Kilimanjaro 2009 - Bonner/Yeates Adventure for Alzheimer BC!

Acclimatizing at 14,000 feet

Date: Saturday, September 19, 2009 Time: 7:00pm Tanzania, noon EDT, 9:00am PDT Location: Mawenzi Tarn (Glacial Lake) Camp - Nalemaru (Rongai) Route Altitude: Start: 11,900 ft Camp: Mawenzi Tarn 14,000 ft Hiking Time: 4 hours Today was a four hour hike with 2,100ft altitude gain to 14,000'. We are definitely seeing a weather pattern on the mountain, clear and cold until the sun comes up, then the direct sun heating us up (we are only a couple of degrees from the equator), then around 10:am clouds forming in the valley that become high clouds and bring cold winds for a couple of hours, then the wind dies down, the weather stabilizes and the minute the sun sets behind the mountain the temperature drops. Right now we are in our sleeping bags at around 0 deg C and expect it to be colder tonight. Typing is definitely with cold hands! This is the highest altitdude Deb & Jim have been at while Shirley and Peter have been to 17,500' trekking in Nepal. We all are doing very well although stomach sickness continues to challenge many and Deb has a low grade headache from the altitude. Our team of 8 is doing well, we travel "pole, pole" (slowly, slowly) and everyone is helping each other out. The altitude we are at now is approximately twice the height of Whistler Mountain and the air is getting thinner. We reached our camp at 1:15pm today and had a rest afternoon which consisted of sleeping and/or listening to our iPods. Tomorrow is an acclimatization day for this level of altitude, we have a 2 hour hike and return to the same Camp for R & R the rest of the day. The terrain is spectacular and very different to back home. The route we are taking looks over the Kenyan plains below - it is quite amazing how much distance you can cover in 17 hours of hiking going pole, pole. If you have a chance, look at the first few maps in our photo album and you will be able to see where we are. Tomorrow we hope to publish pictures, as it is getting a little too cold for that right now. PS: Sorry for the formatting and spelling, we are using a rudimentary text editor to allow us to use the very slow satphone effectivelly.Res

We are on the Top of Kili!!

Time: 7am All 8 made it during a beautiful nite, clear -10C. Too cold and too tired to expand on now - over next day or two we will give an update! Thanks to all our sponsors, family and friends

Day 5 - our final acsent!

Current Location: Kibo Huts Altitude: 15,500 feet Time: 6:30 pm

Today we reached the Kibo Huts, after hiking 6 hours from the Mawenzi Tarn Camp. The Kibo Huts are the last stop for all routes trekking to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

It is now 6:30 pm and our plan is to try and sleep till 11:00 pm, wake up and have some tea and cookies, then begin our final ascent at midnight. We will be hiking in the dark with head lamps and flashlights. We have a 4,000 vertical feet climb to Gilmands Point, which is one and a half hours from the final peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Hopefully this will take us 6 to 7 hours to reach 19,400 feet, which is the highest point in Africa. We will only be on top for 30 minutes or so, then we will begin our descent for another 6-7 hours of hiking to the Horombo huts, which are located at 12,000 feet. We have been told that today will feel like "the longest day of our lives".

Shirley and Peter, Deb and Jim are all in good shape and ready to give it a good try tonight.

(dictated by Michelle Yeates via satellite phone communication) 

Day 4 - 2 hour acclimitization hike and R&R

Date: September 20, 2009. Today we did our 2 hour acclimitization hike and are currently resting back at camp. We went from 14,000 ft to 15,500 ft. We are not trying to get a few hours sleep and at midnight we are going to the summit to 19,400 ft which will no doubt be the most challenging part of our trip. (this message was relayed via sat phone to Alex at 10am EST).

Day 3 - 4 hour hike from 11,900 ft to 14,000 ft

Date: Saturday, September 19, 2009 Time: 7:30pm Tanzania, Location: Mawenzi Tarn Camp, Altitute start: 11,900 ft, finsh: 14,000 ft, Hiking Time: 4 hours. Today was a four hike with 2100 ft of altitude gained to 14,000 ft. Right now we are in our sleeping bags at 7.30pm at around zero degrees celcius and the night is expected to get colder. The typing is definitely done with cold hands!

This is the highest altitude Deb & Jim have been at whereas Shirley and Peter have been to 17,500 ft trekking in Nepal.We are all doing very well although stomach sickness continues to challenge many and Deb has a low grade headache from the altitude. Our team is doing well, we travel very slowly and everyone is helping everyone out. The altitude we are at currently is approximately twice that of Whistler and the air is definitely getting thinner!

We reached our camp at 1:15pm today and had a restful afternoon which consisted of sleeping and/or listening to our iPods. Tomorrow is an acclimitization day for this altitude and we have a 2 hour hike and return to the same camp for R&R the rest of the day.

The terrain is spectacular and good visibility all around.

PS - our batteries are dead so we may not be able to transmit going forward.

Day 2 - Intense Sun and Rain - 8 Hours of hik

Date: Friday, September 18, 2009 Time: 8:30pm Tanzania, 1:30pm EDT, 10:30am PDT Location: Kikelewa Camp - Nalemaru (Rongai) Route Altitude: Start: 8500 ft Lunch: Simba Camp Camp: Kikelewa Camp 11,900 ft Hiking Time: 8 hours We don't know if any comments came in about how many ascents our chief guide, Frederick, has made. In fact, in checking on the number there was a fair amount of controversy over the number but we have finalized the results with E&Y auditing the results - and the number is 394 amazing times. Our leader, Dr. Sue Hollenberg, commented on the day, "the team is strong, cohesive and having a lot of laughs. It is important to remember to enjoy yourself on this hike (Rule #4 from Seamus) and not fret too much about the next leg of the journey." Today was the second longest day of the week long ascent - the only longer day is when we hike to the summit at 19,340' from 15,000' then descend to 12,300' for a total of 13 - 15 hours. Tonight we sleep with hats on as it will be close to 0 degrees C. The team today not only had a long day but a varied weather day. For an hour in the morning we had intense equatorial sun that heated everyone up, then in the afternoon we had an hour of medium hard rain and we were wearing three layers of upper body clothing. In only two days we have gone from a shower before we left to very dusty and dirty, it will be interesting to see us after we are finished! Over the next two days we will have a fair amount of free time once we reach our next camp at 14,000'. The purpose is to acclimatize so that we can make the very difficult final route to the summit. We will try to post more pictures as we have some great shots of the team and terrain. This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using OCENS.Mail software.

Day 2 - Intense Sun & Then Rain During 8 Hour Hike

Date: Friday, September 18, 2009 Time: 8:30pm Tanzania, 1:30pm EDT, 10:30am PDT Location: Kikelewa Camp - Nalemaru (Rongai) Route Altitude: Start: 8500 ft Lunch: Simba Camp Camp: Kikelewa Camp 11,900 ft Hiking Time: 8 hours We don't know if any comments came in about how many ascents our chief guide, Frederick, has made. In fact, in checking on the number there was a fair amount of controversy over the number but we have finalized the results with E&Y auditing the results - and the number is 394 amazing times. Our leader, Dr. Sue Hollenberg, commented on the day, "the team is strong, cohesive and having a lot of laughs. It is important to remember to enjoy yourself on this hike (Rule #4 from Seamus) and not fret too much about the next leg of the journey." Today was the second longest day of the week long ascent - the only longer day is when we hike to the summit at 19,340' from 15,000' then descend to 12,300' for a total of 13 - 15 hours. Tonight we sleep with hats on as it will be close to 0 degrees C. The team today not only had a long day but a varied weather day. For an hour in the morning we had intense equatorial sun that heated everyone up, then in the afternoon we had an hour of medium hard rain and we were wearing three layers of upper body clothing. In only two days we have gone from a shower before we left to very dusty and dirty, it will be interesting to see us after we are finished! Over the next two days we will have a fair amount of free time once we reach our next camp at 14,000'. The purpose is to acclimatize so that we can make the very difficult final route to the summit. We will try to post more pictures as we have some great shots of the team and terrain. This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using OCENS.Mail software.

Our First Day on Kilimanjaro

Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009 Time: 8:30pm Tanzania, 1:30pm East Coast, 10:30am West Coast Location: Nalemaru (Rongai) Route Altitude: Start: 6500 ft Camp: 8500 ft (2100m) Hiking Time: 3 hours 20 minutes Today was our first day on Mount Kilimanjaro. Spirits are high for our team despite our nervousness facing what has been described by many as the "toughest challenge of their lives, both physically and mentally!". We left the Hotel Marangu where we have been staying. The Hotel also runs the ascent program we are on. Our team of 8 is supported by a chief guide, 4 assistant guides and 26 porters, cooks and others who take a moving camp day by day to support us. Also, we very lucky to have 1 of the owners of the Marngu Hotel with us.Seamus is very knowlegeable and experieced (23rd trip to the top of Kili) hiker. We travelled 2 1/2 hours by large truck busses on a very dusty road under construction. We were wearing face masks or bandanas to keep the dust out. After this eventful ride we checked in for the beginning of our 7 day ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro. Our first hour of hiking was extremely dusty, up to 6 inches (15 cm) of dust on the trail - we are talking real dusty! Once we got through the first hour the trail lead us into the woods and then the sub-alpine vegetation. Our trip ended at Simba Camp where our porters had already prepared our camp site. We had tea in the kitchen tent followed by a delicious dinner. Overall it was a relativelly easy start to our ascent. Our chief guide - Frederick is very experienced in completing ascents to the top of Kili - can you guess how many times do you think he has done it (make a Comment)?

Our Leader - Sue - on the Truck to Rongai Route for Kili

Mount Kenya Acclimatization Hike to 11,000'

Date: Monday, September 14, 2009 Time: 10:30am Kenya, 3:30am East Coast, 0:30am West Coast Location: 0 00.00 (Equator) 37 07.00E Post from: Mount Kenya Safari Club Activity: Ascent hike for acclimatization - Mount Kenya Altitude: Hike 8500' to 11,000' - 18 kms At 8:30 am with our backpacks loaded with layers of clothing for the days' hike on the Sacred Mt. Kenya, we boarded a van with the Nick Miller Safaris and bumped along the dusty rutted route to the gates of the Mount Kenya National Park. We arrived there at 9:30 am and began our climb at 8,500 feet. It was a stunning day bathed in sunshine. Our spirits were high as hiked "pole, pole" - "slowly, slowly" up the red earth track leading to 1st camp - Mozes Camp at 11,000 feet. Our guides were Albert and Francis. Albert is 29 and has been guiding for almost 10 years. He is married to a school teacher and they have a little girl 2 1/2. He is very knowledgeable and we enjoyed getting to know him. Francis is 24 and he leads bike trips from the Mt. Kenya Safari Club as well. Two years ago during the political turmoil in Kenya, Albert's 80 year old father was murdered before his Mom's eyes because he had a farm on lands originally belonging to another tribe, the original tribe in that area. They lost everything. His Mom was spared on condition she said nothing. This completely demoralized Albert's belief in democracy and he told us he would never vote again. Today Albert has overcome this huge tragedy in his family and looks forward to a prosperous future. Francis' family was forced to move from their home and relocate to Nairobi because of the turmoil and violence. Our hike snaked us through different stratas of vegetation ranging from the bush of the forest, through a narrow swath of bamboo where we were on high alert for the forest elephant whose droppings were abundant and in evidence everywhere along our route. The vegetation was much greener on this side of the mountain where rainfall is more abundant. The last strata took us through a huge area of burned out land, a victim of a raging fire last year. Tender green shoots and beautiful wildflowers poke through between the burnt out stumps. A stunning red flower named a "red headed pukey" reminiscent of our Indian paint brush at home. It was breath taxingly beautiful. We congratulated ourselves on our strategy to acclimatize before our climb of Kilimanjaro. We all felt good and it gave us confidence for our challenge on Kili. As we climbed higher we definitely needed to access our warmer layers of clothing. We lunched at the Mozes Camp at 1:30 pm and headed back down after a short rest. It took us 2 and a half hours to descend. We walked at a good pace. Nearing the end of our trek we spied some baboons, and, while focusing on these creatures we were surprised by the looming presence of a huge Forest Elephant at the curve of the road ahead. Albert instructed us to back up slowly and move away. Then another giant elephant lumbered across the road. We could hear them crashing about in the bush. At first we were up wind of the giants but then the wind began to swirl around and we were concerned the elephants would smell our scent and approach us. Albert decided to call the game warden and he arrived in the van shortly after to rescue us and drive us to the park gates. As we approached the gates a troop of about 100 baboons ran ahead us and scattered before us. We parked the van and Albert leaped out to chase a huge male baboon which had stolen a huge cabbage from the wardens recently delivered grocery order. The baboon dropped his "prize" and Albert was a "hero" for the second time that day.