Kilimanjaro

O vzponu na Kilimanjaro sem razmišljala že pred leti, pa potem nikoli ni bilo prave priložnosti, da bi šla. Zdaj, ko živimo v Afriki, je edino smiselno, da izkoristimo dopust na tem kontinentu in ko nas je sodelavec, ki je bil pred dvema letoma na Kilimanjaru, navdušil za ta podvig, je padla odločitev, da gremo. Pa smo šli v Tanzanijo, razen naše družine še sodelavki Olga iz Litve in Linda iz Latvije.

I've thought about climbing Kilimanjaro many years ago, but there was never the right opportunity to go. Now that we live in Africa, it makes sense to spend our vacation on this continent. When a colleague who climbed Kilimanjaro two years ago inspired us for the challenge, the decision was made that we should go. So we headed to Tanzania, our family and two colleagues, Olga from Lithuania and Linda from Latvia.

Na Kilimanjaru ob večini poti ni planinskih koč, zato je treba nositi hrano, vodo, šotore in vso ostalo opremo s seboj. Kar seveda pomeni, da je treba najeti nosače oziroma prepustiti vso organizacijo agenciji, ki se ukvarja s tem. Za nas pet turistov nam je agencija priskrbela deset nosačev in dva pomočnika, ki sta nam stregla hrano, postavljala šotore, nas zjutraj budila in nam prinesla kavo v šotor ter skrbela, da nam je bilo čim bolj udobno, kolikor je na taki gori brez vode in sanitarij sploh mogoče. V odpravi je bil še kuhar, ki nas je z velikim veseljem razvajal. Nisem pričakovala, da nam bo na gori v skromnih okoliščinah recimo spekel pomfri, ocvrl pecivo, kuhal tople zajtrke, kosila in večerje s sadjem in zelenjavo. Potem smo imeli seveda tudi vodjo odprave in dva vodnika, ki so bili zadolženi za to, da so nas uspešno spravili na goro in nazaj dol.

There are hardly any mountain huts on Kilimanjaro and therefore all food, water, tents and other supplies must be carried along. Which means that we needed porters or better yet, we hired an agency who take care of everything for us. For the five of us, the agency supplied ten porters and two assistants who served us, raised our tents, woke us up in the mornings and brought coffee into our tents and generally made sure that we were comfortable as much as possible, considering that there is no water or any facilities on the mountain. Our staff included a cook who was pleased to pamper us. I didn't expect that he would be able to make french fries, desserts, hot breakfasts, lunches and dinners that included fruit and vegetables in such meager conditions. We also had a head guide and two assistant guides whose job was to get us safely to the top of the mountain and back.

Prvi dan se je pot vlekla skozi deževni gozd in čeprav je avgust mesec z najmanj padavinami v letu, nas je takoj ob odhodu spremljala ploha. Zdaj tudi vem, kaj to pomeni hodit skozi deževni gozd, saj tudi ko je nehalo deževati, je kapljalo z dreves, vse je bilo mokro in blatno, gozd pa preraščen z mahom. Prespali smo v kampu Umbwe cave, v šotorih in se čim bolj izogibali blatu, ki ga je bilo polno vsepovsod. Drugi dan se je pot nadaljevala skozi deževni gozd, a smo nekje sredi dneva prišli nad mejo oblakov, kjer se je končno zjasnilo in smo šele prvič zagledali goro, na katero gremo. Za vzpon smo izbrali najbolj strmo pot Umbwe, ta je tudi najmanj obljudena, tako da smo bili prva dva dni sami z našo odpravo na poti. Drugi večer smo prispeli v kamp Barranco na nadmorski višini okrog 4000 m, ki leži na stičišču treh poti in tam smo srečali še mnogo drugih turistov s svojimi nosači, tako da je bil kamp poln šotorov in v njih na stotine ljudi.

The first day our path took us through the rainforest. Although August is the month with the least rainfall, we were greeted by a rain shower as soon as we started. Now I know what rainforest actually means,it's wet and muddy and covered in moss all the time, even when it stops raining. We spent the night at Umbwe cave, sleeping in tents and trying to avoid the mud that was everywhere. On the second day our path continued through the rainforest but sometime during the day we came out of the clouds where it was finally sunny and clear and we could see the mountain where we were going for the first time. We chose the Umbwe path to ascend which is the steepest and also the least crowded and so our entourage was alone for the first two days of our climb. The second night we arrived at Barranco camp at elevation about 4000 m. This camp lies at the crossroads of three different ascent paths and there we met many other climbers with their porters and so the camp was full of people.

Tretji dan je bil namenjen aklimatizaciji, zato je bilo le nekaj ur hoje navzgor in spet nazaj dol. Močno sem občutila pomanjkanje kisika zaradi višine, sicer pa kakih večjih težav ni bilo, razen tega, da je bilo vedno bolj mrzlo, ponoči je zmrzovalo in smo imeli zjutraj slano na šotoru. Prespali smo v kampu Karanga, na nadmorski višini okrog 4000 m. Četrti dan smo se povzpeli še kakih 600 m višje, v kamp Barafu, ponoči pa se je začel vzpon na vrh. Poskusili smo se čim bolj spočiti pred vzponom, a me je zaradi pomanjkljive aklimatizacije bolela glava in mi je bilo slabo in zato ni bilo preveč počitka.

The third day was set aside for acclimatization. We only walked a couple of hours uphill and then downhill again. I felt the lack of oxygen due to the high altitude, but I didn't have any other altitude related problems. It was getting colder and even freezing at night so that we had ice on our tents in the morning. We spent the night at Karanga camp at an altitude of about 4000 m. The fourth day we ascended about 600 m higher to the Barafu camp from where we made our summit climb during the night. We tried to rest as much as we could but it was difficult because I had a headache and was nauseous due to insufficient acclimatization.

Ob 11h zvečer smo odrinili proti vrhu, nas pet turistov in trije vodniki, razen naše skupine pa še številni drugi turisti s svojimi vodniki. Temperatura je bila pod ničlo, ko smo se vzpenjali, pa je postajalo vedno hladneje. Težko smo dihali zaradi višine in po skoraj štirih urah sopihanja v temi navzgor na nadmorski višini kakih 5300 m je sina premagala višinska bolezen, tako da ni več vedel, kje je in kam gre, zato sta se z Markom obrnila nazaj in se v spremstvu vodnika vrnila v kamp. Olga, Linda in jaz pa smo se ob pomoči preostalih dveh vodnikov prebijale naprej. V nadaljevanju je zvilo Olgo. Bruhala je, a ji je bilo potem bolje in smo šli naprej. Naslednja je bila na vrsti Linda, ki je omedlela, na srečo jo je vodnik pravočasno ujel. Vsedli smo se na skale, popili nekaj požirkov vode in pojedli košček energetske ploščice, Linda se je ozavestila in smo odrinili naprej. Dalj časa počivati ni bilo mogoče, saj bi zaradi mraza verjetno pozebli. Bilo je zelo naporno in nisem se mogla odločiti, ali naj raje bruham, ali omedlim. Razmišljala sem, da če omedlim, ne bom mogla naprej, nazaj pa je bilo tudi vprašljivo, ali bi me kdo nesel, za bruhanje pa mi tudi ni bilo preveč, čeprav mi je bilo slabo. Začelo me je zebsti v prste na nogah in me je zaskrbelo zaradi omrzlin, pa sem se spomnila, da je treba migati s prsti na nogah, da jih ogrejem. Skoncentrirala sem se na pomikanje naprej, počasi, najprej ena noga naprej, vdih in izdih, pomigati s prsti, potem druga noga naprej, vdih in izdih in tako dalje, ure in ure v temi in mrazu po serpentinah navzgor. Še dobro, da je bila tema, sicer če bi vnaprej videla, kako daleč je treba še prilesti, bi morda izgubila voljo. Voda, ki sem jo imela za pitje, je začela zmrzovati, zato sem prestavila pollitersko plastenko v notranji žep bunde. Najbolj sem si želela, da bi se zdanilo, a kar ni hotelo postati svetlo. Šele ko smo se po sedmih urah hoje končno privlekli na greben, na točko imenovano Stella Point na nadmorski višini okrog 5700 m, se je začelo nekoliko svetlikati na obzorju. Imeli pa smo še dobre pol ure in 100 višinskih metrov poti po grebenu do vrha. Poskusila sem ugasniti naglavno svetilko, ki sem jo imela prižgano vso pot, a skozi rokavico nisem občutila gumba, zato sem snela rokavico in jo ugasnila, bilo pa je tako mrzlo, da sem potem še nekaj časa ogrevala roko. Na vrhu smo se na hitro fotografirali, potem pa se obrnili nazaj, saj zaradi vetra in mraza ni bilo možno posedanje in občudovanje razgleda. Na grebenu je sicer sneg, a ga ni prav veliko, večji del poti je kopen. To, kar se iz daljave vidi kot sneg na Kilimanjaru, je v resnici sosednji ledenik.

All five of us, along with our three guides started the summit climb at 11 PM. In addition to our group there were countless other tourists with their guides. The temperature was below freezing when we started and it only got colder as we ascended. We had difficulty breathing due to the altitude and after almost four hours of gruelling climbing at an altitude of about 5300 m our son succumbed to altitude sickness. He became disoriented and so Marko decided that they should return back down to camp accompanied by one of the guides. Olga, Linda and I continued our way up supported by the remaining two guides. The next victim was Olga. She vomited but she felt better after that and so we continued. Then Linda fainted and the guide was fortunately there to catch her before she fell. We sat down for a while, drank a few sips of water and ate a bite off an energy bar. Linda came to and we continued. We couldn't rest longer because we could get frostbite. It was very tough and I couldn't decide whether I should vomit or faint. I thought that if I faint, I couldn't go on and they probably wouldn't carry me back down and I didn't feel like vomiting although I was nauseous. My toes were cold and I remembered that I need to move them to increase circulation. I concentrated on moving forward slowly, first one leg, then the other, inhale and exhale, wiggle my toes and so on, hours and hours on end in the dark and the cold on the winding path upwards. Since it was dark I couldn't see how much further the path went and I'm glad that I didn't know or I might have become discouraged. My drinking water started freezing so I placed the bottle in the inside pocket of my parka. I wished so much for daylight that just wouldn't come.  Only after seven hours of going uphill, when we reached the Stella Point on the ridge at an altitude of about 5700 m, a promise of dawn showed on the horizon. We still had a good half hour and about 100 m of altitude to go. I tried to switch off my headlamp that I used during my climb but I couldn't do it with my glove. I removed the glove just to do that but it was so cold that I spent some time after that warming back my hand. At the summit we took a few minutes to take photos and immediately turned back as it was much too cold and windy to hang around and admire the view. There is some snow on the ridge, but not much as most of the path is dry. What looks like the snows of Kilimanjaro from afar is actually the neighboring glacier.

Na poti nazaj do kampa nas je vodnik peljal dol po melišču in tako smo celotno pot, za katero smo navzgor porabili skoraj 8 ur, nazaj grede opravili v manj kakor 2 urah. Za kratek čas smo se spočili in na hitro pomalicali, saj nas je kuhar pričakal s toplo juho, potem pa takoj odrinili nižje navzdol, v kamp Mweka na nadmorski višini okrog 3000 m. Tam sem se prvič po nekaj dneh pošteno naspala. Naslednji dan smo se spustili v nižino, spet skozi deževni gozd in blato, a nič hudega, saj nas je na koncu poti čakal hotel s tušem in vročo vodo in vrnitev v civilizacijo.

On our way back down our guide led us along the scree which allowed us to slide down and so it took us less than 2 hours to get down the slope that took us almost 8 hours to ascend. We rested briefly and had lunch as our cooked awaited us with warm soup. Then we continued back down to the Mweka camp at an altitude of about 3000 m. After many days I finally had a good night's sleep. The next day we continued down through the rainforest and mud, but it didn't matter because we knew that a hotel with a hot shower and civilization awaits us.

Tako torej, uspel mi je vzpon na Kilimanjaro. Saj sem zadovoljna, da sem prilezla na vrh, a če bi me zdaj kdo vprašal, ali se je splačalo in ali bi šla še enkrat, bi rekla odločno ne. Zdelo se mi je mnogo preveč napora za premajhno zadovoljstvo, saj na vrhu nisem utegnila resnično uživati ob dosežku, ampak sem si le želela, da bi se vse skupaj čim prej končalo. Morda bi bilo drugače, če bi si vzeli več dni za aklimatizacijo, tako da me vsaj ne bi mučil glavobol in slabost med vzponom na vrh. Doživetje pa je bilo vendarle nepozabno, zlasti ker so vodniki in ostali člani odprave odlično skrbeli za nas.

So I finally made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro. Of course I'm glad that I made it up there, but if you were to ask me whether it was worth it or whether I would do it again, I would say definitely no. It was too much effort for very little reward because I couldn't really enjoy being on the summit and I only wanted for the suffering to end. Perhaps it might have been different if we took more time to acclimatize to the altitude so I wouldn't have a headache and nausea. But in general it was an unforgettable experience especially since our guides and other members of our support team took such good care of us.