Kilmanjaro Part 6a

August 25, 2009 (Day 5 on the Mountain and the Big Kahuna)

We awake to gale force winds, they have not abated. Everything, and I mean everything, in the tent is covered in a layer of fine dust that has wormed its way through the fabric. We are covered in volcanic ash. Lisa heads out to send a message and reports back that during the night the cooking tent was broken by the wind and that the toilet tent has blown over. So at this point there are 2 of 5 tents still standing and usable. Interesting.

Now, on the official, planned-out, mailed, signed, sealed, delivered itinerary we had received, this day was to be an acclimatization day. We are supposed to stay at Lava Tower for the whole day, maybe hike around a bit, but really, just hang out and let our bodies adjust. The night before, Papa told us he thinks we should skip it and head to the next camp, Arrow Glacier, as we’re all feeling really good.

Arrow Glacier is close, only about 1,000 ft. higher in elevation, and we’re all pretty amenable, as it feels like we haven’t really been working that hard (remember the old axiom ‘be careful what you wish for’, yeah, keep reading). I pop out to check out what the schedule is with Papa (considering we have no cooking tent, we’re wondering if breakfast is a moot point—is that how you spell moot? Moot? Huh).

Papa informs me that we’re changing plans. He tells me what needs to happen. We need to pack everything we’ll need for the next night into 2 of our duffels, everything we don’t need should go in the third. Then he says that we’re going to summit. Today. Now. He thinks it will take us about 5 hours to go up the Western Breach, then another hour and half to summit. This puts us 2 days ahead of schedule. But I’m excited. I think we all feel like we haven’t been pushing that hard, and we’re all feeling good. It’s a beautiful sunny day. Why not summit?

I pop back in the tent and tell Lisa and Anita. We’re all pretty excited. We re-pack, leaving all of our remaining protein bars out (we have very few left really, as we’ve been doling them out pretty regularly). We all get layered up, but the day really is pretty nice.

Digression on the Western Breach:

Our summit ascent will be via the Western Breach. What we currently know about it is this: A. It is the most difficult ascent to the summit. B. It was closed for a portion of 2006/2007 when three climbers and 1 porter were killed in a rock slide. C. Papa says it is one of the warmer paths to the summit as the cliffs on either side block much of the wind, and we’ll be in the sun.

What we learn later from Papa about the Western Breach: A. Women rarely take the Breach, and almost never groups of women exclusively (the ones that do go usually go with a boyfriend/husband). B. Groups rarely summit two days early, and we are certainly not expected to. C. Today is one of the windiest days on the mountain that Papa has ever seen. The reason we are not staying longer at Lava Tower and skipping Arrow Glacier is that both camps are in line for rocks coming down in rock slides and Papa is worried about the wind.

End of Digression.

We are excited. We get packed. We fill up our water—camelbacks to the brim, and extra bottles that Lisa, Macho, Papa and I are carrying. We all tuck a protein bar into the daypack as we know we have an approximately 7 hour hike with no other food at hand. We then distribute the remaining protein bars to the men in our crew who will be going with us.

The plan is to camp at Crater Camp, the highest camp on the mountain at approximately 18,500 ft. Few people use it as it’s a pain to get all the gear up there, but most people taking the Western Breach stay there, as the camp is right at the top of the Breach. Macho and Papa of course are in this group, as well as 4 other wagum. Isaya and Wencelaus (the chefs, who also carry most of the cooking equipment, which we’ll need to boil water if nothing else), Irasto (our waiter, but he also is carrying a lot of other gear) and Anton, (who is in charge, poor man, of the toilet facilities). We pass on the rest of our protein bars to them, as they’ll be taking the same route, but carrying a lot more weight.

I ask Papa if the wagum hate this route. He answers ‘Yes’. But it’s not all bad—it certainly is a hard climb for them too, but they’re all paid extra, and at the end we will tip them extra too. All of them, by law, have to volunteer to do the route, they can’t be ordered to. And they all have to have done it previously (this doesn’t leave room for the fact that they all have to done it for the first time once—but the subtlety of that distinction is lost on Mandela). The rest of our crew and gear will go around the mountain and meet us at Millennium Camp on our descent.

To be continued...

Photos: Lava Tower. Me, Anita and Lisa at the bottom of the Western Breach.