Climbing Kilimanjaro - Day 6, Part One
Summit night. It has arrived.
We started stirring around 11pm and began to gather our things in preparation for our summit attempt of Mount Kilimanjaro. Throughout the night the wind never ceased, never provided a moment of respite from the noise it created, and we had only pockets of sleep. I woke with butterflies in my stomach and a massive mix of emotions for what was ahead of us. After five full days of trekking, we’d arrived at the summit night. I’d been pushing this night out of my mind for the entire trip to stay in the present moment and not build up any unnecessary fear or anxiety about the summit attempt. But now the day had arrived, and it was the only thing occupying my mind.
Wear Every Layer You Can
For summit night, I wore a lightweight and a midweight pair of baselayer tights and my hiking pants (with my rain pants in my pack), my heavy mountaineering socks with a toe warmer stuck to the top of my foot, my sports bra (also with warmers stuck to it), a lightweight and a midweight baselayer, a midweight pullover, my puffy jacket, and my GoreTex outer shell for rain/wind. On my head I wore a balaclava and a beanie, both held in place by my headlamp. I had on a pair of glove liners, then hand warmers, followed by heavy GoreTex mittens that removed all dexterity and mobility of my hands, but they were warm.
Dressed and determined to be as relentless as the wind, we packed the rest of our items we wouldn’t need into our duffels. After the summit climb we’d return to camp where we could rest and shed some layers, so the duffels were going to remain in the tent while we were on our summit journey. Extra snacks, hand warmers, and layers inside our packs, we made our way to the mess tent for our final, pre-summit briefing. We had chosen this specific night to make our climb to the summit because it was a full moon, and we thought climbing under its light would add to the experience. Unfortunately for us, it was a completely cloudy night and the moon’s light was hidden from us.
When we arrived at the mess tent, Katie and Kim had their rain pants on already, but Danny and I chose poorly and thought our two base layers and thick hiking pants would be sufficient. We had our rain pants in our packs in case we needed them, and guess what - we would need them sooner than later. The lesson here is to do exactly what your guides tell you when on the Kilimanjaro trek. Abuu also made a clear point to only carry absolute necessities in our bags to make them lighter. They would carry tea, snacks, our water bottles (in the imminent reality that our water bladders would freeze), and an oxygen tank if any of us required it.
“I’m Not Going To Lie, This Weather Is Terrible.”
As we arrived at the mess tent for our briefing, we had a small breakfast of tea and biscuits. Abuu said we wouldn’t have a large breakfast because altitude can make you nauseated and he didn’t want any of us throwing up a large breakfast along the way. As we nibbled on some food and drank our tea, it was about midnight and officially Day Six at this point. Abuu and LuLu came into the tent for our morning health check and while we didn’t document our blood oxygen levels or heart rate on our sheet, from what I remember my blood oxygen was in the low 80s. After taking all of our readings, he wasn’t heavily concerned about any of us and we continued with the briefing. Abuu told us the climb to the summit would take anywhere between 6 hours and 8 hours depending on our speed and how often we stopped. Based on our previous days of hiking, we planned to be on the longer end of that estimation.
Abuu had been positive and unconcerned by the weather thus far, but at this point we could see it in his face that this weather we were hiking into was far from good. With him saying, “This weather is terrible, just terrible”, we weren’t left inspired for the climb ahead but he reassured us that it was more than possible for every one of us to reach the summit and achieve our dream. I remember at this point he had no gloves on his hands, and we asked him where they were. He said he didn’t have any, and we all quickly offered a pair of ours before he said, “I just hike with my hands in my pockets.” If climbing the tallest freestanding mountain in the world with hands in pockets doesn’t show you the elite level of physical fitness and endurance of our guides, nothing can.
We stepped out of the tent and started getting ourselves pumped up. I was approaching the day like a game, getting myself amped up in whatever way I needed to - jumping around, dancing, punching fist into palm, sharing words of encouragement with my fellow Altitoots. We all huddled up and did the call and response chant of Hip! (Hop!) Hip! (Hop!) Nonstop! (To the top!) Nonstop (To the top!) a couple of times, got ourselves smiling wide, and then began our climb out of camp.
Could This Wind Be Any More Aggressive?
As we climbed out of Barafu Camp, we passed other groups preparing themselves for their own journeys to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. We soon passed a smaller camp, Kosovo Camp, that some groups opt to sleep at instead of Barafu Camp. This camp is a bit higher, more exposed, and closer to the true start of the trail so it’s a benefit for some. As we passed the camp, it was deserted - everyone had already made their way onto the trail to begin climbing up, up, up - and many of the tents were blown sideways or completely collapsed from the wind.
Once we got past Kosovo Camp, we were hiking on a slab of rock that was mostly smooth with only a few changes of texture every few meters. We all had our trekking poles attached to our wrists, but on this type of surface the poles were more likely to spark from the clashing of metal-on-rock than they were likely to keep us stable. Thankfully there were three porters, in addition to Abuu and LuLu, that came with us on the summit attempt to help us however we needed. Bakari, Joseph, and Julius were the porters that were by our side, literally keeping us upright as the wind smashed into our right side over and over again. I’m not sure how they assisted the rest of my team, but for me, whenever a gust of wind would come I would feel a hand on my left shoulder, holding me steady as we continued walking forward. The wind was out with a vengeance and it was going to make us work 10x as hard to reach the summit.
You’re probably tired of me talking about how windy it was during this trek. Well, you won’t stop hearing about it for the rest of this post. The wind was our fifth team member, always by our side, except instead of wanting to win, it was trying to throw the game. However fast you think the wind was blowing, it was faster.
We continued climbing up the rock face, unsure of whether we were on a trail or not, and soon came to the official trail that started the seemingly neverending switchbacks to the summit. It was about this time that our porter, Joseph, started to feel really bad and had to be taken back down the mountain by Julius, leaving Bakari as the sole porter to support us alongside Abuu and LuLu. We hiked in a single file line - Abuu, Kim, me, Katie, Danny, and Lulu was our order - spaced about a foot apart. It was probably around 2am at this point, and as I looked up the mountain, all I saw were lines of small lights, the headlamps of hikers ahead of us, growing ever smaller as they climbed higher.
How Lucky Are We To Be Alive Right Now?
Soon the rain, sleet, and ice started and Danny and I realized our mistake in not wearing our rain pants from the beginning. We had to step off the trail and get our pants on and put our pack covers on. All geared up (properly this time), we got back in line and continued climbing. I had my AirPods in my belt bag but with my mittens on there was no way I’d be able to manage getting those small buds into my ears, not to mention the high chance of them being blown from my hands. For a while I was singing the musical Hamilton out loud. It was so windy (have I mentioned it was windy?) that no one could hear me anyways, so I had little dance parties by myself and got really into performing “The Schuyler Sisters” while hiking. This enthusiasm lasted maybe 30 minutes before I felt myself becoming fatigued with the worsening weather that appeared with every step. My performance was over.
Singing was no longer cutting it - it was time to bring in the big guns, aka my mantras. Over and over and over, for hours on end, I would repeat to myself:
I am strong.
I am capable.
I am prepared.
I am relentless.
I WILL summit.
Sometimes I would get them out of order, or I’d forget which one came next, but I never missed the last one - I WILL SUMMIT. I would create new mantras as my mind saw fit and then I would fall back into the rhythm of my consistent five. I was so focused on repeating these five mantras to myself, and so focused on taking the next step, that I got myself into a deep flow state. It wasn’t until we stopped for our first planned break that I realized I had been in flow state for so long. Someone had asked Abuu how long we’d been climbing, and I was fully prepared for him to say it’d been about 2 to 2.5 hours of climbing. Then he said, “We’ve been climbing for 5.5 hours, we have less than 3 to go.” If my face wasn’t frozen, my mouth would’ve dropped open in pure shock. Had I blacked out for 3 of the hours before this moment? At first I was a little scared and wondered whether I was being affected by the altitude as we were well over 17,000 feet at this point. Then I took a breath and realized that I felt strong overall and I didn’t have any reason for fear. After I pushed the sense of danger from my mind, I realized I had put myself in a peak flow state.
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of a flow state, it’s when you are doing something that is interesting and just challenging enough that you stay so focused, you lose track of time. Another way to look at it is being “in the zone”. In my case, I talked myself through three hours of climbing without realizing it. The words you use to speak to yourself are so important and can transform yourself and your life. The words I used to speak to myself literally got me to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. When you speak to yourself with encouragement, power, strength, and love, you will radically alter your life.
3 Hours To Uhuru Peak
While I processed that we were less than 3 hours from the summit, our guides sat us down on some rocks and gave us each a glass of hot ginger tea and a cookie. I was honestly pissed that we were stopping to sit down when we were becoming popsicles with every passing moment and I feared my muscles would tighten if I didn’t keep moving. Some of us took the time to get fresh hand warmers, drink some tea, and realign our thoughts for the final three hours of the climb. By this time the mouth piece to my water bladder had frozen solid, so I had to get some water from my bottle that Bakari was carrying along with everyone else’s water bottles, tea, and snacks. Back on the trail, the wind continued to whip into us and at one point, the handkerchief I had attached to my shoulder straps blew clean off. It ended up being a sacrifice to the mountain, for it was never seen again.
During the break described above, we sit on rocks while the weather grows increasingly angrier. We are already covered in a layer of ice and it will continue to thicken as we climb.
As we continued to climb I continued to repeat my mantras, over and over and over. Light was slowly filling the sky as the sun started rising, and while the fog became a little lighter we still had no visibility. About two hours later after the sky began to lighten, we reached Stella Point, which sits at 18,885 feet, less than 500 feet below Uhuru Peak. Many people choose to stop at Stella Point and call their summit climb complete, but we didn’t go that far to only go that far. We were going all the way to Uhuru Peak.
Moments of Doubt
Throughout the entire climb to Stella Point, I didn’t have any doubt that I was going to make it to the top. Once we got to Stella Point, our guides had us take another break for more ginger tea and snacks. We were all so exhausted and wondering why we were being given a frozen muffin and told to sit down when we were so close to the top. At this point I was dehydrated, my hand warmers were fading, and I was getting a persistent cramp in my right hamstring. This was the moment that I questioned whether I had enough in me to make it another hour and climb another 500 feet. I had made it so far, and I wasn’t sure if I could keep going. I chose not to share this doubt with my team, not even with Danny, for we all had our own battles we were fighting and no one else needed to carry some of my doubt.
Our final resting spot at Stella Point, 18,885 feet
In full transparency, one of the reasons I made it to the top was because of my pride and my ego. I had been talking about this journey for a year, I had shared it with everyone I knew, and there was NO WAY I was going to go back home without reaching the summit. There was absolutely no outcome for me that didn’t end in me standing at Uhuru Peak. So when Abuu looked at me and asked, “Michelle, are you feeling good enough to make it to Uhuru Peak?” I put on my best fake smile and said, “Yep, absolutely.” I don’t think Abuu fully believed it and at that point, neither did I. But I dug deep inside, to the depths of my soul and my strength, and started putting one foot in front of the other. Uhuru Peak or bust.
Reaching Uhuru Peak at 19,341 feet
The hike from Stella Point to Uhuru Peak was about an hour and included less than 500 feet of elevation gain. We hiked on a narrow path between these incredible ice formations that we first thought were ice covered rocks. The shape of the landscape made it feel like we were in a jagged ridge of rock, while we were really walking amongst an ice field. The sun was now in the sky, yet it remained completely cloudy as we walked through a world of white. We passed a few groups coming down the mountain, already having achieved their goal, everyone remaining focused on their task.
This is all ice along the ridge to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.
My hamstrings were cramping up with almost every step and I felt my nemesis returning - heartburn! It was about this time I realized that the ginger tea was also causing me issues. This explained why I got heartburn on Day Four as well (if you remember from that post, my heartburn returned after we had ginger tea atop the Baranco Wall and at the time, I didn’t know what caused it). Pushing through all the fatigue and pain, I could see the summit sign growing larger in the distance. The summit of Kilimanjaro does not come to a point and there isn’t a specific spot to stand that is clearly higher than everything else. The summit of Kilimanjaro is more of a large, flat area where you can walk around and (on a clear day) view glaciers, ash pits, craters, and see Mount Meru in the distance. As it was still completely cloudy and foggy, we had no views of our surroundings and could only take in what was immediately in front of us.
Once we walked out onto the official summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, I felt my eyes warming with tears. After a year of training and preparing, I had done it. I had summited the world’s tallest freestanding mountain alongside my husband and two dear friends. We all made it, and we all celebrated in our own ways. My tears flowed for a few minutes before turning to ice in my lashes and on my face, and I took a moment to record a brief video of myself. Covered in ice, my headlamp frozen to my head, I shared how much work went into achieving this goal. I was so proud of myself. I’m still proud of myself and always will be.
The video I took upon reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Picture Or It Didn’t Happen
After we all had our moments of private celebration, we came together in a group hug with tears of joy and relief and congratulations to all. As we were all covered in ice, when we hugged each other everything crunched and snapped on our clothes - it was the greatest crunchy hug ever.
We got in line for pictures at the summit sign which was completely covered in ice and had what looked like flags off to the side. Turns out that was just ice that had been blown so cold and so aggressively that it froze horizontally off the sign. Nature truly is metal.
Team Altitoots having successfully summited the world’s tallest freestanding mountain at 19,341 feet above sea level. Left to Right: Danny, Michelle, Katie, Kim
We started off with our group picture, then peeled off for some smaller groups and single pictures. We were in awe of the moment, even though we couldn’t see anything past a few hundred feet.
After we returned and I would share this summit story with people, a common reply was, “That’s such a shame you couldn’t see anything,” or “Don’t you wish it was better weather?” The reply to those questions and thoughts is no, I don’t wish it was any different. It was exactly the summit experience we all needed and it was the one we got. I summited Mount Kilimanjaro in the worst weather my guide of 13+ years has ever experienced, and that is something I’m incredibly proud of. Through all the extra challenges the weather threw at us, we all made it to the top. We summited Mount Kilimanjaro, something less than 500,000 people in the world can say.
That Was Fun, Let’s Leave
We were at the summit about 15 minutes before we left to start our descent. After six days of trekking and climbing and fatigue and doubts, we spent 15 minutes at the top. We knew we wouldn’t spend a long time there, which is one of the main reasons we chose not to think about summit day until it was upon us. Imagine if I had only thought of standing on the summit during the six days prior. Imagine if reaching the summit was the only thing that mattered on this trip. Imagine those things, then imagine standing there for all of 15 minutes before leaving. If I had approached it in this mindset, reaching the summit would have been a major letdown. All that work for 15 minutes?!
Thankfully, we had a plan in place where we focused only on the present day. Instead of the summit being the best moment of the trip, it is part of a large group of incredible moments I will never forget. It was a beautiful reminder that while goals are important, it’s more important not to lose sight of the beauty along the journey.
Hearts full and bodies fatiguing, I soaked in a last look at the summit sign and turned around to start the 5000 foot descent back to Base Camp.
Starting our descent after summiting Kilimanjaro. The day is only half done!
But Wait, There’s More! Day Six, Part Two…
We reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro - success! What few people talk about is how brutal the descent is on this day. For every foot we climbed up we would have to come down, and we had already been strenuously hiking for 8 hours that day. With wobbly legs, soft dirt, and menacing landscapes, we made our way down the mountain to our Base Camp before continuing even further down the mountain to our final camp of the trek.
Stay tuned for the continuation of Day Six and stories of what happens when your icy body starts to melt, hiking through slate fields, the news of a fatality on the mountain, and the welcomed return of the mysterious pied crows.
Day Six, Part One Stats
Day Six starting elevation at Barafu Camp: 15,091 feet
Day Six elevation at Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro: 19,341 feet
Hiking distance: 3.1 miles, 4248 feet of elevation gain
Highs and Lows
These will come in Part Two!
Health Checks
Morning Check at 12am - Blood oxygen: 80ish | Heart rate: 90ish
Note To Reader
If you are reading this purely for entertainment, awesome! This disclaimer does not apply to you. If you are reading this in preparation for your own climb of Kilimanjaro, it’s important for me to note the following things. Before my climb of Kilimanjaro:
I was living in Colorado at an elevation of 5350 feet above sea level
I was in excellent physical condition and was 36 years old
I did not smoke, rarely drank alcohol and did not have any for two months prior to the trip, and did not have any other medical issues
I had been hiking to elevations above 12,000 feet for years and hiked in the mountains every weekend for three months before the trek
I physically trained for a year before my trek through cardio and weight training at OrangeTheory Fitness
I had a lot of gear already, although I did purchase a lot
Why do I include this information? Because research will be a part of your trip preparation and you’ll most likely read a lot of blog posts like this. A trend that I saw in my own research was that people didn’t include their personal background before giving advice or recaps of their own trip. To best understand my experience, I want to give you a basic understanding of me as a human, and the benefits I had before embarking on this journey. This may help you better prepare for and relate to the experiences I had along the trail.