Respect the Mountain

I’ve been back in Arusha at the Summit Safari Hotel for several days waiting for Luis and his group to return from Club Kili. So, of course, I’ve been talking to the folks coming down off the mountain. And the hotel staff, who are all now my friends on Facebook.

The vast majority of the climbers have made it to the top. But as I sit and chat in the restaurant and lounge, using the only wifi available, I begin to hear stories. One kid from Texas had altitude sickness and had to come down early. One entire group had such bad “digestive distress” that they recommended wearing sanitary pads during the climb.

Scott and Mai from Orange County forgot to apply sunscreen on summit day. On a mountain with snow. At 19,000 ft. They both suffered a sunburn that completely peeled their faces and lips off. Mai had a fever when she came off the mountain that lasted for two days. On the trek, Mai had forgotten her sunglasses, and one of the porters kindly offered his. The porter ended up with snow blindness that burned his corneas. I still haven’t heard how he is doing. (Are we having fun yet? I’ll go see the chimps, thank you.)

Eddie, a friendly guy from Brisbane, Australia completely lost the use of his legs at 18,000 ft. They assumed it was pressure on the brain, and decided to get him down the mountain immediately. The way he tells it, coming down sounds like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride – six strong porters ran with him strapped tightly onto a stretcher with a big wheel all the way down Mt. Kilimanjaro. He laughs as he remembers, in a piecemeal way, rolling at high speed down the hill, watching the faces of the guys covered in sweat, one of them disappearing suddenly under a wheel, looking at the sunset, and the huge moon. He says his wife told him to make sure to enjoy the lovely African sunsets. Well technically he did, only horizontally, out of the corner of his eye. He laughs heartily as he is telling me the story, but it must have been terrifying at the time. He is feeling much better, can walk fine, and the nausea and confusion is slowly getting better.

Fortunately I know by this time that Luis’ group is safe and they have all made it to the summit without any major incident. This isn’t a game up here. You have to respect the mountain.