Dertingers In Africa 2012: Mount Meru Climb

Mount Meru Climb

March 11

We were up and eating breakfast by 8:00 am Our guides showed up half an hour early and we were happy they showed up. Apparently we have two guides, two porters, a cook and a ranger guide climbing with us. After breakfast, we were on our way to Momella Park gate in Arusha National Park. We were never given a climb briefing so decided we should read as much as we could at the gate and listen to as much of the Kili briefing as possible. We stopped off along the way for our guides to purchase some meat and stuff for us to eat for lunch. Once at the gate we were ushered to a waiting room to sit in until our guides and porters had organized our supplies and equipment into manageable packages. We met our very friendly ranger, named Joseph. He talked to our guides and told them we should be going up the long way in order to acclimatize rather than the short way, as they had planned. We waited about three hours and were finally on our way by noon, after signing the National Park record book. Just as we were about to leave, we were introduced to Jackomon, a fellow from Italy who had decided to climb Mount Meru. He and his guide and cook joined us and we shared Joseph, our Park Ranger.

We began the trek, walking through open grassland and siting buffalo, giraffe and zebra, along the way. Next came a steady climb uphill as we entered Montane Forest. We stopped for a picnic lunch under a well known Fig Tree that formed an arch over the trail. After lunch, we continued heading through the forested slopes, looking for Black and White Colobus Monkeys which reside in the canopies of the forest. UP, up, up, up, we pressed on until about two hours away from our destination, it began to rain and then pour. We were soaked in no time, but cooler. It was time to pull out my ipod. This situation called for Adele to give me strength. Soon I forgot I was walking and was actually dancing up the hill. We began to site Mount Meru's ash cone and the surrounding peaks. By about 6:00 pm we reached Miriakamba Hut at 2516 metres, after walking 15 kms up hill.

We were shown to our room and provided a small bowl each of warm water to wash our faces, hands, and feet. It felt soooo good!! By 7:30 we were eating dinner; rice, veggie stew, some kind of meat for Ed, of course and soup. It hit the spot. We sat and talked for a bit with Jackomon and then headed to bed.

March 12

We were up early the next morning admiring the views of Kilimanjaro in the distance. After a breakfast of hot oatmeal and peanut butter sandwich, we were off to begin a tough day of climbing to the upper reaches of he mountain. We climbed at a steady pace through the forest, listening to the birds and Celine Dion! Hahaha! Ed is the adventurer romantic and I the romantic adventurer. By 1:00, five hours later, we reached Saddle Hut, nestled between Little Meru and Meru. After a little lunch and a rest, we set off to climb Little Meru to a peak at 3820 meters. Climb high, sleep low; this would help Ed with his climb tomorrow. We enjoyed the views and then descended back down to Saddle Hut. After dinner the guides came to talk about a plan for tomorrow. Thankfully Jackomon decided to climb to Rhino Point and stop, as I decided after reading about the trail and the final ascent. This meant that Ed would leave at 1:30 am with Nick (guide #1) to climb to the peak for sunrise. Jackomon and I would leave at 5:30 am with Mark (guide #2) and Jackomon's guide to climb to Rhino Point for sunrise. I was happy not to be alone. We were in bed by 8:00 pm, but of course, Ed could not sleep.

March 13

The alarm went off at 12:30 am and although Ed didn't think he had slept, I know he did. I'm pretty sure that if someone is snoring he or she must be experiencing one stage of sleep or another. Hahah. Off he went to find Nick to have coffee and porridge and promised to come back to say goodbye. He was so pumped, I asked him to leave his backpack in the room while he ate breakfast. Otherwise, he may just forget to say goodbye. The wind was howling, it was dark and we were encapsulated in a cloud. GrEaT! Part of me hoped Ed would opt to go back to bed and climb to Rhino Point, but I knew he would press on to Socialist Peak and I knew that it would be easier to nurse whatever the result of the climb was than to watch Ed come short of fulfilling his dream of climbing Mount Meru. At 1:30 am he came back to the room. I asked him to please turn back if visibility was so bad that he was in danger of falling off the ridge and he promised he would. I gave him a tearful kiss and saw him out the door as he disappeared into the fog of the cloud.

After that, I didn't sleep a wink; just laid there thinking happy thoughts. Finally 5:00 am came and I got up, got dressed and waited in the room until I heard Jackomon come out. We had tea and biscuits and then started our climb to Rhino Point (3800 metres). We were in time to watch the sunrise over Kilimanjaro. It was very cold, but we stayed for quite some time admiring the ash cone from above. It looked very much like I imagine the moon would look. I looked to see if I could see Ed on the top of Socialist Peak but nope. All I could see was rocks and a very narrow pathway over the ridge toward the peak. We descended and were back at Saddle Hut by 8:30 am.

By 9:45 am I could hear Ed's voice. There he was with a very spooked look in his eyes and a very bloated belly, but a grin from ear to ear. Still smiling, I thought! The first thing he said was, “I promise I will never do that again.” “I'm done with climbing mountains.” It took Ed five hours to climb to the summit through the dark cloud and wind. There was no pathway after Rhino Point and in some parts it was necessary to crawl. In true Eddie fashion he was early, even for the sunrise and Nick reported to him that they had climbed too fast. No surprise there as at 4565 meters, Ed reported feeling the nausea of altitude sickness. After a little debriefing, Ed was snoring.

At 1:00 we had a quick very cold breakfast. It was terrible but I gagged it down knowing the food energy would be needed for the descent ahead. Off we went. We descended to Miriakamba Hut. We arrive around 4:30 and after a rest were eating dinner; soup, rice, stew. We hoped for a good night rest.

March 14

After breakfast we continued our descent of Mount Meru, passing through the Park gates of Momella through the forest and grasslands of the lower plains. When we arrived at the place where we started March 11, Joseph completed the certificates stating our successes and we were soon on our way back to Moivara Lodge. It was wonderful to have a shower again and relax in the lawn chairs by the pool.

At 6:30, Hamis showed up to drive us to Kahn's BBQ. This was a all part of the climb package. Kahn's BBQ doubles up as an auto-spares store by day and a popular and very earthy BBQ by night. We were given a heaping spread of grilled meat, salads and Zanzibar pizza. There was plenty to share so we invited Hamis to join us. After dinner we went to bed, dreaming of Zanzibar.