Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Return to Africa

Well looks like my 2010 trip to Africa will not be my only trip to Africa.  I'll be returning to Africa during Oct 2015, going birding in South Africa.  http://fieldguides.com/bird-tours/south-africa
 I look forward to seeing some of the birds and mammals I saw in Kenya and Tanzania as well as new wildlife.  I also look forward to seeing the geographic and biologic differences between the Serengeti and the South African Veld.  But no big climbs this time.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

After effects

After returning to NJ, there was one unexpected after effect from the climb: euphoria!
About a week after returning and continuing for 2-3 weeks, I felt lighter, faster, quicker, not only physically but mentally as well. This near euphoria, I-can-do-anything attitude, slowly faded and by the end of October I was back to my normal self.

So what made those weeks following the climb so amazing?
I'm pretty sure it was oxygen.
Being above 12,000 feet for 5 days, and above 15000 feet for 2 days, my body sensed I was in oxygen deprivation (remember my visual impairments at the summit?), and my body adapted by inducing the generation of additional red blood cells. It takes about a week or so for those cells to mature and begin caring oxygen, so in the weeks after I returned my body was carrying more oxygen and allowing my brain and muscles to work better.

Sadly, this really suggests we are all in oxygen deficit our entire lives, living at about 70-80% of our capacity. What would life be like if only we all had more oxygen? Would we all be smarter, happier, more active?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Back in the USA: Misfortune strikes

Made it back safely to Newark, collected my duffle bags and headed out to be picked up by my wife.
While waiting I reached into one of the duffles for a new Blackberry battery and discovered:
Both my cameras, all my bateries, extra memory chips were gone. That's all they took, but all my 500 pictures from Africa are gone!

I will now have to rely on the kindness of my traveling companions for pictures to go with my memories.
Lesson learned: never put your camera in your luggage!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Mt. Kilimanjaro: a few pictures

I finally have good enough connectivity to upload a few pics from my BB.
1) The Mt.
2) Me at the start of the climb
3) Lunch the first day, we were shocked to have a table!
4) Me and the Mt.
5) The Mt.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Mt. Kilimanjaro postscript

Well the climb was completed successfully, I'll always remember that feeling of accomplishment and sheer wonder that I climbed over 19000 feet to the summit of Africa's tallest peak.
But one more goal remains to be reached. Please join me in supporting the American Lung Association. I have made it my goal to raise $5000 in memory of my Dad, a life long sufferer from severe asthma that contributed to his early death.
Many of you have already made a donation and we are over 80% of the way to my goal. Thank-you, your support is appreciated and was a motivation for me to train seriously and work through various bouts of knee pain, but please consider donating a second time.
If you have not made a donation, please do so today.
Just go to:
http://action.lungusa.org/site/TR/ClimbForCleanAir/CALANY_New_York?px=4267567&pg=personal&fr_id=2730

Thanks again for your support!

Mt. Kilimanjaro: the last hike

For the first time, I was warm enough during the night to loosen the zipper on my sleeping bag. It is a new down bag rated to 0•F and I've been very happy that it kept me warm and comfortable despite the sub freezing to near zero temperatures each night. Our last day in Mt. Kilimanjaro National park began with a pancake, porridge, omelet breakfast at Mweke Camp. Although I had two chewable Bepto Bismol tablets last night, and my nausea had receded a bit, I still had no appetite. So I struggled to eat a few bites of the omelet and drank some cocoa.
After we broke camp the whole support team: 3 guides, a cook, and 16 porters all got together and sang a traditional Swahili song of thanks and good fortune to celebrate our success. But considering all the work they did, we should have been singing them the song! We did provide a long round of applause. Its also traditional on the last day to leave any gear no longer needed for the chief guide to give to the porters. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to leave behind, but I gave the chief guide $20 as an extra tip for the porters (more on tipping below).
With the morning festivities done we set off down our last trail for the exit at Mweke Gate. Although only 6 miles the trail was fairly steep as it descended about 4400 feet. This last section was once again through rain forest, initially the canopy was about 50 feet, but by the end over 100 feet. Typical of rain forest, the trees were covered in vines and the trunks in moss. The trail was muddy and slippery, and because of the steepness, a series of mud steps held in place by logs. This was tough on my left knee, and I quickly got into a rhythm of using the two poles to support my weight when ever I stepped forward onto my left leg.
After about a half hour we were passed by a medical evacuation team taking a young woman down in the stretcher. She didn't seem to be conscious, which may have been fortunate. The stretcher had a single tire and was rolling down the log steps fast causing very strong jarring. I hope she is alright. Despite the success of our group, this was a vivid reminder of the dangers on the mountain. Indeed our guide told us an American climber was killed just last month when he was hit by a falling rock.
We reached the gate at about noon and had to go through sign out formalities. It was also a chance for local artist/vendors to sell carvings, bracelets, knives(?), flags, T-shirts, cokes, and beers. Typical of such tourist locals, if you bought anything you were mobbed.
After our guide had certified our reaching the summit, we headed down into Moshe.
The transition from park to local farms was dramatic. Most of the rain forest trees had been cut and small mixed banana, corn, and cow farms started right at the boundry. The condition of the land was better here than in the Serengeti, Lake Baringo, or other dry scrub or grasslands. Almost everywhere in drier parts of East Africa the land has been over grazed, leading to severe erosion and loss of viable grass. I hope there are efforts ongoing to improve land conservation or things could get desperate for the small herders.
Soon we reached Bristol Cottages, and although it was passed 1:00 PM, we all voted to shower before lunch, long, hot, heavy scrubbing showers.
Before our chief guide left we all felt the support team deserved a significant tip, each of us put in $200 and gave the total to Freddy. As chief guide it was his responsibility to divide the $1200 among his 20 person team according to their experience and work effort. Our tour operator had told us it was "traditional" to give a tip in the range of $130 to $220. But we learned from Freddy that only the cook and 3 guides are paid by the tour group! The rest of the team gets paid only from tips, hence we felt the team deserved the higher end of the range. The did a lot of work for so little!
At dinner Freddy returned to give each of us our personal Certificate for climbing to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
As we chatted during dinner it was apparent Freddy had leadership skills that would make him a star on the motivational circuit in the US. Maybe I'll become his agent! Freddy seeks out men as porters who will be responsible with their tips, if they blow it on alcohol, they are off his team. He asks each one "what is your ambition in life? Do you want to be more than a porter?". If yes, he helps them develop the skills to advance with on the job training: porter to assistant cook or tent specialist, to waiter (who must learn english), to assistant guide (who must also study the mountain, its geology, biology, and history), then prepare assistant guides for the Tanzanian National Park Guide test and certification. This kind of a career path can take 5 to 10 yrs. Freddy hopes to move up to business manager, the person who arranges local transportation, accommodations, and provides introductions to all new climbers. I hope he succeeds.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Mt. Kilimanjaro: Summit Attempt!

Day 5 (which actually starts at then end of Day 4) is the longest, hardest, brutally challenging day of the climb. After 2 hrs sleep we were awakened at 11:00 PM and told to put on our gear. At 15,500 feet it was already well below freezing and with beautiful clear skies, it would get much colder. So I hoped I was ready. I had medium weight long underwear, then rain/wind proof ski pants, then my safari pants, I also had thick cotton hiking socks and wool socks, with wind/rain proof gaiters covering my socks, boot tops and the bottom of my pants. Upper wear started with a medium weight long john, a long sleeve shirt, a heavy duty cotton shirt, a fleece, a down vest, and a knee length rain/wind shell. For head covering I had a bacalava and the hood from my rain shell. We gathered for tea and biscuits, but no one was hungry we just wanted to go! Although I had headaches the previous nights from the high altitude, tonight I was headache free and felt good.
At 12:00 midnight we set out, it was "only" 2.5 miles to the summit and of course 4,000 feet up, how long could it take? Did we really need to leave so early?
We set out led for the first time by the chief guide, Freddy. Up to now he had been managing the porters, cooks, and making sure camp was set up and torn down properly, camp items were distributed to the porters evenly for transport, water was obtained, so he often joined us while hiking where he would walk in the back observing us carefully for endurance or altitude adjustment issues. Freddy decided to lightened the packs of some of the group by having a assistant guide in training come to carry the weight, I took the opportunity to have him take 1 of my 3 bottles of water, saving me from carrying an extra 2 lbs.
As we left camp Freddy seemed to setting a maddingly slow pace: step 20 inches, pause, step again. We all were wearing headlamps, so we could see in front of us clearly. Since the night was absolutely clear but with a recently risen half moon, when we looked up we could see the brighter stars, while the rest of the mountain was mostly grey. Since the trail was steep, the air thin, and it was bone chillingly cold with a modest head wind to boot, we all accepted that Freddy, who climbs to the summit 50 times a year!, we felt confident had the experience to set a pace that would give us a good chance to summit.
After an hour, I was feeling pretty good, at our slow pace I was breathing full breaths through my nose, but only when we did abrupt steps up large rocks did I feel the need to take extra breaths. It seemed my summer of training by biking over 1500 miles, and weekend hikes of over 125 had given me the capacity to "comfortably" keep pace. At this time my feet and legs were warm and comfortable, but my chest was too warm so I took off the down vest. Only my fingers were cold, my two layers of mittens were not enough. So occasionally I'd let go of my hiking poles and bring my fingers to my palm in the mitten to warm them. One of the other hikers worried about frostbite, but my fingers were not the cold.
Looking up we could see the largest glacier on Mt. Kilimanjaro shining white in the moonlight, we would pass a little to its left in our climb and after 3 hours of climbing, it seemed no closer! By now the air was even colder, around 15, and the wind had increased. Now my cheeks and nose were also cold but my core body remained warm. At this point I noticed an aching pain in my lower chest, I described the pain to Freddy and he said "don't worry", it was caused by the extremely cold dry air reaching my lower lungs. But I was fearful it might be sign of pulmonary edema, one of the effects of serious altitude sickness. However, since it did not hurt more when I took a deep breath, nor did the pain get worse as we climbed higher, I started to think Freddy was right.
After 4 hours we passed a hiker in distress bent over and puking, she was being helped by her guide, later we would see another hiker who seemed disoriented from the altitude. But happily, and amazingly, no one in our group of 6 had any significant altitude sickness effects.
After 5.5 hours I reached my lowest point, I was so tired every time we even paused I leaned on my trekking poles and closed my eyes, my fingers were very cold, and it took determination to take each step. Just at this time Freddy handed out small sweet tart like candies, and the sugar gave me energy boost. So on we went.
At 6:00 we watched the sun rise over the low clouds in the east, a quick sharp red line on the horizon. Since other climbing parties were above us, we were tracking their progress by following the glow of their headlamps. As sunrise started, we could see that some parties had reached the rim of crater at the top of the mountain. But we still had more to go.
By 6:30 the sun was shining on us, but it seemed to have little warmth.
Finally at about 7:00 we reached the end of the trail, we had reached Stella Peak and the edge of the crater left by Mt. Kilimanjaro's last eruption. It is considered dormant, not an extinct volcano. Indeed, it spewed some ash and steam about 100 yrs ago.
At Stella point we gave high 5's all around, thanked our guide, had a short break, and took pictures, of each other and the various views from the point. The crater was spectacular, bound on one side by a glacier, just to north we could now see the extent of the glacier we saw while climbing. It was massive, easily 50 feet thick, its layers of ice separated by variously thick lines of dust. According to Freddy, the glacier thickness has been increasing over the past 5 years, its thickness is closely monitored by climate scientists.
By reaching Stella Point the Tanzanian Park Service would award us Official Green Certificates for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. This is where about 40% of climbers turn back. But we voted unanimously to hike another mile along the rim to the true peak, Uhuru Peak. So off we went strangely energetic at a much faster pace climbing the final 500 feet, by 7:40 we were there! At the summit of the tallest peak in Africa, on the tallest freestanding mountain on the planet, Uhuru Peak, 19,340 feet above sea level!
We took more pictures, including 2 with my blackberry. But soon we were leaving trying to avoid any cellular damage where the oxygen pressure is only 49% as great as NJ. Indeed, although I felt fine, even exhilarated, I did notice two odd effects. 1) my brain was apparently not processing as fast: when I watched a person walk, their boot was just a blur, no longer a distinct object. 2) for a while when I looked at the face of a hiker in the sun, his face color shifted over a few seconds from white to red to flesh color, as if by brain couldn't figure it out.
By 9:00 AM it was time to leave the high altitude, and the quicker we returned to base camp the less chance we would have of any altitude induced injuries. So although it to 7+ hrs to climb, Freddy assured us we would be down in less than 2. He led us down scree, gravel and dust (lots of dust), showing us how to boot ski and use our poles for turns. It was quick, but still tiring and we (and every layer of clothing) ended up covered in volcanic dust.
By the time we reached base camp, I was a bit nauseous and had lost my appetite so I ate very little at lunch. We had about two hours of sleep then off we set for Mweka camp, another 5 miles down the mountain and 5000 feet lower in elevation. By the time we got to the camp I had been up 19 hrs, hiking for 14 hrs, I still was not hungry or thirsty, but we had dinner and I went to sleep, the longest sleep I've I had on the Mt.!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Mt. Kilimanjaro: Day 4

Today we hiked from Camp 3 (Barranco Camp) at 12000 feet to Camp 4 (Barafu Camp), the base camp at 15,500 feet for most attempts to climb Kilimanjaro. The days hike was quite strenous. First left the Barranco camp vie the Barranco Wall, a steep valcanic side to the valley. Several sections must be navigated using hand and foot holds so we did not use our Treking poles. Climbing out this trail was challenging in it self, but it was made more so because porters moving camp supplies had the right of way, so we had to find someplace to squeeze into as dozens and dozens of porters went by.
After reaching the valley rim we then descended about 1000 feet to 2 dry valleys. Thus by the time we reached Barafu, we had climbed about 4500 feet, almost exactly what we would need to do to reach the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro later that night.
The 7 mile hike between camps was mainly through high mt. desert. In some places only lichens, and grass in the wind shadow or rocks grew.
Barafu Camp, was the highest, coldest, and least attractive camp. Set on a narrow ridge of shocked volcanic rock ledges, there were few flat spots for tents and long trecks to the outhouses. There was also no water, so the porters had to hike about 8 miles round trip to get water for cooking.
As the 6 members of my hiking group ate dinner, we were not in the best of spirits. It was the coldest night so far with frost forming by 7:00 PM, several of us, including me, had altitude related headaches, all of us had lost our appetites and we were forcing food down. To top it off, our guide explained that we will be awakened at 11:00 PM for dinner, then we should gear up for the climb which would start at midnight and was expected to take 6-7 hrs! That meant at best we get 3,5 hrs of sleep (actually because of noise in the camp I only got 1.5 hrs of sleep). For the first time we were asking each other at dinner: can we really make it to the top?

I MADE IT!!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Mt. Kilimanjaro: Day 3

I felt really good when I got up today, I had two long stretches of sleep and had a good appetite for breakfast. One of the signs of altitude sickness is loss of appetite along with headache and nausea. Our chief guide Freddy, told us we were in very good shape to make the summit, and he had no concerns. He said Day 2 often identifies people with problems of endurance, breathing issues or severe altitude sickness. That is way the Day 2 camp (Shira Camp) has a helipad to evacuate such folks, (I didn't hear any choppers so I guess there were no severe problems).
Last night's sky was spectacular, it was clear, moon less for the first couple hours and of course no light pollution. The Milky Way was directly overhead and stretched from horizon to horizon. Thousands of stars were blazing, it was the sky our ancestors saw every clear night, but now rarely seen.
We've seen very little wildlife, a few Blue Monkeys at the very start, and three different mice like creatures. Supposedly Eland occasionally visit the site of last nights camp.
Today we climbed to 15,000, this is thought to help with altitude acclimatization. It was also 2000 feet higher than I have ever been. On the way up I started to get a headache. But at lunch I still had a good appetite, so our chief guide did not think it a problem. My birding and wildlife guide from earlier safari had told me most people have signs of altitude sickness by 14500 feet, so I guess I fall into that group.
On both the ascent up to 15000 feet and descent today to our Day 3 camp (Barranco Camp) at 12,000 feet I kept pace well, happily no knee pain. But I do have some blisters on both big toes, hopefully band aids will minimize the discomfort.
The descent was in light rain and fog and no fun at all. We came down a valley of interesting plants, but I could not study or enjoy them due to the rain. Sure hope we don't have any more rain!
For the day we did about 7 miles. Tomorrow we do another 8 miles, the first 4 miles will go up 2000 feet then down 2000 feet, then we start a steady climb to our summit camp at about 15,000 feet.