Summit Day -Part 1

Top: Not everyone makes it. Sobering...

Middle: Inter-species (homonid and sasquatsch) hiking

Bottom: Time to bundle up for Lumpy

Friday morning, and we're on the road to Kibo Hut. This is the guts of the hike now, and we're all nervous. Sam breaks that tension with a bunch of word games that he plays with the kids at summer camp, where he's a counselor. Stuff like he yells out "Ronald Regan" then you have to take the last letter and name another actor "Nannette Fabre". On and on, for some 4 hours. I now REALLY hate word games...

We are now far above treeline, and it's much colder. Off in the distance we see a massive smokecloud. Apparently there is a large forest fire inflamed on the far side of Kilimanjaro. That should make the hike more interesting, since we can't breathe now. The smoke should make it all that much more fun.

We now see the main volcanic peak directly in front of us, and it's daunting. Once we arrive at Kibo Hut at 15.5, we'll have a couple of hours to sleep, an hour to eat (such as it is at this altitude), a couple more hours to sleep, and then at 11pm we're off and running towards the summit. Well, not actually running, as I'll have on 7 layers of clothes, plus pack, plus headlamp, plus 3 hats. I look like the Michelin man..albeit many would say I even look that way naked.

Kibo Hut is VERY sparse, and our room has 10 "bunks" all together, so there's no privacy, and the snoring is heavy since we're all either sick or cannot breathe due to the reduced oxygen. 2 hours of sleep is more like 20 minutes, and dinner is more like a couple powerbars and some hot chocolate.

Lumpy Out