Notes from the travel journal - December 26, 2008

December 26th, 2008: After several hours of late afternoon slumber, Kerri and Ryann were awoken at 11pm, drank some tea, got dressed in 7 layers of clothing, and off we went. Watching the single file progression of headlamps wind their silent way upwards towards the summit was exhilarating! This ascent was incredibly steep, our feet giving way underneath us, as gravel was dislodged. We wound our way up, in a zig zag pattern, back and forth across the top half of the mountain, being careful of our footing in the pitch black night.

The lack of oxygen as we climbed was felt by all in our group, making it difficult to catch one’s breath and causing a feeling of slight nausea in some. Deep, strong inhalations and forced, exaggerated exhalations helped to assuage the nausea and ensure enough air was entering the lungs. We continued to creep forward and upward, one small footstep after another, led by our supportive guide Nteze and followed by his assistant Matthew.

Never have we experienced such a battle of will with ourselves; wanting desperately to summit and being too stubborn not to, and yet not quite knowing where the strength was going to come from to continue to propel ourselves forward.

Somehow, after 6 hours or so, navigating in the dark, guided solely by the light of our headlamps, we reached Stella Point, some 45 minutes from Uhuru! The sun started to rise over the countryside, starting first as a horizontal orange sliver, and growing slowly, to illuminate the surrounding glaciers. What a breath-taking sight! We both had individual ‘moments’ where the tears overcame us as we looked around at the top of Africa.

We continued on to Uhuru Peak, looping arms together for strength and warmth and began the last bit of uphill on our journey. At 6:25am on Dec 26th, we officially reached the summit, and the highest point in all of Africa! What a rush….but it wasn’t to be savoured for too long as weather patterns on the peak can change in the blink of an eye. We snapped our pictures, gloated momentarily, and immediately began the 3.5 hour descent back to the base camp at 4600 metres. Back at the camp, we were able to sleep for about 1.5 hours, at which point we rose, ate, packed our bags and continued the day with another 4 hour downhill hike to our final camp on the trek. That night, we slept more soundly than we had all week; paying no mind to the hard ground or cold temperatures: we had accomplished what we had set out to do!