Kilimanjaro Expedition 2012: Day 3 A Day of Ups and Downs

Not again, yet another night of restless sleep, despite being really tired after evacuating the student to the ranger's station. All I got was a couple of hours' of good sleep, before waking up in the wee hours of the morning, shivering from the cold (the temperature had dropped to below freezing) and the strong wind blowing. A number of us were woken up by the banging of the toilet's roof which was blown up by the strong wind. Getting out of the sleeping bag, I could feel the nip of the cold.

Today, we would be climbing to the highest altitude than most of us had previously done so, which so far had been Mount Kinabalu (4095m). I knew it was gonna be a long day, and going up to an altitude that I've never been, I gotta admit that I was feeling a bit apprehensive, although I'd been taking Diamox from the day before Day 1 on the trek. As we got ready to go, I was feeling the slightest of ache in my legs, which got me paranoid. Then again, it could be paranoia that was making think that I have a slightest of ache in my legs. At the back of my mind, I was worrying if the lack of sleep and the late night evacuation just a few hours before was going to get to me.

Lava Tower

Trekking up towards Lava Tower (4630m), it was expected it was going to be an upward trek from the word "go!" (or in Swee Chiow's favourite words, "Let's rock and roll!"). Speaking of rocks, the vegetation started getting sparse, as the terrain became rockier and even the bits of vegetation were dwarf shrubs, with the only tall form of vegetation being the giant Senecios, a mutant pineapple looking plant that grew in the alpine desert. Trekking along, I was able to see the wide expanse of rocks of on the rolling terrain, with the cloud sweeping in now and then. The temperature would also vary depending on whether the sun is out or not. 

The giant Senecios in the background

During on the rest stops, Swee Chiow took out his GPS to get a reading of the altitude, and told us that we were about 4200m, the highest that most of us had ever been. Of course for Swee Chiow, this is less than half of the highest he'd experienced (8840m). And since none of us had ever been this high, some signs of altitude sickness started showing for some of the students as we continued our way up to Lava Tower. Many of them were having the classic syndrome of a throbbing headache, while a couple of them were nauseous.

Barranco Wall at the back. You can see the trail on the left

We finally arrived at Lava Tower sometime after 1pm, where we stopped for lunch before going down to Barranco Camp at 3860m. Yup, after all that effort, we'd lose the 800m gain in height and end up with a net gain of.. *drum roll please*.. 20m over the previous night at Shira Camp. The whole purpose of climbing to the altitude and then going down to a lower camp, follows the climbing maxim of "climb high, sleep low", which aids acclimatisation greatly. Generally, it is not recommended to climb to a gain of more than 300m in a day, but with "climb high, sleep low", it exposes the body to an higher altitude to allow the body to adapt to the conditions (adapt to the lower oxygen level and increasing production of red blood cells), then descending to allow the climber to rest properly. 

Lava Tower is a rock tower formed thousand of years ago by molten lava which formed the tower and then solidified and hardened as it cooled. As we trudged around the rock to get to a sheltered area away from the wind for lunch, we passed a couple of tents which had set up camp at that altitude. Sitting down for lunch, we ripped open our lunch packs to see the content: chicken, sandwiches and fruits. I wasn't so keen on the chicken since I found the chicken that we had during lunch on day 1 to be pretty darned tough, but I was so hungry, I just tore right into it and thoroughly enjoyed it. While we were eating, the familiar ravens and mice were hanging around waiting for the scraps again. 

Going down from Lava Tower to Barranco Camp proved to be a teeny weeny preview of summit day. Some parts were quite steep, and covered with scree (broken rock fragments and loose rocks). Joseph took the chance to get us mentally prepared by telling us that the steepness was going to be something like 6 hours long, with the scree 3 times deeper. Descending to a lower altitude eased the headache for some of the students, but descending on scree also made the footing unsure. I was quite glad when the scree slopes ended and we scrambled over rocks. Stopping occasionally, the surrounding rock structures were breathtaking, with several caves and increasing number of Senecios, and with the fog rolling in, it was quite a surreal scenery: this was the Barranco Valley. 

Just before 3.30pm, with fog getting thicker and obscuring the sun, it was getting a little dark, so we were ecstatic to get into Barranco Camp, almost 8 hours after departing from Shira Camp this morning. As we got into camp and started identifying our bags for the porter to bring into our tent, we couldn't help but notice Barranco Wall, 250metres high. What was daunting was seeing the trail that went up the wall, seeming so small, hence making the wall look a lot bigger and higher than the 250 metres. Oh well, "whatever will be, will be", we told each other, and that's basically been our motto so far. We'll just take each step at a time, and we'll reach the top when we get there. There was simply no point in stressing ourselves out ahead of time and worrying about the future. 

As I walked around taking pictures of some of the desert flora, I made the mistake that Joanne (who was part of the first team of Singaporean women who summited Mt Everest) had warned us about before our trip: standing up too quickly. With oxygen getting increasingly scarce, standing up quickly would cause you to be dizzy, and it was definitely not a good thing to be feeling dizzy in front of some cactus. A potential "ouch!" situation. 

Here's the numbers for the day:

Max heart rate: 145bpm

Average heart rate: 128bpm

Total calories burnt: 4935

Total time on trek: 7 hours 50 minutes

Garden of Senecios

Kilimanjaro 2012: Day 2 Finding My Pace

I've never been a fan of sleeping bags, and the horrid combination of not being able to sleep in a new environment (even in a nice hotel on a nice bed) meant that I hardly caught any sleep all night. I guess it was also because of the excitement, looking ahead to the coming days ahead. 

The amazing porters

Our typical breakfast comprised of oatmeal, bread (there was jam, peanut butter and margarine), eggs, sausages and food. Our usual routine before breakfast was to make sure that we clear our tents before going for breakfast, so we have to pack everything away into the duffle bag and leave it out for the porters, and the tents would also be taken down and packed, ready for transportation to the next camp. It's amazing how efficient the porters are (we had 50 porters for the 19 of us). We would leave camp at least an hour before they do, and yet, they would've caught up with us after an hour (mind you, they do it with 20kg packs on their heads) and raced ahead of us so that camp can be set up by the time we arrive. Of course, they're more conditioned than we are, therefore they are able to work harder without feeling so much the effects of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) or altitude sickness. But that being said, there's no doubting the seriously hard life that they have. I felt so sorry for a porter (from another group) who was throwing up at the side of the trail, presumably from the effects of AMS. While trekkers like us could afford to give up and turn back, he's dealing with his livelihood. Joseph (our guide) was telling me about how he started out as a porter (all the guides start out as porters, before moving up the ranks to being cooks/ kitchen hands or assistant guides, and then taking an exam to be certified as a guide), that because of the weight on his neck for the long period, he couldn't turn his head for some time. So whenever someone called him, he would have to move his whole body to look at the person. 

Today's trek was definitely harder than day 1, with plenty of ups and downs, as we made our way to Shira Camp at 3840m. It was pretty much a whole day of of different terrains, with rainforest vegetation giving away to shorter ones, and vegetation was also getting sparse as we encountered more rocks. Certain sections were narrow and winding, even needing a bit of scrambling. There's something about moving up and down, climbing over one peak after another, and it kind of got to us mentally as we started asking our guides how much further have we got. It really wasn't about the fatigue, I guess it's quite disorientating going up and down when we expect to the going up... I mean, we were supposed to be climbing a mountain. The fog that kept rolling in and out made the mood a little depressing for me as well. Guess I was missing the sun already. 


I was also careful of how my body might take the ups and downs, always worried that my body might start breaking down soon. While following Swee Chiow, he gave me a very good piece of advice that I reckoned helped me through the trip: if you find yourself breathing too hard, you probably are working too hard. He also explained that the reason why older climbers fare better is because they are able to breathe rhythmically. So whenever I found myself breathing harder, I'd take a quick look at my heart rate monitor and if it was indeed higher than 140bpm (that was the threshold that I'd set for myself because any lower than 140bpm, I felt very comfortable. If you wish to try my method, I'd advise that you find out the "magic number" that works for you), I'd tell myself "pole pole", and slowed my pace down CONSIDERABLY, and practically dragged my feet along just to make sure that work as lazily as possible (my rational was that I wanted to use as few muscles as possible). It was a tactic that worked really well for me all the way up, and it's something that I will keep using for my future climbs.

White-necked raven

We took a longer break on a plateau, where we got acquainted to the local fauna, namely the four-striped grass mouse and the white necked raven. These guys are really contrasting on the cute factor: the mice were scampering around, hoping for food to fall for them, but shy as can be, while the ravens were in your face, sometimes coming so close that I reckoned that it was going to snatch the food right out of our hands. They stand at 50-54cm with a weight of almost 900g!! Check out the beak on that face that only a mother would love. 


Thankfully, just as the sun appeared, we caught sight of our camp. We were really pleased with the short day, finishing about 5 hours after starting. The camp was set up on a flat expanse of desert like land, and the first thing we noticed was that it was VERY windy and there were so many ravens hanging around. A couple of the students decided to take advantage of the sunny day to sun their clothes on the rocks, while keeping a weary eye out for the ravens that were hanging around. While they didn't have an appetite for socks, we did see the ravens tear up a plastic bag and eat it up. 

Lunch was macaroni with minced beef, and it was such a welcomed meal! Not only were carbohydrates essential to replenish our body's fuel system, but being a meat lover like myself, I was grateful for a nice hot meal like that. Plus, with the early end to the day, I was grateful that I could rest up, pack up bags, and catch a nap to make up for my lack of sleep at night. 

Shira Camp, with magnificent view of Cathedral Rocks

One thing I noticed was that a number of students were lagging behind and weren't back in camp even after we'd finished lunch. When they returned, I found that they were either suffering from fatigue or nausea (some even vomited), all of which are primary symptoms of altitude sickness. We were particularly concerned about one student who hadn't really managed to keep any fluids down. In the evening, Swee Chiow passed out the oximeter which measured our heart rate and the amount of oxygen in our red blood cells. Most of us were in the range of 80-90%, which was normal at altitude, but we were concerned about the student whose reading had dropped to 66%. Swee Chiow gave him a Diamox and his oxygen saturation raised to 88%. But the point of concern was that he still wasn't holding down any fluids, and didn't have any dinner either. We huddled together and decided that we would wait until the morning to see if his condition would improve further. However, just before dinner, the student came to us to tell us that he wasn't feeling any better and wanted to get off the mountain. It was probably the best decision for him because any further up, evacuating him would've require greater logistics (via helicopter) as it was the last camp where evacuation by road would be possible. 


While his gear was being packed up, Paul (our local chief guide) administered oxygen, and some of the local guides were summoned to help with the evacuation. Swee Chiow, myself and my colleague set off with the local guides who were holding on to the student as they skilfully maneuvered him quickly over the rocks to get to the ranger station on a very blustery night, with just the headlamps for illumination. Following the local guides, I was full of admiration of the skills of the guides. When we returned to the hotel after the 7 days and I managed to speak to the student, I asked him if he was exerting much effort and he said that he felt as if he was floating along as the guides helped him along. Seeing how dehydrated the student was that night, it was really worrying, but he was still lucid as he was still able to laugh at a lame joke that I made. 


After the student was evacuated and sent off to the hospital in Moshi for observation, we were joking on the way back that we were having our rehearsal for the summit attempt. And to be honest, it was really a rehearsal for me as I eventually used the same kit for the summit attempt. I had a chance to experience the blustery cold wind which was to be expected on summit day, and I was pleased to find that I was well protected. By the time we got back to camp, it was almost 2am and I was really tired (mentally) and I collapsed into my tent, mindful of the demands of the following day: the high climb to Lava Tower (4630m) for acclimatisation, and then descending down to Barranco Camp to sleep low. It was going to be a long day.

Here's my readings for the day:

Total calories used: 4935calories
Max heart rate: 145bpm
Average heart rate: 128bpm