Day 41 2/24/99: Western Breach Wall/Inner Crater (18,500')
Next morning we woke up at 5a.m. for our big day.
One thing nice about my digital camera was that I was able to hold the camera at an arm's
length and take a self-portrait with Theresa. Note that we had our headlamps on since it
was still pitch-black dark outside.
We had breakfast at 6a.m. Tell me, does this look
like a group ready to hike for close to 9 hours in order to conquer the Western Breach
Wall or ready to go back to bed? You be the judge. :-)
I had a much better view of Kibo's Western Breach
Wall--a massive block of stone on the southwestern edge of Kibo-- now there was no fog
this morning! So exactly how were we going to get to the top? Climb up the glacier? Climb
up the sheer cliff? Sorry, we did not bring ropes, pitons, and crampons; so we have to
find another way...
The answer was the Western Breach. You can see
the switch-back trail faintly in the middle of the picture as it winds up the steep hill.
According to "Kilimanjaro & Mount Kenya: A Climbing and Trekking Guide,"
this route is also known as the Arrow Glacier Route (since we start from the Arrow Glacier
Camp) and the Great Western Arch (since it's a long, western approach from Arrow Glacier
to Uhuru Peak).
Let's rock and roll. You will find out why on this day I was most worried about Theresa
falling hundreds of feet to her death--what was I going to tell her parents and our dog
Rondo if I came home alone, but at the same time I also had the most fun out of all 9 days
of hiking. It was a great day.
Was Greg having second thoughts about our Western
Breach Wall hike? :-) So we started our long and steep climb at 7:00a.m. I was always
impressive that every day each fourteen of us got ready to start at about the same time.
We never had to wait for anyone in order to get started despite the fact that we had to
get up early, wash up, have breakfast and pack up.
After 36 minutes of hiking, we made good
progress. We had a nice view of Mt Meru toward our back. We also had a great view of this
ice fall on our right. Sorry for the blur on the lower-right hand corner. I must have had
my heavy fleece gloves on--it was pretty cold.
At 7:41 in the morning, I looked back and down.
Can you see our tiny tents below?
I was happy that we are hiking during the
daytime. There were other people using other tour companies. They camped at Arrow Glacier
also. However, they had to get up at 12 o'clock midnight and started hiking then! In fact
in the morning when it was still dark I saw several trekkers wearing headlamps
slowly making their way up the mountain in the dark. Their long and exhausting day
involves climbing the Western Breach, getting to Uhuru peak in the morning, and then
descending via either the Mweka or the Marangu routes. All in one day! We were lucky,
because we get to hike during the day, camped beside the glacier one more night, and then
reach the summit.
Here was Lois. Was she looking green? Actually, she was doing
just fine. I touched up this photo because it was hopelessly back-lit, even with my
fill-flash turned on. It was so cold that even Samia (below Lois to the right) had a heavy
jacket on and had the hood on as well.
This is scree, which is similar to gravel. Some
are large rocks; some are small pebbles. Doing the rest step was our only hope of making
upward and forward progress on this loose material. I'm thankful that my hiking boots
worked out great.
Up and up. Theresa was using both of her hiking
poles. I think even Samia was impressed by Theresa's perseverance.
Lois said: "I'm the Queen of the Hill."
Did Lois celebrate too early? We've only hiked for 1 and 1/2 hour so far. Let's see how
she felt at 3:30 in the afternoon after more than eight hours of hiking.
Here is a three-frame
panoramic that I took at 8:40a.m. as we look down and back. Mt Meru is at the center right
of this picture. The Shira Plateau lies below us to the right. We hiked and camped and
hiked on it for the last 5 days and nights. Was all that hiking worth it to get to this
point? I thought so.
A rocky cliff as we looked left while we were
hiking up the Western Breach Wall.
Another view of the Shira Plateau. There were
some ice around us.
At 8:45a.m we arrived at the ridge trail over
large boulders. Hiking now involved scrambling, which is defined as requiring use of hands
while ascending. I never bothered to tell Theresa about this section of the trail. I never
explained about scrambling. I was so afraid that if I had told her the truth
previously, she would have turned back! Actually, Theresa was a brave soul. She never
batted an eye at the boulders that were taller than her--okay, okay, maybe she blinked a
few times and swallowed hard once. She pressed on.
The scree was actually a little bit frozen as there was still
so snow and ice on it.
At 9:35a.m. the sky was crystal clear and the sun
was relentless. I was glad that we had SPF 50 Sunblock and also our wide-rim shade hat on.
Do you think Theresa was mad at me? Was she
thinking, "Stephen, you did not tell me about this Western Breach Wall! What is this
ridiculous thing about scrambling? It sure feels like technical mountain climbing to me.
Where is my rope? You owe me one." Or was she thinking, "Stephen, you took a big
bite out of MY cookie--you selfish pig!"
Theresa was smart, because she never looked down.
Later on she admitted that she was worried that if she looked down she would freeze right
then and there on the mountain. Look how far she could have fallen if she took a wrong
step or lost her grip.
How was Lois doing? She did not seem to be
celebrating anymore. :-)
After Anne went up, it was Theresa's turn to
scramble. To be honest, Theresa was able to get up on some of these boulders only because
some of the guides were there to pull her up.
"Hum, how should I get up this boulder?
Where is my jet pack? I need to fly up this Western Breach Wall." Fog also rolled in
since 10:30a.m.
This is the Western Breach Wall. Do you see a
trail anywhere?
Anne was smiling.
Theresa was smiling. I had a big smile from ear
to ear. Why? I had a ball. It was great fun scrambling over these rocks--as long as you
don't look down.
It was important for us to keep drinking because we lost a lot of water due to the
evaporation at high altitude as well as our exertion. We rather lose our fluid through
evaporation and sweat because going to the bathroom on the Western Breach was difficult
for a man and just about impossible for a woman. Hey, remember, this was adventure travel.
Exciting scrambling for Liza and Theresa, but I
was having a heart attack for worrying about Theresa's safety. (Okay, I'm just
exaggerating. Theresa did great.)
Lunch at 12:17a.m. was great. I devoured
everything in sight. I ate sausages, crackers, bread, and cheese. Why was there toilet
paper? By now we had ran out of napkins, and we were using toilet paper as napkins. You
see, a grocery store was not exactly conveniently located near the top of the mountain. As
hard as Theresa looked, she still was not able to find a Starbuck coffee store that can
sell her a cup Caramel Machiato. :-)
From the place where we had lunch the summit
plateau did not look far. Just a few minutes, right?
Alas, it was an optical illusion as we were still
not at the top after more than an hour of hiking in the afternoon. Were we tired? Just ask
Liza. I wonder what was going through Liza's mind? Liza, I hope that you don't mind too
much that I posted this picture on the Internet so millions of people could be seeing you
and realizing just how much fun it could be to hike Kili :-) Honestly, I was taking this
picture of Anne, Theresa, and Lois, and you happened to be in my picture by accident.
However, what a great picture to capture the spirit of the Western Breach Wall!
I was having such a great time. I was joking to
Samia that I was ready to sign up as an assistant guide for the next trip. Pretty amazing
recovery. It seemed like it was just yesterday that I was puking on the Shira Plateau.
Unfortunately, Samia told me that the only openings were for porters. I think I'll keep my
job at Intel. :-)
2:12p.m. "Are we there yet," asked
Theresa. We have been hiking since 7:00a.m, and the summit plateau looked tantalizingly
close.
2:34p.m. Theresa exclaimed, "We are almost
at the top of the summit plateau."
2:37p.m. We were at the summit plateau. We made
it up the Western Breach Wall. At that moment we thought we had conquered the most
difficult part of the hike--we could not have been more wrong. I'll let you know why a
little later. For now, it was time to celebrate!
We were
rewarded by the view of the glacier, such as this four-frame panoramic picture of the
Northern icefield. Well, it may not have been the Northern icefield, but I was too
deliriously happy to ask.
I would say that this is a picture with a
dramatic background.
Another picture of the glacier.
Here is the "Snow and Ice of
Kilimanjaro."
Theresa and Samia in front of the Furtwangler
Glacier.
Anne was having a good time.
Lois and Liza. Still friends after hiking and
camping together for the past 7 days even though they had to share a cramped little tent.
:-)
We finally arrived at our unforgettable camp next
to the magnificent Furtwangler glacier at 18,500' on the Summit Plateau. You can see the
faint trail in the center-right of the picture that we would be taking tomorrow morning to
reach the final summit: Uhuru Peak. Man, I could not wait. I was so pumped and feeling
great that I was ready to go for the summit right then and there. Well, I really could not
deviate from the itinerary, but if I could skip a freezing night on this mountain...
What was so memorable about this camp? Was it the freezing cold--our water bottles
froze even though they were inside our tent near our body? Was it camping next to the
glacier? Was it that we were so close to the summit? Was it that the cook woke up at 3a.m.
the next morning in order to boil water and cook breakfast because water takes a long time
to boil at high altitude; the cook and the porters were loud and woke everyone up? Well,
the funny thing was that the wooden seat was not placed in the toilet tent because the
seat will sink in the scree/volcanic soil! How did we go to bathroom? I think it's better
that I don't write about everything on the WEB. I'll just have to leave it up to your
imagination. :-)
Tomorrow we would attempt to summit. Could we finally reach the top? I could hardly
wait...
Click here for tomorrow's adventure and find out whether we made it
to the top 
