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.
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