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| At the start of the climb the Lemosho Gate |
Ajmal Sobhan from Newport News, Virginia, is a retired surgeon, former marathon runner with many treks under his belt. In this guest post Ajmal describes his climb of Kilimanjaro the tallest free standing mountain in the world and one of the seven summits.
-Kilimanjaro: The agony and the ecstasy
Before going to Tanzania, I must have watched a dozen or more YouTube videos on Kilimanjaro. Most of them gave a good packing list, shots optional or mandatory, different routes some tougher and some easier. Not many described the level of difficulty related to age and experience, and none described the sad state of the trails when the rain practically destroys any safe pathways other than using common sense or relying on the experience of the guides.
Practically none of those videos prepared me for what was to come. I had never been to Africa nor had I summitted any mountains. All the experience I had involved trekking not climbing. Most of the treks were in Nepal, Colorado, the AT (Appalachian Trail), and one in India (Green Lakes, Kangchenjunga, Sikkim).
Hiking or trekking is not trivial, but summiting is altogether a different ball of wax. Besides the elevation, and the need for sticks, gaiters, micro spikes, and 4-5 layers of clothing for the expedition (in the upper levels), the most unpredictable factor is the weather. Being caught in torrential rain, or snowfall, or sleet, can make or break any climb. Adjusting to the four climatic zones of Kilimanjaro: rain forest, heather moorland, alpine desert, and arctic zone, require a constant change of apparel. No one can really predict the micro weather at the upper altitudes. During a climb duration of 6 to 8 days, the prospects of having to encounter and then adjust to, alterations of local mountain weather of such radical nature, takes a toll on the body, no matter how fit.
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| On top of the Barranco wall with Kilimanjaro behind |
I chose not to go with any of the multiple companies that one can find on the internet, relying instead on my good friend Sujoy Das - a veteran trekker and a photographer, to organize one. Sujoy also runs a company of his own, South Col Expeditions, arranging treks in Nepal, and in India. I also wanted to be among folks I am familiar with. Sujoy hooked up with a local Tanzanian company that provided us with excellent mountain guides and porters. On arrival at Arusha from Addis Ababa (Capital of Ethiopia), we were met at the hotel by Achmed, the owner of the local company, a Brit/German gentleman married to a Tanzanian lady, who has lived there for the last 25 years. He had a bustling business, but Covid took a toll, and he is now trying to rekindle his business with tours of the Serengeti as well as Kilimanjaro. Achmed is a man of many talents, fluent in Swahili, English and several other languages, sat down with us at the hotel and downed 6 beers in a few hours, and told us many of his tales spanning three continents over a 40-year span.
Our team of six included three young men in their mid 20’s - all PhD students (electrical engineering); two early sixties gentlemen – Sujoy (the tour operator) and Srijit (a business executive); and me, brazenly testing my longevity at the age of 75. Among the three young men Aaron and Andrew are identical twins from Cornell and Rahul is from UC Berkley. It was fascinating to see how fit they were, their zeal for adventure, be it climbing or other sports, and just as brilliant in their professional life which was still unfolding. Between the young and the old, it was a good mix and we bonded well with each other, and were concerned and sensitive to each other’s needs. What surprised me was the number of support staff needed to manage the 6 climbers - 24 in all. One might ask why so many. Putting up tents, porta potty's, setting up a kitchen, cooking food, and serving it, requires a lot of toil as you continue going up and up the mountain. The care they provided was essential to sustain us and to prevent something bad from happening. These chores were clearly impracticable for (amateur) climbers to do by themselves. There was more than one occasion that the help of the guide in crossing a particular ridge, cliff, or a bridge was vital for our safety. The two main guides: Ben and Bryson, were men in their 40s, having taken groups like us to the top, many times.
We chose the Lemosho route as it provides more time (8 days) and generally has a 90 percent success rate in summiting the mountain. It is one of 5 routes to reach the summit, and we wanted to be prudent and cautious in our venture considering our age variance and stamina levels.
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| Our three guides Head Guide Ben, Bryson and Dennis - without them there would not have been a summit |
Starting at 2,389 meters, our first leg took us from the Lemosho glades (where we arrived by Jeep) , to Big Tree camp in about 3 hours on the first day at 2785m. On the second day we climbed to Shira One camp at 3504 meters in 6 hours. The tropical rain forest was lush and one could breathe the fresh oxygen released by the trees. From Shira 1 to Shira 2, we left the rain forest and entered Mooreland across the Shira Plateau. We only gained 340 meters to help us to acclimatize that day.
From Shira 2, we moved from the Shira Plateau to the Lava Tower at 4,672 meters. We continued on to the Barranco Camp at 3,986 meters for the night = the purpose being again to acclimatize. From the Barranco camp we had to climb the formidable Barranco Wall, a large slab of rock with few spots for a foothold. One needs to spread eagle oneself and cross it slowly (with a hand stabilization by the guides). Any slip does not take you all the way down, but the roll could cause you considerable damage. From Barranco Camp we crossed over a steep ridge to drop down to Karanga Valley at 4,036 meters.
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| The trail along the Shira Plateau |
We left the cold desert landscape, and we could now behold the glaciers not too far away from the valley. From Karanga Camp (4,200 meters), we crossed over the Barafu and are now on our way to Kosovo Camp at 4,870 meters, this being a 6-7 hour push uphill. We had already crossed day 5. This is where one hits the pedal to the metal, but ever so gently. From Kosovo Camp via Stella Point to Uhuru Peak is the ultimate push (day 6). We started at midnight after a rest for 5 hours and good hydration, and it was a continuous uphill push: 6 hours to Stella Point and 1.5 more hours to Uhuru Peak. As we went up we were on a combination of ice and snow. You need gaiters and microspikes for traction, and 5 layers of clothing. Thankfully, the ice was mostly powdery and not a frozen mass. But each time we put our foot into powdery ice, our foot sank, sometimes to the knees. We followed the guide in a single file, each of us with a headlamp. The old among us would halt the journey every 10 minutes or less to catch our breath, or drink some water, as our heart rate could easily be close to 150/min.
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| Summit January 12th 2024 at around 7 am |
It was sheer serendipity that by the time we reached Uhuru, the sun shone bright, there was no snow or rain falling. Out of the last 24 hours of the journey, it was 12 hours of constant movement, up and down. One had to keep moving, not due to stored energy, but for the adrenalin rush, from the excitement of being up there.
This was arguably the most exhausting and tiresome climb for me personally. There were times when I was ready to surrender, but something told me "Do not stop", and keep moving I did.
Once we reached the peak (Uhuru), we were lucky to have clear sunlight with less than super-cold temperatures to bear ( around 20 Fahrenheit) . The view from the top was spectacular, matching everything one could imagine, and more. To see clouds sitting silently below and the vastness of the skyline itself was both ethereal and spiritual. But one cannot get too engrossed in the moment, because breathing at over 19,000 ft can become a problem after 30 minutes. Of course, all climbers lined up to take a picture in front of the sign which welcomes you to the top of the tallest free-standing mountain in the world.
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| The rough and rocky terrain below Lava Tower due to the inclement weather and rains |
After taking a snapshot of ourselves, we were on our way down. We reached Kosovo camp in 5 hours. After a quick box lunch, we were on our way down again. It was another 4 hours to Millennium Camp. The trails had been all washed away by a torrential downpour earlier, and it was treacherous climbing downhill. Out of the last 24 hours of the journey, it was 12 hours of constant movement, up and down.
It is amazing what group strength implies: between the six of us encouraging and supporting each other, and under the ever-watchful eyes of the guide and the porters upon us, none of us contemplated surrendering to total exhaustion. Personally, my body suffered more so due to the restrictive diet I am subscribed to (vegetarian), together with a stomach bug, poor sleep, and under-hydration, to boot. Getting in and out of the tent in damp, moist conditions are less than pleasant. It was annoying to say the least, but not enough for me to say "I give up!" I and others did fall a few times, but other than minor bruises (and a bruised ego) we did alright.
By the time we reached Millennium Camp, Srijit and I were spent, the trail had been washed away ,and what was left was mud, rocks and puddles of water. It was only five hours from our transport pick point to the hotel. Srijit and I decided to take a chopper. We had accomplished what we set out to do. It meant little to torture the body further. We listened to our body and felt no guilt.
The routes/passageways in the Himalayan Range are far well demarcated. Lodges dot the route all the way up to the Everest Base Camp, and the food is more conducive for people hailing from the Subcontinent. But we were in Africa and had to quickly adapt to the realities here.
Now, on to a short commentary on Climate change and the plight of the Porters:
Over the last hundred years, it is estimated that 70 percent of the ice cap (glaciers) atop Kilimanjaro have just disappeared, out of sight. Where there used to be gigantic ice caps once, now show desert rocks and boulders in their place. It is shocking how quickly this has come about. The devastating telltale signs of global warming and the reckless carbon footprints we humans have wrought upon the fragile ecosystem of our habitat we call the Earth, are plainly in sight for one to bemoan. The vanishing ice cap, whether it is atop a mountain, or that residing in the Arctic Ocean, will mean that soon these regions will become veritable ‘deserts’ bereft of their natural assets. The glaciers provide water for subsistence lower down the mountains. The arctic ice cap, for hundreds of millions of years, provided a stable climate system to the Earth as a whole. Now with an irreversible recession of this ice cap in progress, one only expects an alarming rise in sea levels around the world, setting in motion mass migration of the humans to higher grounds, in the process; and wreaking colossal misery on all forms of life.
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| Climate change and unseasonal rains on Kilimanjaro in January |
In the wake of the catastrophic climate change, existential threats to human survival would become imminent all around the globe. Take for example, the plight of the mountain porters in and around Kilimanjaro, just as a microcosm of the global problem at hand.
The displacement of many porters needed for any climb means scampering for alternate employment for them. 50,000 climbers per year with a porters-to-climber ratio of 4 to 1 means Tanzania (one of the poorer countries in Africa) depends heavily on such tourism (the Serengeti attracts even more tourists). The porters like the sherpas in Nepal, earn a pittance for a backbreaking job of hauling heavy loads atop mountains. Just as in Nepal, the government here in Tanzania is also complacent when it comes to the plight of the porters. These porters are in the age group of 18 - 30 and have fallen off the education track. The tour guides freely admit that they do not want their children to follow in the footsteps of their fathers. There is no Edmund Hillary here, who created the Himalayan Trust for the Nepalese sherpas, which built schools, hospitals, and airfields, to make the lives of the sherpa halfway decent. Without a conscious effort in place to immediately reduce our carbon footprint, we recklessly leave behind only a humongous disaster for posterity to languish in.
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| Porters climbing the Barranco wall |
People often wonder why some of us take such risks like wanting to summit a mountain, run a marathon, do a triathlon, swim the English Channel, or even jump off a plane. Humans have always craved adventure. Risk-taking is wired into our DNA. It is just not a physical thrill alone; nor is it the manifestation of acumen, tenacity and resilience as the visible attributes of a mental construct alone; but it is something more, perhaps far beyond - likely, it is spiritual, in the sense of ‘touching God’ Himself.
Coming back to our mundane existence: despite limitations imposed by it on the scope of our life, we humans often have ventured to go far and beyond. In doing so without being reckless, we have been rewarded with something that is immeasurable. While during adversity, tragedy, or a dire situation, one is often thrown into a realm beyond one's proverbial zone of comfort. There, tenacity, physical and mental prowess become essential to one’s survival. Tenacity is rarely inborn - it requires discipline, and a conscious effort, and grit, that need to be cultivated. We know that one cannot acquire strength without an effort, willpower without a focus, and grit without being stoical. If one can go beyond body and mind, there are no limit to one's potential in navigating this difficult life process. After all, one needn’t be a superman to realize it. Just being an ordinary one, with a motto ‘never give up', will do it!
Ajmal Sobhan January 2024
For more information on our treks and photo workshops in the Himalaya and beyond do visit
For more photographs on Kilimanjaro do visit this link
https://www.sujoydas.com/Africa/Kilimanjaro
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