TOP: Gill Summits!
2nd: Inside the volcanic crater from the rim
3rd: Looking down at Kibo hut (15K') from volcanic rim (19K')
4th: First encounter with glaciers on rim
The last vestiges of the hike from Gillman point to the summit is painful, to say the least. It is now approaching something like -30 degrees F, the winds are really howling, it is pitch black (as cloud cover has now taken over the sky, and we are walking astride the glaciers. They act like a giant air conditioner as the winds gust by, really freezing your bones. I have 7 layers on, and am really freezing. About 19K' I get stuck behind a group of Brits also trying to summit...they have stopped for tea, or maybe to sing "God Save the Queen" or something British like that. We're on a ridgeline so I get stuck behind them, and the standing just makes me even colder.
From behind, Bob and guide Patrice catch up to me. Patrice says for us to fight our way around the Brits, as I am starting to shake pretty badly now. Bob has one more coat in his pack, and kindly gives it up to me. The shaking, couple with the dehydration (it's now been well over an hour since my water froze up) is really making a mess of me. Bob is swollen up like a balloon, his face very distorted. We slide around the Brits and continue our assault upward. Patrice, in his usual burst of wisdom says"Don't look up, just put one foot in front of the other". Seems like good advice...he's been here about a hundred times before.
Bob takes the lead at ~ 19.1K, and I "suck tire" off of him (for a change, as I've pulled his sorry ass up the mountain for 5 days now :-) The glaciers are getting bigger and bigger, and colder and colder. Finally, the sun begins to break over the horizon, and now only can we see the summit, but it begins to warm a bit and the winds diminish. Although totally tossed, I now feel that I will make the summit intact.
We come around a turn in the ridgeline, and the summit sign is in sight. I'm thoughtful enough to "let" bob beat me to the sign, and as we approach we see several of our hikers starting downward. They beat us up by about 15-30 minutes, and have to leave; you're only allowed to be on-summit for about 20 minutes at most to avoid getting AMS (acute mountain sickness).
Summit photo's next blog
"Kili-Conqueror Lumpy" out
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