Tips to Reach Uhuru Peak, Kilimanjaro

Andrew and I successfully summited Mount Kilimanjaro, but it was much harder than I anticipated. Most of what I read in advance said Kili is a challenging hike but it doesn’t require special training or skills. I guess I would agree with that, but Andrew and I definitely did more training than I thought was necessary, and I’m glad we did. In addition, we picked up a couple tricks from our guide (that might have been mostly psychosomatic but either way I’m not complaining) and I brought a couple with me. For anyone embarking on the hike, I’d recommend all of the following.

Train More Than You Think You Should
A full nine months before we headed to Tanzania, Andrew had us on a training schedule. It consisted of one hike a week (on Saturday mornings for us), a weekly Body Pump class at the gym for general strength, swimming for cardio and lung capacity, yoga, and the stair climber at the gym. I thought he was going way overboard, but I’m so, so thankful he did, now that the climb is over.

Specifically, our weekly hikes were key. Three out of four Saturdays a month we’d do a random trail in Austin, but we ended up repeating River Place Nature Trail almost every week. It had the best ups and downs we found in town. The fourth Saturday we’d do the full, ten-mile loop around Lady Bird Lake to build up our stamina (we also biked there and back for some extra oomph). We carried daypacks with water on each hike, but the packs were much lighter than what we ended up climbing with. One thing I’d do differently is to add more weight to the pack to get used to it.

Rest Step
Dustin, our American guide, introduced us to the concept of rest step early in the hike. He said it’s something people do on much harder hikes (Mount Rainier all the way up to Everest), but that it would be helpful any time we were tired and going uphill. It was a little awkward to me, and it involved locking my knees, which I’m fundamentally opposed, but I gave it my best effort. You take a step uphill, plant your stepping foot, and then as your other leg follows, you lock out your standing knee. The idea is that your knee and hip in the standing leg take your body weight as your other leg steps so your muscles don’t tire as quickly. You don’t just do it once; you’re supposed to walk that way, on each leg with each step, for long uphill stretches. It felt really clunky and weird to me, but when Dustin would holler, “rest step!” I’d try my best to obey. I don’t know if it really helped me all that much, but knowing that a professional guide who has gotten people up much harder mountains than Kili believed in it was enough to keep me trying.

Pressure Breathing
This was the second trick Dustin introduced us to. Like rest step, he said people do it on harder hikes but that it would be valuable on Kilimanjaro when the altitude made breathing difficult. It’s really simple and easy to do, as long as you don’t mind looking and sounding like a lunatic around other hikers. You take in a deep breath and then exhale in at least three sharp, fast, audible breaths. It’s supposed to open up your lungs more and allow the bronchial tubes and lung surface to take in more oxygen. Andrew, Dustin, and I all randomly did it throughout the hike, and as soon as we heard one person exhaling loudly, we’d all join in. It was silly but also fortifying. I don’t know if it physically made much difference, but at 18,000 feet, it’s mostly a mental game anyway.

Meditation Tactics
Which brings me to a trick I brought with me to the mountain: meditation. I mentioned doing yoga as part of our routine training. Every Sunday we’d go to a yoga class at the gym and our instructor offered a short, guided meditation at the end of the hour session that people could stick around for it they were interested. I’ve always been curious about meditation, so I stayed every week she offered it. The most basic part I gleaned was to focus on my breathing, even to the point of thinking, “inhale, exhale” with every breath. She also gave us a little mantra to say to ourselves when our thoughts started wandering: “Not now, I’m breathing now.” Very basic stuff, but it got me up Kilimanjaro.

Around the second hour of summit day, I started hurting hardcore. I needed to focus on the basics to keep my mind off my misery, so I tied my breathing to my walking. One step with the right foot = one inhale. One step with the left foot = one exhale. (Yes, we really were walking that slowly!) And I actually thought to myself, “inhale, exhale,” with each step. When you’re making your brain say that, it can’t wander to other thoughts, like how cold it is or how much the mountain sucks or how you want to lay down and take a nap even if it means you’ll get hypothermia. Inhale, exhale. I literally thought that for hours on summit day. Hours. And when I couldn’t sustain that, I’d go to, “Not now, I’m walking now.” I’d feel exhausted and think of a nap, and I’d make myself say, “Not now, I’m walking now.” People would start singing loudly and I’d start to get angry but make myself say, “Not now, I’m walking now.” It all sounds very basic but fluffy at the same time, but if you actually commit your brain to the thoughts, it helps. At least it helped me.

Emergen-C (or any equivalent product)
I loved these little packets of magic on the trail. I was first introduced to them as a hiking aid on the Inca Trail, when one of my trail-mates gave me a packet to add to my water after I puked on the side of trail. When Andrew and I were planning for Kilimanjaro, we knew we would be using water-purifying tablets during the entire hike and that they would make our water taste funky. So I stocked up on packets of the pink-lemonade flavor to cover the taste. I also knew from the Inca Trail that altitude sickness is exponentially worse if you don’t drink enough water, so I didn’t want to give myself any reason to not stay hydrated. Toward the end of the hike I was sick of the packets and found the water tasted just fine without them, but they still got me through many days when I’m sure I wouldn’t have drank enough without them.

Diamox
Get altitude-sickness meds if you’re going hike Kilimanjaro! Just do it, even if you don’t think you’ll need them. It is so much better to have them and not use them then to get five days (and thousands of dollars) in and have to turn back because you’re ill. I started taking them on the second day at the lowest dose so I could add to it if necessary. And it was necessary. By the third day I was taking the lowest dose in the morning and again at night. Andrew stuck with the lowest dose once a day the entire time. Give yourself enough wiggle room to adjust for what your body needs. There’s no shame in taking it; altitude sickness is a beast. When we got back to our hotel in Moshi after the hike, we met a woman who had also just returned with her group. She told us that she made it to summit day, hiked about an hour, but then had to turn back because her altitude sickness was so bad that she was hallucinating trolls and other creatures on the trail. We commiserated and said we couldn’t have made it without our Diamox, to which she responded, “Oh, yeah, I had the pills with me but I didn’t want to take them.” What?? It seemed crazy to Andrew and me, but to each their own. (Except no, don’t be that lady.)

Vocabulary

Mysha morefi!

This section isn’t really going to help you get to Uhuru Peak, but I think it’s fun to learn some of the local language. I have not checked the spelling of any of these words (yes, I know Google is very user-friendly, hush). It’s more fun to see how my brain mishears things anyway, right? So, the limited Swahili I picked up:

Cabisa = all of it (“Laura, how much bread do you want?” “Cabisa.”)
Mogie moto = hot water
Ahsante (sana) = thank you (very much)
Jambo = hello
Zurie = good
Baya = bad
Karibu = welcome (to a place, food, etc.)/you’re welcome
Pole pole = slowly
Rafiki = friend
Lala salama = sleep well
Mysha morefi = long life (“cheers”)

Good luck to future trekkers!

Hiking in Tanzania

Day 1: 6,000 feet to 10,000 feet  

It begins.

We woke up in Moshi at 6:30, had breakfast in the hotel, and then weighed our bags again. Somehow my duffel bag got heavier over night so I had to move stuff over to my daypack, making it uncomfortable and giving me something to whine about immediately. By 8:30 we were loaded up in a van with our guides and cook, driving to the Machame Gate of Kilimanjaro National Park, which sits at an elevation of 6,000 feet. We parked and our Tanzanian guides (Lyimo was our lead guide, and Dao was our assistant guide) started jumping through the necessary hoops to get our hiking permits. Two short hours later, we were off! 

The refrain you’ll hear over and over if you hike Kilimanjaro is “pole pole” (pronounced “po-lay po-lay”). It means “slowly” in Swahili, and it’s essential when you reach the punishing altitudes of summit day. But in the earlier phases of hike, the pole-pole pace set by the guides seemed absurd; Andrew and I kept inadvertently walking too fast. Also part of the summit-day preparations was the schedule set by our guides: hike for an hour, rest for 15 minutes during which they make you eat a little and drink a lot. Again, these precautions are definitely not necessary during the early days, but they become essential on summit day and our guides were trying to establish good habits from the start.  

The first day was a really great hike. We gained a ton of elevation and climbed through two climate zones. We started in a rainforest, tropical sort of environment, complete with monkeys running around the ample tree cover. Then we passed into a more arid environment with craggy rocks and crazy-looking plants. We only hiked 5 hours but I was exhausted by the time we got to camp at 10,000 feet.  

Our porters had our tent set up and our duffel bags waiting for us. They took our water bottles to refill and, in the meantime, directed us to our dining tent, laid out with tea and popcorn. Andrew and I settled in for a nice little rehash of the day and were immediately joined by Dustin (who needs alone time?). Dinner was served at 6:30 by our waiter (who has a waiter on a mountain?!), Sumbi. Our cook, Mola, made vegetarian food for me at every meal, and Andrew and Dustin usually had a meat addition.  

That first night Andrew and I were reading in our sleeping bags by 7:30, and falling asleep by 8:30. 10,000 feet can really take it out of you! 

Day 2: 10,000 feet to 12,600 feet 

We were back up at 6:30 the next morning and I immediately took Diamox, the altitude-sickness pill. I knew from the Inca Trail that I was *probably* susceptible to altitude sickness (I still claim I had food poisoning but deep down I know that wasn’t it), so I wasn’t going to mess around on Kilimanjaro. Today we were going to climb to 12,600 feet, which is almost as high as the tallest point on the Inca Trail, so I figured it was a good time to start Diamox. 

Then we had breakfast in the dining tent (with Dustin) before packing our duffels and hitting the trail by 8:30. 

It was a dusty forest hike with steep ascents that turned into more high plains and desert terrain. The steep ascents continued and we had great views of the Kili summit and Mount Meru off to the west. Before I knew it, we were arriving at camp and I was shocked at how short and easy the day was. The ascents were challenging, but I had braced for worse. And it was only 1:00! 

 

Shira Camp, Night 2

Our tents were being set up and then we had our tea and popcorn again. Our porters also brought us a big bowl of hot water with a bar of soap, so Andrew and I took some basic tent baths. Then we rested in our tent for a couple of hours, me complaining about the amount of black snot I had (seriously, the dust on Kili is crazy) and my sore feet, Andrew suffering mild altitude sickness. Diamox was working great for me, but Andrew waited until that afternoon to take his and it hadn’t kicked in yet. It was affecting my ability to get a foot massage.  

We had dinner and an early night, but I woke up at 3:30 in the morning and had to run out to the toilet tent to pee. It was definitely freezing. My phone had lost almost 70% of its charge in a few hours because of the cold so I shoved it in my shirt when I went back to bed to preserve the battery. 

(Have I mentioned the toilet tent?! It was one of my favorite parts of the hike! It was just a little box on the ground with a toilet seat on top in a tall, skinny tent, but it was always clean. And since everyone else in our group canceled, the tent was only for me and Andrew!! Well, Dustin used it too. But I had anticipated the same nasty toilets I experienced on the Inca Trail, so the private tent was a massive upgrade.) 

Day 3: 12,600 feet to 15,400 feet to 12,500 feet 

We started with the same morning routine but it was definitely colder. We hiked uphill for about 4 hours, taking a 15-minute break every hour of hiking, as usual. It was a difficult slog and my backpack was killing me (we had extra layers because of the cold). At one point Dustin took a bunch of stuff out my pack for me, which was a huge help.  

Lyimo helping Andrew up the Lava Tower

We got to the Lava Tower, which is not technically part of the hike (I think you’re supposed to sign extra forms saying the tour company isn’t liable if you die on the Tower), but Dustin was excited to be with such a small group and that Andrew and I were both in decent shape, so he suggested we give it a shot. Aptly named, it’s a big tower of lava on the side of the Machame Route. Most people take a lunch break at the base of the tower and continue along the trail, but a few people decide to scale it for a little extra adrenaline. Andrew and I were going to be two of those people.  

View from the Lava Tower

I’m strictly a hiker, not a rock climber or boulderer, but the Lava Tower definitely required bouldering skills. Luckily, Dao was hanging out at the tower base with our bags, so we were unencumbered. Lyimo led the way and Dustin brought up the rear, and both guides earned their pay. At various points they each almost carried me and Andrew over crazy cliffs, boulders, and ledges. We made it to the top in about 20 minutes, basked in our pride for a few minutes, and then bouldered back down.  

After a quick boxed lunch we were back on the trail, which I described in my journal as a “shit slog downhill.” It was not enjoyable. My knees were killing me and I was exhausted. But I couldn’t argue with the logic: you’re supposed to hike to a certain height each day and then hike back down to a lower elevation to sleep. It helps people acclimate better and eases symptoms of AMS. Regardless, I hate hiking downhill and was in a foul mood. We had another early dinner at Barranco Camp and I was crawling into “bed” by 7:30. 

Day 4: 12,500 feet to 14,000 feet to 13,000 feet 

Barranco Wall bottleneck

We got to sleep in an extra hour this morning because it was a short day that starts with a trail bottleneck, and our guides thought most groups would be gone if we started later. We left Barranco Camp by 9:30 and before long we were scaling the Barranco Wall, with porters scrambling past us carrying all our gear on their backs and heads. It was a lot up, down, up, and shitty down. I fell. Then there was some more steep uphill and before I knew it we were at camp. Days 4 and 5 were both short because we chose the 7-day route. The people who do the Machame Route in 6 days have to cram in our Day 4 and Day 5 hikes into Day 4. Suckers. 

Typical trail lunch

The altitude was starting to get to me, despite the Diamox. I felt nauseous, food seemed gross, and water made me want to vomit. But I kept chugging the water and eating (I had to move to trail mix instead of the hot lunch Malo made for us that day), and I upped my Diamox dose that night before bed. 

Day 5: 13,000 feet to 15,000 feet 

Today was our “short” day but that’s open to interpretation. We were leaving Karanga Camp and heading to Barafu (High) Camp. It was only three hours that morning, but then we would start the summit at midnight the same day/night. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. 

My double dose of Diamox was working and I felt much better. It was still freezing at night but I was sleeping with my cell phone in my bra so I had enough battery for photos of the moon-like landscape we traversed that day. Again, it was short, but all uphill and difficult.  

Moonscape

We reached High Camp (which looks like a rock quarry) at noon, rested in the tent until lunch at 1:30, rested again, and packed for the summit (Dustin was making us bring literally every layer we had because it was going to be so cold. Makes sense, except my daypack was too heavy for this giant baby.), and then ate dinner at 6. Dustin gave us the rundown of summit day again and kept our hopes up. After dinner, we “slept” until 11, when we had to get back up. Sumbi brought us some cookies, candy bars, and coffee in the dining tent. And then we had to put our layers on and get going. 

Day 6: 15,000 feet to 19,300 to 15,000 to 10,000 feet

Our routine of hiking an hour and taking 15-minute breaks was all leading up to summit day. Also, just as Lyimo, Dao, and Dustin promised, our pole-pole pace felt too fast to sustain on summit day. It’s unbelievable how difficult it is do anything—walk, breathe, carry a backpack—at 16,000 feet. In addition, every person who was hiking the Machame Route with us was crammed into a small stretch of trail at the same time. There was a crowded line of headlamps stretching all the way up the mountain. One of the groups kept singing like a bachelor party stumbling out of bar at 2:00 am. And to top it all off, I had gallons of black snot dripping out of my nose constantly, but I had on thick gloves and was holding hiking poles so I couldn’t do anything about it. At Andrew’s suggestion, I started trying to shoot snot rockets, but I’d never practiced before and I wasn’t very good.  

At one point (I think it was only two hours in) Andrew asked Dustin to trade places. We had been in the following order: Lyimo, me, Andrew, Dustin, Dao. But Andrew said I had started dragging my right foot every time I took a step, and he was worried I was going to careen of the mountain (I didn’t even know I was dragging my foot). Andrew was having a hard enough time getting himself up the mountain; he certainly wasn’t in a position to save me if I started stroking out. Besides, we were paying Dustin; he might as well be the middle piece of bread in our guide sandwich and catch me if I fell. 

Another of my highlights came when I really needed one of those 15-minute breaks but knew we weren’t close. I asked Dustin how long we had been hiking since our last break and he said it had only been 30 minutes. He asked if I could make it another 15 minutes before our next break and I dispiritedly said okay. The next few minutes felt like hours. Lyimo navigated us off the trail so we could pass a giant group and I began to feel claustrophobic. The bachelor party started “Oy!, Oy!, Oy!ing” again and I had a mini-panic attack. It felt like this was going to be my life, forever, from here on out. I was never going to get off the trail, it was always going to be dark and cold and crowded with Australians yelling in the background and I couldn’t handle it anymore. I started crying and sat down on the nearest rock. Fuck it, it was break time. 

Dustin’s number-one rule for our summit-day breaks was to immediately put on our parkas as soon as we stopped walking to preserve body heat. It was freezing and moving was the only thing keeping us warm. But I was wearing so many top layers already (2 long-underwear shirts, 2 fleece jackets, and a rain jacket) that I couldn't move my shoulders enough to put on the parka. Dustin had to help me; that, combined with the snot all over my face and my spontaneous crying, made me feel like a toddler.. 

Before I was ready, Dustin made us get going again. We packed up our food and water, shoved our parkas in our packs, and hit the trail. But not before Lyimo insisted on taking my backpack for me, even though he was carrying one of his own. I think the guides consider crying to be a red flag. 

Summit Day

The early morning hours slowly dragged out in the same manner, but I managed not to break down again. We kept plodding and breaking and drinking water and apparently I kept dragging my right foot. The sun finally started peaking over the horizon (it boosted my mood significantly) and by the time we made it to Stella Point, it was fully out. Stella Point is right on the rim of the Kili volcano, and is only 500 feet from Uhuru Peak, but it takes almost an hour to walk those 500 feet along the rim to reach the highest point of Kilimanjaro.  

I'm barely moving.

Along the way, we passed a glacier and saw down into the crater. It was stunning but I was also barely able to move one foot in front of the other. I was exhausted and shuffling along miserably. We saw some people walking down the other way, clearly elated at having summited the mountain. I hated them. More comforting to me were the people having breakdowns on the side of trail and the ones being dragged up the trail by their guides.  

Then finally, amazingly, at 7:20 in the morning, we got to Uhuru Peak! There were people up there taking photos by the sign, and their guides were hanging out chatting with each other. I felt overwhelmed and not particularly happy (or sad for that matter, I had no idea how I was feeling), but I started crying again. I didn’t know why and Dao was confused too. He came over with a big smile and said, “You made it! You don’t have to cry anymore!” I nodded and if I could have talked I would have told him I didn’t even know why I was crying, but I also couldn’t stop.  

We stood in line to take our picture in front of the sign, me wiping my eyes and trying unsuccessfully to get it together, leaning on Andrew. He kept turning around to check on me, clearly as confused by my behavior as I was. Finally the group in front of us moved out of the way and we stumbled up to the sign. Andrew and I got a couple pictures of just the two of us and then Dustin and Dao joined us (Lyimo was waiting at Stella Point with my backpack). 

 

Can you see the tears?

After the photo op, I sat on a rock and ate my celebratory Snickers bar, and then we had to head back down. Uhuru Peak is so high that you’re not allowed to hang out up there for long. Heading down to Stella Point was amazing. I felt completely refreshed, and my body wasn’t struggling with each step anymore. I was one of those annoying, cheerful people heading back down and trying to encourage those struggling to make it up. I had been that person just 20 minutes ago, but now it was a whole new world. I could breathe better, I could actually look around at my surroundings as we walked, and I felt happy. 

Going Down 

The stretch of trail from Stella Point back to Barafu Camp was the best downhill I can remember ever doing, but also a little scary. Most of it was loose scree, so rather than actually walking down, we half-skied, half-ran, with a few butt-scoots thrown in for good measure. The few treacherous, rocky downhill parts were easy for me, too, because Dao had realized how much I suck going down and decided to hold my hand, literally, whenever we got to a hard part. It was about three hours to Barafu where we had lunch and packed up, and then we had to keep going down. The camp is too small for anyone to stay the night twice; people who were about to summit needed our spot.  

The rest of the day was more what I expect from descents: pain, misery, broken-knee sensations, and a very slow pace. We made it Mweka camp by 4:30 and I immediately crashed in the tent. I slept through tea and popcorn, dragged myself out for dinner at 6:30 but, with no appetite, I excused myself and went right back to sleep. Andrew and Dustin had a nice, quiet dinner together. 

Day 7: 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet

All done!

We were up at 5:45 the next morning (I think it was so early because Lyimo and Dao understood my pace was going to take longer than they were used to) to eat our last camp breakfast, pack up, and hit the trail by 7. It was another punishing day for me, 4.5 hours of straight descent, but we finally got to Mweka Gate at the exit of the park, passing more monkeys along the way. I decided they’re the Wal-Mart greeters of the Kilimanjaro National Park: they welcomed us on Day 1 and they said farewell on Day 7. 

Andrew and I took a happy photo at the park exit (the relief and joy on my face is genuine) and said goodbye to the mountain that had been our home for a week. It was an exhausting experience, definitely harder than I expected, but hugely satisfying to accomplish. Would I do it again? Nope, one time is plenty for me. But I am glad I did it once!