Kilimanjaro, viewed from a distance, is a magnificent looking mountain – oval shaped, hugely tall, with lush greenery at its base, a circlet of cloud around its shoulders, and a cap of iced glaciers. Amazingly, the snows of Kilimanjaro exist only a few degrees south of the equator, and on an active volcano, still warm and sulphurous in its ash cone. No wonder it has drawn adventurers for many years, after being first climbed in the mid-1800s, and first summitted, by Hans Meyer, in 1891.
Kilimanjaro is in fact a three-peaked volcano. The highest cone, in the centre, is called Kibo (5895m) and is the focus of climbers. To the east is Mawenzi (5149m), still a high and challenging peak. The highest point on Mawenzi cannot be reached by mere trekkers and is only rarely visited by mountain climbers. To the west was the third cone, that of Shira, long since collapsed and eroded away, leaving the extensive Shira Plateau, a fine trekking area. Apart from being the highest cone, Kibo has an extra attraction – the glaciers, the famous ‘snows of Kilimanjaro’. Many people have heard that Kilimanjaro’s glaciers are disappearing. Records show that in the mid 1800s, when someone first climbed to the snow line, it was encountered at around 4000 metres. Today the snows begin at around 5000 metres. A great goal of many climbers – including me - is to see the snows of Kilimanjaro before they disappear forever.
But climbing the mountain is no walk in the park. Only a little research reveals many horror stories of jaunty young trekkers knocked off their feet by the effort - the tedious slog up the rocky volcanic scree, the headaches and fatigue common at high altitude, the sheer hard work.
Kilimanjaro has attracted all kinds of nutty adventurers. Since you don’t need climbing expertise to attempt it, many crazy people have used the mountain to set records that would be just plain silly if they didn’t also take incredible endurance. Take the feat of Bruno Brunod, an Italian, who in 2001 ranup Kilimanjaro in five hours 36 minutes and 38 seconds. Not surprisingly, he has been described as ‘barking mad’. And he wasn’t the only one to make unorthodox summit attempts. A pair of English cousins cycled up the mountain with only Mars Bars for sustenance, strapped to their handlebars. A crazy Spaniard drove a motorbike to the summit in the seventies. But the winner of the crazy stakes is possibly Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, who went all the way to the top in a rubber rhinoceros costume as a stunt for charity in 1994. There is also a story of a man walking all the way up backwards, in an effort to set a record for the Guinness Book, only to find that someone had beaten him by doing the same thing four days previously.
Henry Stedman’s guide book Kilimanjaro – The Trekking Guide To Africa’s Highest Mountainbecame my preferred source of information and stories about climbing Kilimanjaro. Stedman refers to these crazy adventurers, but goes on rather more seriously:
… it’s no wonder, given the sheer number of people who have climbed Kili over the past century, and the ways in which they’ve done so, that so many people believe that climbing Kili is a doddle. And you’d be forgiven for thinking the same.
You’d be forgiven – but you’d also be wrong. Whilst these stories of successful expeditions tend to receive a lot of coverage, they also serve to obscure the tales of suffering and tragedy that often go with them. To give you just one example: for all the coverage of the Millennium celebrations, when over 7000 people stood on the slopes of Kilimanjaro during New Year’s week – with over 1000 on New Year’s Eve alone – little mention was made of the fact that well over a third of all the people who took part in those festivities failed to reach the summit, or indeed get anywhere near it. Or that another 33 had to be rescued. Or that, in the space of those seven days, three people died.
Sobering. So what was mymotivation for leaving safe and sunny Sydney, travelling for two days to Tanzania, and attempting to climb Kilimanjaro myself? It’s a difficult question to answer because the response lies as much in emotional reaction, some deep and mysterious feeling, as it does in logic. To see and touch the famous, transient and almost mythic glaciers – that was a big drawcard. To share another adventure with my trekking buddies, whom I knew from experience would be supportive and enthusiastic, was also a fun prospect. Spending time outdoors, feeling self-reliant and enjoying nature, scenery, mountains, and weather – all attractive. But why Kilimanjaro? Why so high? Certainly there had to be an element of wanting to bag the iconic peak, of being able to say to myself and everyone else that I’d done it. Knocked the bastard off, as Hillary said of Everest. But was I particularly driven by a competitive sporting spirit? Maybe a little.
Australia is a flat country, its tallest mountains being barely more than swellings of the plains. Yet high mountains exert a visceral pull on me. My first glimpse of very tall snow-capped peaks was a seminal moment. I was on a train in Switzerland and the Alps hove into view. I had to bring my head down to knee level and look upwards through the train window to see the tops of the mountains. I was overawed. In the course of the years, travelling, camping, walking and hiking in the (relatively) untouched parts of the world has been the source of my most precious moments of contentment. A contemplative few minutes sitting in nature, preferably in silence, preferably with a sweeping and improbably gorgeous view spread before me, is more than a hiker’s rest. The moment can warm that little spiritual flame inside and the world in that moment is precious, explicable and completely right. Somewhere inside of me I seem to have taken to heart the words of the Psalmist learnt by rote in my childhood Sunday School class: ‘I lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help …’
And there’s a more practical element, too. Stretching myself, getting out of my comfort zone, proving I can attempt an unlikely adventure, is quietly satisfying. Quite simply, it makes me feel alive. And it also makes me feel and believe that anything is possible. Anything at all. That’s quite a feeling. No wonder then that I eagerly planned to exchange my feather-down bed and quiet back garden for a sleeping bag and tent on the rocky ground of a dry and cold mountainside in Africa. For eight nights and nine days. Without plumbing.
Chapter 4: The Training Continues
Neil, Jimmy and I climbed Roland in January. In February, despite being keen to power on with my training program, I had time only for an excursion nearer to home. I had also begun to feel inexplicably unwell and lethargic with unexplained aches and pains and muscular weakness. This was certainly bad news, with Kilimanjaro only a few months away. The climb was planned for September.
Fortunately I found a friendly chiropractor named Debra, who quickly set to rights the niggling backache I was experiencing. When I described my slight but annoying symptoms, Debra suggested I consult a naturopath.
I turned up to see Caroline with her questionnaire all filled out, including admitting to some unhealthy eating habits. After some fascinating tests, including a live blood analysis (were those really my own red and white blood cells floating about on the monitor?) Caroline promised that she could cure my symptoms and make me feel younger than my age and fighting fit. Provided I did as she said. In addition to keeping up resistance training, I was to cut out caffeine, alcohol and wheat, lower dairy and eat protein every meal and add in lots of vegetables, broccoli, blueberries and lemon juice. She also issued me with some supplements, including a magnesium powder. I can’t in all honesty say that I managed to stick rigidly to Caroline’s regime, but I did adopt enough of it to begin feeling well and lively again. After a bit of cursing, I became a devotee of her approach and kept up a semblance of the plan for quite some time. I learnt to prefer rye bread to wheat bread, cut down if not eliminate alcohol, and abandon cappuccinos. I thought of it as a sacrifice for the goal of Kili’s summit. I now had a little team – Debra and Caroline plus Steve at the gym – to help keep my health on track.
So, back to the training regime. For February I headed to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney for a weekend day hike. As the car climbed higher into