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was intense. From there,
nights were cold, as you have a permanent
chill even when inside a 800-fill sleeping bag
& layers of clothing on you, but the night sky
was breathtakingly clear as I could see the
faint but distinct galactic core of the Milky Way
with just my eyes! We could gaze at the sight
for hours if the biting cold had let us (Pic 3).
The 10km hike to the Lava Tower (4,600m) on
Day 4 was the first real test of how our body
would handle the altitude. The low oxygen at
higher altitudes was something we thought
had prepared for, but experiencing it firsthand
was a different ballgame altogether. Throbbing
headaches, nausea, and fatigue became our
constant companions. But we were determined
to push through, aided by our veteran guides
who monitored our health closely and helped
us acclimatise with the mantra "pole pole"
(slowly, slowly in Swahili) and “hakuna matata”
(no worries, take it easy). We hit the bags tired
that night at Barranco Hut Camp (3,900m) and
little did we know about what awaited us for
Day 5.
Next day when we woke up and saw the
Barranco Wall (Pic 4), a steep 257-meter rock
face, I had to ask John. “Are we climbing
that damn thing?”. I swear I could see the
mischievous glint in his eye as the scoundrel
was enjoying our mental torment. Scaling it was
like doing a vertical trek, or well, an ungraceful
scramble on all fours in our case (Pic 5), but
the sense of achievement we felt at the top
2K1 MBBS, Trivandrum Medical College
we had a clear view of the
summit, our final goal. We
camped at Karanga Camp
(4,050m) that night to wake
up to a glorious view of the
Kilimanjaro peak (Pic 6). We
hiked 6km next day to Barafu
Camp (4,680m), the base
camp of Mount Kilimanja-
ro. We had our gears and
saturation rechecked and we
were declared all set for the
summit push. I had no idea
how a saturation of 81% was
“All OK” as per any medical
standards.
We set on the 10-hour grueling climb early at
4am in the dark and the sunrise we witnessed
on the way was simply spectacular. When the
sun came up, we could see that we are above
the clouds and it was an entirely another world
below that cloud cover (Pic 7). The final push
on Day 7 to the summit was of course, the
most challenging part of the trek. The oxygen
level was nearly half of what we are used to,
dropping my saturation to 76% and every
step felt like a Herculean task. The landscape
was barren, almost alien, with nothing but
rocks and ice (Pic 8). The biting cold and the
thin air made even the simplest tasks like
tying our shoelaces or sipping water feel like
monumental tasks. Everything around you
make you realize how insignificant you in front
of this mighty mountain. We were playing by
her rules. Other groups on the way jokingly
queried if we would even cross the ‘Indian
Summit’, historically set at 5,000m by their
prior clients from the subcontinent.
Reaching Stella Point (5,756m) we had an option
either to set camp in the crater for the night
or to press on for the summit. We opted to
push ahead for it as we could see the summit
‘right there’. The fast-melting Rebmann
glacier enroute, bore the uncomfortable
and undeniable evidence of global warming
on it icy walls (Pic 9). But as we touched the
wooden markers at Uhuru Peak, the highest
point in Africa, and watched the vista around
us, all the hardships and a saturation of 71%
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