I'd never kept a travel journal before, but I did one for the Kilimanjaro climb. For those of you considering the trip, I hope it's helpful.

Climb Day 1 (Dec. 24, 2012): Shira Route

We left the Arusha camp shortly after 8am and spent two and a half hours on a spleen-jarring ride. We passed through a few villages and farmland, then it was time to hike. Mud, mud, and more mud. Unbelievably gooey, deep, slippery, and treacherous. After an hour and a half, we were told that we’d reached the real start of the hike. The road had been too bad even for the Land Cruisers. Then it was six hours of climbing, slipping, descending, and climbing again through the mud. We had a lunch stop (picnic style) around 1pm.

Did I mention the rain? It rained for a good portion. But we finally made it to the camp, and our porters even cleaned the mud off our boots. A late supper, and now it’s time for bed. Wake-up is set for 6:30am. Current altitude around 9,000 feet, but I feel fine.

Difficulty rating for today (1 being easy, 10 being extremely difficult): 3.5 (5.5 with the mud factored in).

Meds taken: 1 Diamox, 1 nighttime painkiller

Climb Day 2 (Dec. 25, 2012): Shira Plateau

Early wake-up thanks to being next to the mess tent. Tough sleeping without a pillow. I tried bunching up my puffy coat, but it wasn’t puffy enough. I should have brought an inflatable travel pillow.

Breakfast was a disappointment for me (three pieces of toast with jam, no juice, no granola ceral), but the omnivores in the group were happy with their choices. Lunch was much better (roasted cashews, PB sandwich, banana, and a piece of nut/fruit bread).

The hike itself wasn’t bad: a little mud but nothing like yesterday, some steep ups and downs, a little scrambling, final altitude ~11,200 feet. Time hiking was around six hours.

Impromptu pushup contest just now between Matt and Melissa. Matt did 4 sets of 10 (up to 10 seconds of resting in the up position permitted), and Melissa did the same amount plus one. I couldn’t help myself and walked over and did 43 nonstop. Contest over. Now it’s raining.

Christmas turkey dinner meant PB sandwiches for me.

Difficulty rating for today: 4

Meds taken: 1 Diamox, 2 Ibuprofen

Climb Day 3 (Dec. 26, 2012): Moir Camp

Cold night and still wishing for anything resembling a real pillow. Decent breakfast (two pieces of toast with jam, a little bit of granola cereal, and a slice of papaya).

Fairly easy hike to start, but a little mud, ice pellets, and rain to keep it interesting. Very gradual ascent to final altitude of 13,008 feet, according to Dave’s altimeter watch. I felt pretty good except for a slight headache towards the end of the hike. It could have been from hunger or the altitude. Total hiking time was around five hours.

The weather in camp alternates between rain, sun, and clouds. I think it will likely get pretty cold overnight.

PB sandwiches are becoming my staple for lunch and dinner. I’d rather do that than eat the meat and poultry, so it’s a choice on my part. I got a major chill after dinner to the point where I was shivering. I climbed into my sleeping bag for a few minutes, and I seem to be doing a little better.

Difficulty rating for today: 4

Meds taken: 1.5 Diamox, 2 Ibuprofen

Climb Day 4 (Dec. 27, 2012): Lava Tower

This “sleeping” thing is really getting in the way of my climbing. Very difficult to get a good night’s sleep, and I much prefer the daytime activity.

About four hours of hiking today, with a climb to ~15,100, a new record for everyone in the group. The temps fluctuated between cold and warm, then settled on cold. Heavy clouds rolled in and brought sleet, wind, and eventually snow. It’s cleared up now in the mid-afternoon when I’m writing this. Our route intersected with one of the other climb routes, and we saw a lot of other groups. It’s interesting to look at the differences in the support provided by the other tour operators. I think Nat. Geo. is likely among the best for its amenities for hikers and support staff.

Difficulty rating for today: 4. I think the real hike starts tomorrow, given the altitude and fickle weather.

Meds taken: 2 Diamox, 2 Ibuprofen. Very minor twinge in left ankle area at start this morning, but I loosened my laces and no issues. Note: I had developed a bump above my left ankle during a training hike on Dec. 9, probably due to wearing sock liners for the first time and having my laces too tight.

Climb Day 5 (Dec. 28, 2012): Arrow Glacier

The good news is I only have three more nights of camping. The bad news is I still have three more nights of camping. Last night was the coldest yet, easily in the 20s. These tents will protect against precipitation but not against the cold. Another factor is that I’m a single in a double tent. They gave me one of those old-fashioned hot water bottles to put in my sleeping bag, which helped for a few hours. Also, my tent was on an incline, and I kept sliding down into a crumpled heap.

The food situation has been my “Ultimate Challenge” so far. Breakfast was an energy gel, three pieces of toast with jam, and a slice of pineapple. I should have enough ClifBars, gels, and salmon jerky to get me through, but I would be surprised if I’ve lost five pounds.

Today’s hike was really quite easy, lasting just over two hours and gaining less than 1000 feet. There were a few icy spots over rocky conditions. Tomorrow is supposed to be the tough day.

Difficulty rating for today: 2.5

I had some trouble getting my right contact lens in yesterday (it’s slightly bigger than the left one), and I think I irritated the eye. It was painful trying to get the lens in today, so I only went with one. No issues, and I’m not sure if the slight headache is from the altitude or from wearing one lens.

We just got the briefing for tomorrow, and it does sound like it could be a tough slog. Wake-up at 4am, breakfast at 4:30am, and departure shortly after that. It’s been totally fogged-in since we got into camp this morning, and now it’s sleeting very hard. That could make for some interesting trekking. Dinner tonight at 5:30pm.

A little before dinner, I had a terrible headache that reminded me of the Mt. Blanca climb and altitude issues in 1995. My stomach was also a but sore. I took half a Diamox, and it seemed to improve in a few hours. I’m glad, because I was beginning to worry.

Meds taken: 2.5 Diamox, 3 Ibuprofen

Climb Day 6 (Dec. 29, 2012): Western Breach and Crater Camp

This is why I signed up for Nat. Geo.’s Ultimate Challenge: steep, constant climbing up a snowy mountain at extremely high altitude, scrambling over rocks, semi-technical terrain, taking the path less traveled (the Western Breach). It was over eight hours of that, and we finished ~18,500 feet in a lava crater at the base of the final section of the mountain.

I was happy with my performance during this stage. I felt well-conditioned and was even able to help my fellow climbers through some of the semi-technical parts. I will say that there was a potential for danger, and the margin of error was slim. I hope the pictures are able to convey the atmosphere.

The crater rim is a very cold and otherworldly place. Lots of snow and ice and huge glaciers right nearby. It’s probably going to be a cold night.

Difficulty rating for today: 7

Meds taken: 2 Diamox, 3 Ibuprofen

Climb Day 7 (Dec. 30, 2012): Summit and Descent Part 1

Today is the culmination of several months of training. I’m up well before the 7am wake-up visit, because almost everything in the tent froze solid overnight. My two water bottles in the daypack side pockets are okay, but the one on the floor is ice. There’s also a thin coating of frost on everything in the tent, including my sleeping bag. I might have gotten a few hours of sporadic sleep, but I’m not really tired, just ready to go. I don’t even bother trying to put in my contact lenses, and I think the lower pressure at this altitude might be affecting the shape of my eyeball enough that I can see pretty well.

One group of four decided they wanted to see the sunrise on the summit. I didn’t want to get up at 4am to climb in the dark and freeze even more.

After my typically light breakfast, we set out a little after 8am, divided in two groups. The climb was slow but steady in a general switchback path, though snow the whole way and pretty steep. We stopped periodically to catch our breath, but I felt fine. I forgot to mention that I put the toe warmers in my boots. The package said to allow 15 to 30 minutes to warm up. Because the boots were frozen, I planned for an hour, and that was enough time.

Before we knew it, we were there on the roof of Africa at 19,340 feet. It was very quiet, the sky was blue, and the clouds were well below us. A most impressive sight. We walked over to the summit sign and took photos, and then we spent our private time up there just looking around and taking it all in. Fortunately, there were only a few other climbers on the summit who had come up the other route. The IG had asked me to leave an OIG coin up there, which I did. I also grabbed some rocks to take back, after the guide said it was okay.

After a while, the second part of the group made their way to the summit. The guides were assisting them by carrying their daypacks. After some group photos, we started the rapid descent down the other side. The weather turned from clear to snow, sleet, and cold rain.

The downhill was steep and hard on the knees and quads. We hiked for about four hours, and we were all ready for lunch and water (some were out, the rest were very low). We got to a large camp around 1:30pm, and we thought it was a lunch stop. The guide just signed some paperwork and said lunch was another hour further. We weren’t happy but pressed on. We finally got to the temporary lunch set-up, but lunch wasn’t quite ready. The sunrise summit group had been there for two hours already.

I couldn’t move without some food, so I said I was going to wait. The sunrise group and all but one other person in my group decided to leave immediately for the three-hour hike to our overnight camp. Five minutes after they left, we were given juice, fruit, grilled cheese, and other stuff to eat. I wish they’d waited a little longer, and they would have gotten their lunch.

It had warmed up a little, but it was raining, and the trail was muddy and difficult steep downhill stuff. At 3pm, I left with the other guide and my lunch partner for the final push. We got into camp around 6pm, and the final group got in around 7pm. Altitude at the camp is around 10,500 feet, so we descended almost 9,000 feet in eight hours.

Difficulty rating for today: 6 (Summit); 8 (Descent, based on environmental factors and lack of food).

Meds taken: 2 Diamox, 4 Ibuprofen

Climb Day 8 (Dec. 31, 2012): Descent Part 2

We broke camp for the final time and hit the trail around 8am, for what we were told would be three more hours of downhill. The trail was very muddy in spots, like the first day, and it was very tough going with the rocks and roots. A few people took off in a faster group, and Scott and I eventually did the same for the last half hour. We finally made it to the Mweka Gate and had a light picnic lunch with the group before heading to the Dik Dik Lodge for showers and a nice dinner.

Difficulty rating for today: 6

Meds taken: 4 Ibuprofen

Final thoughts: All in all, this was a good trip and definitely challenged me in new ways. Africa was a complete unknown for me going into it, and though I’ve only seen a small part of it, I’d like to return and see more (maybe on a motorcycle next time). I made some good friends during the climb, folks whom I’d like to see again and stay in touch with.

Things I wish I’d brought:

- Trail mix
- Over-the-counter sleeping pills
- Small CamelBak (for the pre-freeze part of the climb)
- Inflatable travel pillow
- More non-hiking socks
- Small travel mirror
- Local bird guide
- My Merrell Gore-Tex hiking shoes (for around camp)
- Camping meals for dinners (just add hot water)
- One or two magazines
- SPOT transmitter (satellite tracking)
- More cash (for tips)

Congratulations! That's quite a climb.

You guys may be interested in this:

My close friend and coworker, Mike Moniz, has done several of the "7 summits" and this past spring summited both Everest and Lhotse in less than 24 hours. Has a good blog on the expeditions and the training and planning for doing them. If you're interested in doing more of these it's a good place to start.

Thanks for the trip report!