A Letter from Moshi - I climbed Mt.kilimanjaro to the summit, Uhuru peak

First of all, in conclusion, I never, never do climb mountains over 2000metres before exercising at gym at least one year.

It was really, really hard thing to do.

Day1, to the Mandara hut 7.9km(2720m) Ok, not so bad, only a little headache.

Day2, through forest, moorland to the Horombo hut, 11.7km(3720m)

Oh, beautiful scenary, I was enjoying that. Air became dry and cold. I heard my hearbeat well more than any time.

Day3, through moorland, desert to the Kibo hut, 9.26km(4700m)

Mountain came closer to me. But I can't breath. My feet don't move on. But watch the Mt. Kilimanjaro, really, really beautiful.

I must climb to the top. I'm not the person to give up. let's go, let's go.

At high altitude, you lose your appetite. Oh good thing? No, no.

I need energy to climb to the summit. But I only ate some pineapple. It was lucky there was pineapple at that time.

And some korean had left chopstick. Only chopstick!!! Where is 'Ramyon', ' Ramyon'?

Day4, to the summit, Uhuru peak(5895m) At midnight, we started (me and my guide John).

I wore three trousers(one of them was pink ski wear, I borrowed), 6 shirts(one of them was thick ski Jacket, of course I borrowed.)baraclava(you know? terrorist's wear. three holes, 2 for eyes, 1 for mouth), leg warmer(what is the name? I don't know that)

Smell was bad. But that was no problem.

The water in the bottle in my pocket became ice anyway. The steep is 70degree. There is no definite road, only trace.

Sometimes zigzag, but in the end rockcliming in -10C, at 5000metres, in the dark before dawn.

At last we reached Gilman's point(5681m), 1000metres for 6hrs.

You cannot imagine this, never, never without experiences.

It was not the end. The peak was there, half around the rim to Uhuru peak(5895m).

The road covered with snow. And glaciers. Glacier in Africa.

I coudn't breath. I coudn't walk. Every 5minutes, I took a rest. But condition didn't become better.

I must go, must go. In my dictionary, there is no word'give up'. But must do I this? why, why, why?

It took 2hrs 30minutes to climb 200m.

I was at the highest mountain in Africa. The highest mountain in the world that you can climb without equipment(O2 tank, so on)

I really wanted to sleep there.

But John said "Go down quickly, sun rise, snow melt, road slippery"

It was harder to go down. It took 2hrs to other people. It took me 6hrs.

John dragged me 'jil-jil'. The hut was there, but never closer to me.

After one hour sleep, I walked 3hrs to Horombo hut.

I don't know now how I could do that.

In my thinking now, I only climbed to write this article.

Now you know the reason why I never climb again.

Thank John for his help. Without his help, I never could have made it.

During coming down, I have feeled chilling and fever.

Today, I have been to hospital. My blood test exam revealed Malaria. (I took prophylactic medicine of course)

Hb 7.2, 20% plasmodium in RBC.

Now, I know the reason why it was so tough to climb.

Don't worry about me. Malaria is like cold in Africa. Also, My friends help me a lot.

Maybe I had better to stay at Moshi, a few more days.

Thinking about going to Nairobi airport directly from here. Everybody says Nairobi is dangerous.

And now 'Bbikki' are like my friends. Moshi is like my hometown.

(모시에서 올린 포스트, 그 때는 사진이 안 올라가서 마음 먹은대로 올릴 수 없었다.

지금 보니 영어로 이렇게 길게 글을 쓸 수 있었다는 사실이 새삼 놀랍다.)