Looking Back - Day 7 & 8 Mt. Meru Pt 2

Day 6:
1am comes fast and we're up early to tackle the summit. I'm not feeling great and feeling the effects of mild AMS. We snack on cookies and tea, but I'm having troubles with my appetite (a symptom of AMS). It had also begun raining the evening before, so it's wet, muddy, and slippery. 2am comes fast, and we're off.

It's pitch black and the wind & rain make for less than stellar trekking. Cha Cha leads, and I'm right behind. We arrive at Rhino point (3800m), and it gets very steep very quick. The ground is mush, and with every step, you're sliding down 1/2 of that step. With the rain blowing so hard, I'm literally on Cha Cha's heels to keep him in my sights. Staring at his boots I follow every step he takes. A foot or two more and I wouldn't see him at all.

I had asked Kassim a couple of days before, why do we leave for the summit in the middle of the night? Turns out there are a couple of reasons: First, the ground is frozen overnight, and easier to trek. Second is psychological. If you saw where you were going, you probably wouldn't want to be there.

It's getting lighter out, but we're incased by the clouds. We can't see far up, and we can't see down into the crater either. I'm thinking that this is a good thing. Much of the climb on the crater rim is scrambling, which is made much more difficult by the freezing rain covering the rocks, my gloves, and everything on me. In the best conditions, it would have been trying and trecherous, but with the cold, wind, and freezing rain... it's another level. I focus on following Cha Cha as we make our way farther and farther up. At this point, I don't concern myself with how I'm supposed to be getting myself down, just eyeing each false summit that creeps up just when I'm sure this has got to be it.

6:59am, and we reach the summit of Mt Meru (Socialist Peak, 4,566 metres (14,980 ft)). In the bitter cold, we pose for a few pictures and rest. Dale mentions to Cha Cha and Kassim that he hopes we'll catch a glimpse of Kilimanjaro when the clouds break. Our African guide know better, and tell us we won't have a chance and need to head down. My hands are very cold as my mitts are wet and incased in ice. Kassim offers me his and puts his hands in his pockets. We slowly make our way down, very carefully with the icy rocks leaving little room for error. I did slip at one point, landing on the step down directly on my shin. Checking to make sure I was still in one piece, we carried on. We kept crouched down to limit the exposure the to wind, but in the most exposed parts of the climb down, the wind so hard it was like walking in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Walking in the crosswinds, I was leaning sideways into the wind to keep myself upright. My walking poles became difficult to control as the winds just blew them sideways. At this point, I just wanted to get down, and get there as fast as possible.

Past the rocky crater rim area below Rhino Point, the trail is slippery mud and we're on the home stretch back to Saddle. A few hours after reaching the summit, we see the huts at Saddle, and there is a certain sense of relief. I mention that this is one of those experiences I'll appreciate later on, but for the moment, I'm just glad we're back safe. Our guides, also very glad to be back, and mention that we'll stay for a few hours to rest before heading back down to Mirikamba. In the hut, we peel off our wet clothes. Everything is soaked, including 2 cameras. We have a bite to eat, and rest for a bit.

The clouds break as we're about to leave, and we see Kilimanjaro in the distance. The wooden 'steps' made in parts of the trail to prevent erosion on the steepest parts and made the journey up the path to Mirikamba so great, are now beating my legs with every step down. After a few hours, and with body and mind battered and exhaused, we arrive at Mirikamba, but not before the rain comes pouring down once again minitues before we make it. In the hut, we empty our bags of gear and water, and hang it all out in our little room. Over dinner, we ask if they've ever been up to the summit in as bad weather, to which they both reply no. I'm glad to be back in one piece, and with that, it's much deserved bed.

Day 7:

We're off by 8:30am down back to the park gate. There are two routes from the gate to Mirikamba, and we take the shorter, steeper trail down to the gate. Still encased in cloud, mist and rain, the trail is once again slick. Up ahead, we notice a group of giraffe, standing right off of the trail. Cha Cha leads and we soon follow slowly behind. We get within about 10m of them as we cross a stream nearing the gate.

Arriving back at the gate, we say our thank you's to the porters, Kassim & Cha Cha for making it all possible, and getting us back safely. We crowd back into the vehicle and head back out of the park. We see more giraffe on the road, just hanging out. Kassim asks if we would like to check out a reptile farm just outside the park for $3, and we do. Snakes of all sorts, crocodiles, and we even handle a few chamilions.

Back to our home base @ Keys, we arrive, and immediately hang up all of our wet gear to dry. The all important shower, and a quick run into town to find some nearly impossible things to find: garbage ags and a knee brace. We eat dinner about 5, and Dale is falling asleep at the table as we eat. I'm sure my conversation about the digital copyright in 21st century Canada didn't help much. Our IMG group from Kilimanjaro arrives an hour or two later, and we stay for introductions and to chat for a bit before calling it a night.

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Looking Back - Day 5 & 6 Mt. Meru Pt 1

Day 5:
Packed & ready to go, we left about 8:30am for the hour and a half drive to Arusha National Park. At times, the road rivaled my much talked about, and tire-eating road to Top of The World. Passing through the various park gates, a young Tanzanian man named Gift, would handle all of the fees and paperwork. Arriving at the Mt Meru gate, we looked around while our porters took our bags to be weighed. There is a strict weight limit for each of the porters to carry, and in our case, that meant that our bags needed to be under 30lbs. No problem!

The climb of Mt Meru is much different than Kilimanjaro. First off, every group MUST have a Park Ranger accompany them. They carry a rifle, playfully referred 'Buffalo Stopper.' His job: protect you from the wildlife. From monkeys, to dik-dik, giraffes spotted on ridges far above (and meters away from us on the trail), to close encounters with an angry Cape Buffalo... it's quite obvious we're visiting their home.

Second, the accommodations on Meru are 'huts', some still in the process of being built. The reasons for this, first I'm sure is the animals mentioned above. The second is to limit the amount of people who can be on the mountain at one time. When we were on Meru, there were very few others, but the numbers from the park show that Meru & Arusha National Park are becoming more popular every year. By limiting the of people on the mountain, I'm sure they hope to minimize the impact by trekkers on the ecosystem.

Third, the trail and terrain are quite a bit different, with summit day on Meru being particularly steep and treacherous in places.

Starting up with our Ranger 'Cha Cha', we took the longer of the two routes up. Passing by the Fig Tree Arch, we had lunch in a great spot beside a waterfall just off the trail. Along the way to towards the crater, Cha Cha would be spotting wildlife left and right while we our way through the rain forest. After about 6hr on the trail, Cha Cha pointed out a Cape Buffalo on the other side of a small creek. Standing there looking at it, looking at us, you can immediately tell that this is not a friendly animal. Cha Cha cocks his rifle right at the Cape Buffalo, and lets us know it's time to move on. Later we ask if he's ever had to use the rifle, to which he replies many times in his 3 years as a park ranger in Arusha National Park.

Another hour and we're Mirikamba Hut (2500m), our home for the night. The huts are excellent, and it's an added luxury that we hadn't anticipated. We also get a view of the summit of Mt Meru (albeit brief).

Day 6:
We start out at 8:30am for Saddle Hut (3500m), on the short but steep trail. We are passed by workers of the park carrying long 2x4s and bags of cement on their heads to Saddle Hut. We get some great views of the crater below, and arrive by about noon. Lunch & a bit of relaxing before making our way up to Little Meru (3801m) with our guide Kassim & Rasheed (one of our porters). It's a short climb, maybe 45 minutes or so. The clouds around us obscure the view, then seconds later, they break and we see Kilimanjaro and the valley below.

Heading down, we have an early supper so we can get to bed for the 1am wake up, and 2am summit attempt. It's about this time that I start feeling mild effects of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). A strange dull headache, loss of appetite, not feeling 100%. I eat a what I can and head to bed for a few hours before heading for the summit...

Summit of Meru

(10:25pm local time) Just a quick post and pic from the summit. Made summit @ 6:57am on Sunday morning after 5 hours through some of the worst weather I've experienced in my life... and certainly the worst trekking. Will follow up with details soon.

This is a pic of our ranger Cha Cha and I on the summit. Couldn't load a pic of my Dad and I because of a different memory card, and I only took my little camera up.

Day in Moshi tomorrow, then pack and off to Kilimanjaro. Stace will continue the updates!

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I received a few more msgs from Dustin on the weekend. When he sent them they had just gotten up and the sun was shining and the summit was visible, but for only about 15 mins and then it clouded over. They had climbed to 3500m to the saddle hut today, then on to little Meru then back to the saddle huts. He told me it was a very very steep climb, they used their poles a lot to climb and it was very very slow going.

3:45 pm- Summit of little Meru at 3801m. They were in the clouds with white clouds all around them and they had brief glimpses of the land and villages below. Dustin said he was hoping to be able to spot Kilimanjaro but wasn't able to. Dustin also called me late last night to let me know that they had just woken up to begin their descent down the mountain and in to the village. They only had 900m left to go and then they were going to spend the day in the villages relaxing and doing laundry. He also left out a little detail about freezing rain hitting them on route to the summit, something the porters hadn't ever quite experienced. It made the route very treacherous and made it even more slow going on the down. They made it! Dustin said it was the hardest thing he's ever done and it was a constant struggle to keep one foot in front of the other. When I asked him how this climb would compare to Kili, he said the terrain is different and thought that this would be the hardest of the two climbs.

All is well in Africa. I am so very proud of you boys.
Stace.

A msg from the Main Men.

Just a quick note from those boys of ours. I received a few text msgs from Dustin this morning before I went to work. They had climbed 5 hours up Mt. Meru, 2600m into the crater. They saw giraffe, zebra, blue monkeys, black and white calaboose monkeys and had a very close call with a buffalo. Apparently the buffalo was getting a little too close and the ranger had to cock his gun. It was over cast much of the day (10c)today and tomorrow they are climbing above the clouds to 3500m. The huts and facilities there are great and they boys were sitting down enjoying a break with some tea and popcorn. Sounds like they're having a great time! I'll keep you all updated with any more information.
Stacey.

Mount Meru - The First Step

Mount Meru (4566m / 14980ft) is the first mountain summit on our itinerary. Previous posts give more details on the mountain itself, like the eruption that obliterated the eastern slope of the volcanic cone (photo).

Meru is far less travelled than it's neighbor Kilimanjaro, but is a great climb in itself. It is sometimes chosen for high-altitude acclimatization before a Kili climb. That acclimation was a big reason for adding it to the to-do list for the trip, though the climb is quite spectacular on its own.

The Meru climb is 4 days, and starts you off in the plain savannah of the Arusha National Park. Here you're sharing the trail with buffalo, zebra, giraffes and more. These animals are the reason for the mandatory park ranger armed with a rifle for each group. Up the crater wall to camp, followed by a couple of days of climbing. On summit morning, we start early (1am) while the rock on the trail is still frozen to make the trekking easier. The trail to the summit is treacherous in places, climbing on razor-thin ridges with big drops on either side. Once on the top, you can see the Meru Ash Cone & Kilimanjaro, 80km to the East at sunrise.

The climb is told to be even more scenic than Kilimanjaro, including wildlife (over 400 species of birds), waterfalls, and stunning views.

To Make a Mountain (or two)

Kilimanjaro is not only the tallest mountain in Africa, it is also one of the tallest freestanding mountains in the world. What many people do not know is that it is a dormant volcano.

It began about 750000 years ago when molten lava burst through the Great Rift Valley (a large fault in East Africa), pushing the Earth's Crust upwards, creating the oldest of the 3 volcanos forming Kilimanjaro. Over the hundreds of thousands of years since then, huge eruptions have brought Kilimanjaro to it's current height around Kibo's crater rim to apporx 5895m (Uhuru Peak). The most recent volcanic activity of note was about 200 years ago which left the 'Ash Pit' in Reusch Crater.

Mount Meru, the first of our two planned summits, is an active volcano about 70km west of Kilimanjaro. In an eruption similar to that of Mount St Helens in 1980, Meru lost much of it's bulk in a volcanic blast about 8000 years ago, leaving huge cliffs 1500m above the crater floor. That is about as high as the Grand Canyon is deep.

Below is a Landsat/Radar image from Nasa showing the two mountains, and other volcanos in the area as well. Height is exagerated two times. Click for a larger image.

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Prelude to a Journey

As many of you know, I'll be off to Tanzania in June of this year for what really may be the trip of a lifetime. Over the following months, I'll be using this site to provide a window into the preparation required, the people of Africa & Tanzania, and what it all means to me. Following the trip I will have photos to post, stories of my experiences and the people involved. There may even be some updates while I'm away.

The original idea behind this trip was a climb of Mt Kilimanjaro (5895m (19340ft), the tallest mountain in Africa. Obviously though, you need to make the most of your time 1/2 way across the world, so we've also planned a climb of nearby Mt. Meru (4566m / 14980ft), and to finish it all off, some time in the Serengeti & Ngorongoro National Parks. I'll be filling in some information about these places over the next few months as well.

In the meantime, I've been preparing my gear, working on getting my conditioning in order, and in what has been the toughest for many to swallow... working VERY hard to gain some weight.

Stay tuned, I'll be popping up new info often.

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