Reflections on the top of the world....Uhuru Peak 5895m (pt 2)

On the passage up to Uhuru peak, despite the extraordinary sense of exhaustion, we saw only a few signs that the dreaded AMS (Altitude Sickness) had got a real hold tonight.   Sure, on the way up we passed the occasional dark patches on the stones where noses had burst, and even the odd sign of sickness on the route.   But there were few casualties moving in the wrong direction, and overall, tonight in the battle between mountain and climbers....climbers looked to have won!!

Nelson, and Dominic, their teams, and our fantastic porters had prepared us well.  The Lemosho route we took was tough, but actually included plenty of time to rest, and plenty of opportunity to climb high, and sleep low...a key part in ensuring that we were as prepared as we could be. 

The advice we were given to drink loads, walk slow, and to eat everything we could physically manage was taken by most of the group...our result 15 of 16 to Stella Point, and 14 to Uhuru.  It pays to listen, when you have people around you with over 120 climbs to their name.   In our group we had a few headaches, and the odd nosebleed on the way, and for Richard, and Tim who at times struggled to eat as much as they may have liked, it was an exceptionally hard night, but ultimately successful. 

Tim, who had been encouraged by Son, and photographer Jacob all week was remarkable, despite being only partially sighted, and suffering with illness on the trip throughout, he managed to get himself to Stella Point, before being advised by the Doc that his race was run.... but he is a winner for sure, in a big way.   Richard too, who had 24 hours of nausea around day 3/4 was a victim of complete exhaustion, after we reached Uhuru.  The remainder of his trip would be complete with the help of our amazing porters, who supported him down. 

At the top it was a balmy -17 to -20 degrees.  Huge glaciers surround the top, fabulous colours, like marble extend through them.  We spent almost 20 minutes enjoying the world from 5895m, and the walk back around the rim to Stella Point was almost fun, suddenly some of the tiredness, and breathlessness was abating. 

Going down, we are not restricted to the path that we followed on the way up, and for long stretches we go down "off piste" down steep ash slopes, like sand dunes.  Jacob,  forever full of energy positively ran down some of these slopes, but for most of us, this was a knee busting fight, as we tried to ensure we remained upright, and did not slip on the scree.

Innocence, my own water man, took my bag, which was bliss!!  What a difference it made, and he accompanied me all the way down, and back to our camp at Barafu.  Gradually, as we decended my water began to thaw out, so I was able to drink too, which felt fantastic!!   It does not take long before, with the sun now high in the sky the temperature also soon heats up, meaning layers come off, and bags, which started empty get heavier with coat, and fleece.  

It took us just around 3.5 hours to get back to Barafu, where were would spend an hour to relax, pack our sleeping bags, and mats for the rest of the day's hike, and enjoy some much needed lunch of potato stew.   It's amazing how little now I thought of the achievement of our day.  Despite everything, complete exhaustion was my only thought, and it would be a day or so later before it would sink in.

Our day would not end until we finally reached Millenium camp, at just 3800m, a further 3 hours steeply downhill from Barafu.   In one day we had gone from 4600m to 5895m and now down to 3800m.   At the end of it, my knees were completely shot to pieces.  7 hours stomping downhill, was surely much harder than 7 hours creeping up?

At millenium, I slept!!  In fact, apart from an hour or so for dinner when I was shaken awake by Dominic, I slept from around 15:00hrs on the 24th all the way through until 06:00hrs on the 25th!!