep Baranco wall gave us all a well deserved late start this morning.

The visuals of the other teams moving slowly up the wall were spectacular – but we were soon caught up in the traffic jam that haunts this steep and exhilarating stage of the expedition.

There was a nasty sting in the tail to this shorter day but everyone made it into camp tired but happy to have made it before the heavens opened yet again.

Day 7 (Karanga to Barafu) A dry but cloudy day saw the team head off again with a fairly late start of 8.30 and a tough but short 3 hour trek to the next camp where we had to wait for some time for the successful teams to make it back down and clear out of camp so that we could get ours established.

Whilst we waited we had the usual copious amounts of tea, popcorn and hot lunch prepared by our enthusiastic cook team.

Once the tents were up everyone settled down for some rest before an early supper at 5.30 and the final arrangements were decided upon for the night’s assault on our objective.

Day 8 Summit Bid.
We were roused at midnight and after a quick cup of tea and biscuits we set off at 12.50 at a slow pace behind what seemed to be all the other teams who’s headlights we could see snaking up the slope ahead of us.

Despite the slow pace we were soon in the thick of a traffic jam that we proceeded to overtake after a few minutes.

The weather was calm and warm and the time passed with us plodding ever upwards with the occasional drinks break every hour or so.

As dawn brightened the sky we could see Stella Point ahead – it looked close but awefully steep from where we were. Thankfully it wasn’t that bad and we were at Stella by 7am and more importantly on the top of the African continent at Uhuru peak by 8.15am!

After many photos and frustrating attempts to send text messages the elated but tired team turned slowly for the path back downwards. Everyone was back in camp after a total time of 11 hours walking.

This did not end the adventure however because sadly just outside camp, Denise went over on her ankle and the worst was suspected.

A hurried discussion saw the decision made to organise a porter stretcher rescue and with 6 porters carrying and the Charles and myself in tow, the rescue started out in yet another massive thunderstorm and a total of 7 hours descent to town.

Fortunately the injury was not severe and Denise and I enjoyed a few cold beers at the hotel around midnight after leaving the hospital.

The rest of the team spent a wet night at Millennium camp!

Day 9 After a late rise for the lucky two in the hotel with Denise hobbling around with some degree of comfort, we were all reunited when the rest of the team made it to the hotel at 2pm.

Showers, cold beer and the legendary Key’s burger were thoroughly enjoyed whilst reflecting back on a successful and very eventful trip.

Day 10 saw the team go their separate ways on safari, sunbathing on Zanzibar and back to work for me!

A successful expedition, but a challenging one and memories that will not easily be forgotten, Kilimanjaro has lived up to being a real mountain challenge!

Mark Campbell, Trek Leader « Previous report | Next report »

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