Monday, January 12th
Good morning!! 3:30am comes fast and cold on the mountain. Everyone layered up to a point of minimal movement like Ralphie’s little brother in “A Christmas Story”. A quick breakfast of hot porridge in the tent and we were ready to go! Well, almost. As much as we all are excited to be here and to help the kids in Tanzania, a cold, early morning start is still cold, and early. Helmets were distributed as we would be traversing through the “Danger Zone” this morning – or as I preferred to call it, the fluffy kitten.
“Pole, pole” (take it slowly) the guides continued to tell us as we embarked up the dark, rocky trail known as the Western Breach. The only light coming from our headlamps and the half-moon that shined down on us, we really had no idea what was in store for us.
We call ourselves trekkers, but this was some hard-core mountaineering. Up, up and up we went. Over rocks and snow, switchback after switchback. Sometimes climbing on hands and knees to get over a rock face. It’s hard to gauge the degree of incline, but going up was nearly insane, and nothing you’d want to have to go back down again.
By the time the sun started to rise above the rocky cliffs in front of us, most of us were in the middle of the face, battling the mountain and altitude. The incredibly strong men that they are, the porters soon caught up with us and a giant train of humans formed up the mountain. I’m blown away by their strength and dexterity. These men (one I saw wearing only Nike Air) carried a minimum of 40lbs on their backs, shoulders or on top of their heads up the Western Breach, as nimble as a mountain goat and as strong as an ox. Seriously.
Seven-and-a-half hours later, our whole team finally reached the summit of the breach (much to the delight of many who were pushed to their limit) and walked the last 10 minutes to camp.
Lucky for us, the sun was out for most of the day, and we were able to warm ourselves again. Some sat around camp and listened to Brett play guitar and teach the water guys a reggae song, while others nap in cozy tents, took a hike to the ash pit, or walked over to the nearby glacier cave for some photo opportunities.
The biggest thrill for us all were the hot water bottles that were distributed at the end of dinner. To have something to warm your sleeping bags on a freeeeeeeezing night is an absolute luxury!!! (opinions to the temperature vary from 10 to 20 degrees. Any way you put it, it was COLD.) We snuggled into our bags and mentally prepared ourselves for the 4:00am wake-up call and final 800’ ascent to the summit.