This days tour seemed pretty easy compared to the days before I wrote about in this Kilimanjaro Blog. Climbing just 400m and you can see right to Kibo Hut the whole time.
Of course the day turned out to be way more difficult as expected before. From the beginning we could see the Kibo Hut at 4.700m – our goal for the day – but it just didn’t come any closer. The trek didn’t contain any difficulties per se. Just walking for a long time at 4.300m – 4.700m. Although walking very pole pole the altitude made it pretty hard. As usual the porters overtook us in no time.
While walking we overtook a person who didn’t look good. He made a lot of breaks and coughed a lot. It turned out that the guy who build up his tent next to mine the night before didn’t acclimatize. He continued without any extra day or acclimatization climb.
On top of that as we continued our trek two porters came running into our direction with a wheeled stretcher. On that stretcher they carried a woman. Apparently the women had enormous problems with the altitude and needed to get down as soon as possible.
How to lose all motivation in just one second
As we finally reached Kibo Hut at 4.720m our route met the famous Marangu route. A very cheerful group passed by while singing songs. How was that even possible? Singing while reaching 4.700m? My motivation was at rock bottom: I experienced todays 400m as so hard. How am I supposed to climb three times as much from Kibo Hut (4.700m) to Uhuru Peak (5.985m) the next day? I used the rest of the day at camp to lie down and rest. My guide and I talked in the evening and he motivated me. According to his schedule we will wake up at 23:30h, eat a little breakfast and then leave camp for summit. While trying to get some sleep I hope on the one hand being able to summit Mount Kilimanjaro and on the other hand not to be carried down on a wheeled stretcher tomorrow, if I won’t be able to summit.
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