What Goes Up Must Come Down

The summit, as previously described, was amazing. I think one of the things that slipped all of our minds, or at least mine, was that we had almost 20,000 feet to walk down after the 4.5 day climb up. This was arguably more dangerous than ascending, since it rained for a majority of the descent and we were on a steep, muddy, rocky trail and completely exhausted. Immediately after the summit, it took us about 3 hours to descend back to the base camp where we started. We had 2 hours rest and a little food before descending 4 more hours to another camp, where we spent the night. I must have been exhausted, delirious, or both, because even though I pointed out numerous times that we were descending back into the thick blanket of clouds, I forgot to wear my rain jacket. The porters also forgot to cover our backpacks, which meant everything got pretty wet. We camped the last night in the cold pouring rain, which was less than ideal since we had managed to ward off sickness until that point. Needless to say, this wasn't the highlight of the trip. However, to make light of the situation, we crafted the following quiz over the course of dinner last night and tonight to shed some light on the conditions of our last 48 hours.

Percentage of our group that fell on the way down the mountain

A. 0%

B. 33%

C. 66%

D. 100%*

*Jared would like it noted that he only wiped out in the scree (loose rocks and dust/dirt into which we sank 6 inches) while Sam and I both wiped out in the wet mud.

Our first meal following the 8 hour summit hike (keep in mind we hadn't eaten since 5:00 p.m. the day before) included

A. A whole chicken brought up in a special cooler because they knew we would need some protein

B. Traditional beef stew over rice

C. Power bars

D. French fries and something that resembled coleslaw*

*Sam is willing to bet his firstborn child that the porters ate all of our chocolate. We would also like to note that we ate all meals on the slanted, rocky ground of an undersized tent)

Sleeping conditions after being awake 36 hours (22 of which were spent hiking in altitude):

A. One person tents (that leaked) into which we crammed two people and all of our stuff

B. Tents that were around since the original Kilimanjaro expedition (as evident by the scrawl "Hans Mayer war hier")

C. Paper thin sleeping mats over jagged gravel

D. All of the above*

*Note: These were actually our conditions every night, but the rain and exhaustion made everything worse.

After descending in the rain (and wiping out in the mud trying to go to the bathroom), I just wanted something relatively clean (i.e., not completely mud covered) and dry in which to sleep. Since none of the three of us had any clothing that fulfilled these two characteristics, I slept in the following:

A. My birthday suit

B. Boxers and a tank top

C. One of the burlap bags given to me by the porters

D. My snowboarding pants (once black but turned brown from all the dust--but dry) and every dirty, mostly dry shirt I owned.*

*I would like to note that despite my -15 degree sleeping bag, it was NEVER warm enough on the mountain, at least for me, to sleep in anything less than long underwear and several shirts.

Means to cleanse ourselves after the descent:

A. 3 wet wipes

B. A hot shower

C. An industrial strength power washer

D. Nothing; we are going to have to wait to grow new skin

Overall, it was a great experience. If you have the money, I might suggest springing for something a little less budget to avoid some of the issues described above :)