At 7:02 this morning, I stepped onto the summit plateau of Uhuru Peak, the highest point on the highest freestanding mountain in the world!
It took from 5:30 am until 8pm, but every member of our group make it from Crater Camp at 18.5k feet, to the Summit at 19.3k feet, then all the way down to 10k-ish feet to Mweka camp tonight.
I made it to the summit, lunch spot, and camp with the front group, which left the summit around 8am, skree skied down for lunch at Barafu Camp at 11, had a lovely long lunch break/nap there, and did the long slog down to the Land Below the Clouds from 1ish to 4:30. Some people needed a lot of support from the porters and guides, so, without much communication between the front and back groups, we spent our first hours at Mweka Camp anxiously awaiting news, cheering as each small group of AMC/SPS climbers, guides, and porters arrived in camp, exhausted.
Yvie, who'd had a hard time with the altitude for days, made it to the summit around 9 and positively skipped into Mweka, rejuvenated by all the oxygen down here at 10,000 feet! 81-year-old Eric was helped into camp around 6, completing our group!
The last two days have been some of the hardest hiking I've ever done, and I'm really feeling the accumulation of all the work I've been making my body do. My knees were definitely complaining during our 9,000+ foot descent today, and I'm sure I will be VERY sore tomorrow. Tomorrow's 4 hour hike may be incredible hard for some of those who struggled today,but I'm sure Lema, Erika, and all of the fabulous guides and porters who have been so supportive and encouraging all the way will get everyone down safely. My knees and the rest of me will be very glad of almost a week's break before I start hut croo...
I'm exhausted and will write more later, but I want to record the elation, relief, and excitement of reaching the summit before it becomes an even more distant memory: this morning already feels like days ago. We woke up at 4:30, FREEZING and not having had slept well at 18,500 feet. Saline solution was frozen in our contacts cases, ice crystals made the inside of our tent sparkle, and getting our of our sleeping bags was a major undertaking requiring copious amounts of will power. Hiking the last cliff to to the summit took, as Agga would put it, "about an hour." My toes and fingers were frozen, but the dizziness and nausea of the first part of the morning had passed once I started hiking. The sun rose, painting the sky a beautiful orange I was too cold to photograph. It was beautiful, but every step was hard, my toes and fingers painfully cold.
When we got to the rim, there were no false summits, just a plateau sloping gently upwards. Exchanging brief high-fives and hugs, we fanned out. Jesse took off, Chris and I a short ways behind him. It was like walking in a dream, and if we went too fast, our lungs would remind us to slow down. At 7:02, we saw the sign and I immediately got an adrenaline rush. As people came up from our group, everyone was hugging, high-fiving, and celebrating together. A horde of people was streaming from the Marangu and Mweka routes on the opposite side of the mountain, swarming the sign. More later, but as I left the summit, I found myself sorry to go. I hope to be back some day. Beauty. Extreme. Amazing. Sleep. Long day. Night.
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