Catching Up
I logged into Twitter seconds ago to check the trends and #MyJourney was Number 1 - it’s being promoted by AT&T because “Every athlete has a story to tell” - I know it's cheesy, but I really appreciate that the Olympics break down the barriers and bring the world together... even at our expense for advertisement.
What if there are no consequences, no greater powers to please... The meaning of life could just be, to be. For those of you who know me: In case you haven't noticed the only consequence I believe in is karma, cause and effect solely managed by the individual. Mr. Lennon's "Imagine" has recently enlightened me and I believe we are the only masters of personal destiny, happiness is determined by our actions, not our wishes.
This blog has a few unfinished chapters, this I’ve known, but some shit came up and I’ve been busy. The last entry is March 2011, and I have yet to finish my honeymoon in Greece. I’ll get there, but as you can see I'm compelled to write this part first. A reason: My son was born six weeks early at 4 pounds 14 ounces, and life hasn’t slowed down for even a second... until now.
NOW I’ve done it, I feel richer than money can ever make me, time is still a luxury but now the rush is off... I truly feel blessed that I have it all, and I guess in this case absence made my heart grow... stronger.
In a tiny 2 year nutshell: Journey was born, a few months later NBC hired me back full-time... and a few months after that we started searching for a home to purchase. In March my 11-month old son, wife of almost two-years and I moved into a 3-bedroom 2-bath single family residence and I’ve just returned from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
Above Us Only Sky
We arrived to the airport outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Bole International) and immediately ran into a problem while checking our bags, the power went out! Apparently this is a normal occurrence. We waited and eventually our hand-written luggage tags were attached and our stashes of cold weather gear & snacks were on the (finally) moving conveyor belts into the bowels of Terminal 2. One problem though, our flight was from Terminal 1, the attendants recognized our concern and had attached “Priority” tags to our luggage. This they assured us, would avoid any problems.
I haven’t done much in the outdoors since becoming a father: a few over-nighters with Journey when he was around three to six months and plenty of random training missions in preparation for 19,341 feet, but nothing very far from the light pollution of San Diego. I hadn’t really seen the stars until night 2 of Ethiopia, and it was amazing to once again see the southern hemisphere as my re-acquaintance with the universe... I’m bypassing the Ethiopia entry temporarily, Jabs and I had a layover here where we visited a National Park & ATE for four days. It was awesome but I’m not gonna lie, dwarfed by the experience on Afrika's tallest mountain. A short walk later, another security screening and eventually we were almost to the gate, but not quite... here were the last vendors before a 3rd security checkpoint... I purchased some souvenir coffee to spend the last of my Birr, crossed through the last metal detector and found Jono - he had come from Seoul to make our party complete. I hadn't see him since NYC almost two years ago... he looked a little wiser, and most importantly, ready. After some catching up we boarded the plane and two hours or so later landed at Kilimanjaro International: 3JK2012 was enroute
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We stacked everything on a cart, we meandered through the “No Declarations” passage of customs and found our driver holding a sign reading “African Walking Company” including our three names... we followed the driver, Wazile, outside and loaded our gear into a small van, I took shotgun and immediately realized that Tanzanians drive on the left side of the road. (a lovely leftover of the British Colonization, Tanzania became independent in 1961)
So far so good, we drove through the rural countryside on our way to the Ilboro Lodge located outside of Arusha, which is where we were arriving a day early. The drive was interesting, but nothing too out of the ordinary. One thing I noticed was that Tanzinians are much more traditional, mostly relating to their clothing & language, Wazile enlightened me to the fact that East Africa is much different than Ethiopia, not as westernized and in some ways culture has blocked technological progress... I noticed the absence of smartphones, these were quite common in Ethiopia - Also Tanzanian's had much older transportation including an amazing amount of 2-wheeled 30 year old Honda's & Yamaha's.
40 minutes from the airport we arrived at our lodge, checked in, (they gave us a Passion Fruit juice refreshment while we obtained our key) found our room and flopped down on the mosquito net curtained beds... it wasn't long after that we were poolside testing the local brews.
A few hours later we had taken a cab into downtown Arusha for dinner at the "Africafe", and then some beers at a place called "Via-Via" which we struggled through. The three of us were exhausted and had ended up at this club-type venue with lighting & accommodations for many with multiple sections indoor & outdoor, complete with several stages and a bonfire... but it looked like tonight wasn't the night, or we were too early. After about an hour we caught a cab, an older jalopy that struggled back up the hill to the Ilboru, and shortly thereafter were were cocooned in our beds set for a great night of sleep.
After dinner we were back in the room filling water bottles and verifying our gear dispersement. We were responsible for our own water the first day AND there was the subject of the bag left behind, I needed to figure out what was not going up the mountain. Eventually I crawled into bed, I was nervous but confident, sleep came easy on this last night in civilization.
Our guides divy'd out the responsibilities while we snacked on our lunch boxes that were provided prior to our departure... the mountain loomed in the distance. We sensed our departure was moments away, time to tighten down our laces and click the pack straps closed. Then Pasiani, our Chief Guide, indicated that we should follow Salaman (or "King" Salaman, as he introduced himself) across the plateau... he set the pace:
The Swahili term is "pole-pole", this translates to "Slowly." I fell in behind him immediately curious about the stuffed kangaroo attached to his pack. "For good luck" he replied, and I was glad that the first assistant guide I'd met had a sense of humor indicating that positive attitude we so focused on maintaining. The elevation was already almost as high as the highest SoCal mountain, and the base of Kili was far away giving me hope that with so much walking leading up to summit day I actually had a chance to stand on top of that monster...
We are hiking the "Shira 8-day" route, a combination of the Shira & Lemosho routes created by the African Walking Company, beginning high but adding extra days to acclimatize - we chose this route because of the 89% success rate, and I was definitely appreciating this on-the-job "training."
About an hour later, after some easy hiking through some mini-gorges and shrub-brush never higher than my chest, we took a short break and snacked a bit... our camp was far-off on the horizon and we were getting passed by porters literally left and right, my guess was we needed to give them a chance to setup camp. I snacked and drank, eager to keep moving super motivated by the perfect weather & our co-climbers enthusiasm.
Ladies & Gentlemen, Introducing the DREAM TEAM!
There are 15 of us, mostly from the U.S. (I'll let you know when they're not)
- Alex, a college student
- Bob, he's retired, here with his son...
- Tim, about to enter college
- Olivia, a young doctor from the mid-west - Sarah, a mother of two from B.C. - Bruce, also retired from the East Coast and here with his daughter... - Sasha, about to enter Med School - Chris, had just finished volunteering at an orphanage in Rwanda - Christine took time away from her job in Scotland - Han from Amsterdam, here with his two kids... - Tone, a student, and
- Eva, his sister & a linguist. Both early twenties.
- Jonathan, an engaged teacher residing in Korea
- Harris, the accountant
- and Me, I've been enjoying the title Journey's Dad.
So after just over two hours of simple hiking with Kili way off to our left, we signed in with the ranger of Shira 1 (11,647 ft.) at a cylindrical green metal building, this was the admin building of our first nights campsite. Shortly thereafter we were introduced to Tent #416, our home for the duration - each of the 15 had an assigned helping porter who made sure our duffels were on our sleeping mats and would lead us to our "home" when we arrived to camp each day... I adjusted some clothing, grabbed the camera and joined the others in the "mess" tent for tea, this would be our nightly briefing letting us know the next days schedule... and this wasn't till after "washy-washy", a ritual they'd spoil us with each morning & evening: bringing basins with warm water for us to clean-up with... all of this had been explained sometime along the way but it was still amazing to see everything come to life, we're finally on our way up this mountain, all of our plans were materializing in some ways better than we'd imagined.
After "tea" & the briefing explaining the next day I was over the tent and pulled my chair outside to watch the sun set on the mountain, the top had been shrouded in clouds all day and they were threatening to disperse - several others joined me all with cameras ready - and the mountain did not disappoint.
“Imagine there’s no Heaven, It’s easy if you try.
No Hell below us, above us only sky.
Imagine all the people, living for today...”
- John Lennon
What if there are no consequences, no greater powers to please... The meaning of life could just be, to be. For those of you who know me: In case you haven't noticed the only consequence I believe in is karma, cause and effect solely managed by the individual. Mr. Lennon's "Imagine" has recently enlightened me and I believe we are the only masters of personal destiny, happiness is determined by our actions, not our wishes.
This blog has a few unfinished chapters, this I’ve known, but some shit came up and I’ve been busy. The last entry is March 2011, and I have yet to finish my honeymoon in Greece. I’ll get there, but as you can see I'm compelled to write this part first. A reason: My son was born six weeks early at 4 pounds 14 ounces, and life hasn’t slowed down for even a second... until now.
In a tiny 2 year nutshell: Journey was born, a few months later NBC hired me back full-time... and a few months after that we started searching for a home to purchase. In March my 11-month old son, wife of almost two-years and I moved into a 3-bedroom 2-bath single family residence and I’ve just returned from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
Above Us Only Sky
We arrived to the airport outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Bole International) and immediately ran into a problem while checking our bags, the power went out! Apparently this is a normal occurrence. We waited and eventually our hand-written luggage tags were attached and our stashes of cold weather gear & snacks were on the (finally) moving conveyor belts into the bowels of Terminal 2. One problem though, our flight was from Terminal 1, the attendants recognized our concern and had attached “Priority” tags to our luggage. This they assured us, would avoid any problems.
I haven’t done much in the outdoors since becoming a father: a few over-nighters with Journey when he was around three to six months and plenty of random training missions in preparation for 19,341 feet, but nothing very far from the light pollution of San Diego. I hadn’t really seen the stars until night 2 of Ethiopia, and it was amazing to once again see the southern hemisphere as my re-acquaintance with the universe... I’m bypassing the Ethiopia entry temporarily, Jabs and I had a layover here where we visited a National Park & ATE for four days. It was awesome but I’m not gonna lie, dwarfed by the experience on Afrika's tallest mountain. A short walk later, another security screening and eventually we were almost to the gate, but not quite... here were the last vendors before a 3rd security checkpoint... I purchased some souvenir coffee to spend the last of my Birr, crossed through the last metal detector and found Jono - he had come from Seoul to make our party complete. I hadn't see him since NYC almost two years ago... he looked a little wiser, and most importantly, ready. After some catching up we boarded the plane and two hours or so later landed at Kilimanjaro International: 3JK2012 was enroute
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They were requesting to see my Yellow Card, this is only the second time a country has cared and I promptly showed them that yes, my vaccine for yellow fever is current. We then filled out some paperwork, paid the $100 visa fee and passed through immigration to find our bags waiting on the slowly rotating conveyor once again - always a blessing, especially when in just over a days time we’d need this stuff to survive.
We stacked everything on a cart, we meandered through the “No Declarations” passage of customs and found our driver holding a sign reading “African Walking Company” including our three names... we followed the driver, Wazile, outside and loaded our gear into a small van, I took shotgun and immediately realized that Tanzanians drive on the left side of the road. (a lovely leftover of the British Colonization, Tanzania became independent in 1961)
So far so good, we drove through the rural countryside on our way to the Ilboro Lodge located outside of Arusha, which is where we were arriving a day early. The drive was interesting, but nothing too out of the ordinary. One thing I noticed was that Tanzinians are much more traditional, mostly relating to their clothing & language, Wazile enlightened me to the fact that East Africa is much different than Ethiopia, not as westernized and in some ways culture has blocked technological progress... I noticed the absence of smartphones, these were quite common in Ethiopia - Also Tanzanian's had much older transportation including an amazing amount of 2-wheeled 30 year old Honda's & Yamaha's. 
40 minutes from the airport we arrived at our lodge, checked in, (they gave us a Passion Fruit juice refreshment while we obtained our key) found our room and flopped down on the mosquito net curtained beds... it wasn't long after that we were poolside testing the local brews.
The next day we got up early, did some packing, and after breakfast walked into town for some souvenirs and supplies... this was our first attack of the "tout's", or street-vendors. Once they got a whiff of us mildly browsing for various supplies & souvenirs we ran for cover in a grocery store and actually found a few items we were looking for at very fair prices. For lunch we hit up the Bamboo Cafe, a recommendation from Henry Steadman's guidebook and eventually another cab back to the Ilboro... some pool-time chillin' was in order before our 5pm meeting with the tour coordinator & our group.
They seemed like a good bunch, some shy, others focused - I'd done so much research a lot of what our tour coordinator Paulo explained I knew. He did hand out a map which indicated campsites our tour broker had not, and assigned gear to everyone who had rented it - and then the four rules were laid down:
Fair enough, I was happy to oblige as these are more than rules for climbing Kili, they're words to live by. Once everyone squared away their gear and after some brief questions we were back at the room freshening up before a comp'd family style dinner with a few of our group. I loaded up on some great local fare knowing this would be my last indoor meal for 9 evenings, and stayed away from alcohol worried that these little details might mess with my hydration during acclimatization over the next few days.
- Maintain proper equipment
- Walk Slowly
- Drink Water
- Keep a Positive Mental Attitude
Fair enough, I was happy to oblige as these are more than rules for climbing Kili, they're words to live by. Once everyone squared away their gear and after some brief questions we were back at the room freshening up before a comp'd family style dinner with a few of our group. I loaded up on some great local fare knowing this would be my last indoor meal for 9 evenings, and stayed away from alcohol worried that these little details might mess with my hydration during acclimatization over the next few days.
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| Hydrating |
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| Packing for the Drive |
Awake at 6:15am, shower, breakfast (I really like the bacon at this place) and we made our way to the lobby by 8am, it was time to load the three trucks, 5 bodies in each... Sarah & Olivia were the lucky ladies to end up with the three of us, and we got to know each other's backgrounds as the two hour trip turned from surfaced roads to bumpy approach trails... eventually stopping at the Londrossi Gate. We all had to sign in, and knowing the difficulties I've run into finding patches before I asked Jono to spot the three of us $10 each for a cloth souvenir with the elevation - pending a successful summit I knew exactly where this was getting sewn. More uphill in the truck to the Shira Plateau, our trailhead (the Shira Barrier, 10,827 feet) and our first encounter with our 60 person support team. (This included the porters, assistant guides, Chief Guide, a Cook, and from what I've come to figure out, a few "guide-Intern" types that usually held porter responsibilities, but will eventually summit with us as part of their physical training)
 |
| Our Support Staff |
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| Jono & the "King" The base of Kilimanjaro several miles in the background |
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| Courtesy HS Jablow |
- Olivia, a young doctor from the mid-west - Sarah, a mother of two from B.C. - Bruce, also retired from the East Coast and here with his daughter... - Sasha, about to enter Med School - Chris, had just finished volunteering at an orphanage in Rwanda - Christine took time away from her job in Scotland - Han from Amsterdam, here with his two kids... - Tone, a student, and
- Eva, his sister & a linguist. Both early twenties.
- Jonathan, an engaged teacher residing in Korea
- Harris, the accountant
- and Me, I've been enjoying the title Journey's Dad.
So after just over two hours of simple hiking with Kili way off to our left, we signed in with the ranger of Shira 1 (11,647 ft.) at a cylindrical green metal building, this was the admin building of our first nights campsite. Shortly thereafter we were introduced to Tent #416, our home for the duration - each of the 15 had an assigned helping porter who made sure our duffels were on our sleeping mats and would lead us to our "home" when we arrived to camp each day... I adjusted some clothing, grabbed the camera and joined the others in the "mess" tent for tea, this would be our nightly briefing letting us know the next days schedule... and this wasn't till after "washy-washy", a ritual they'd spoil us with each morning & evening: bringing basins with warm water for us to clean-up with... all of this had been explained sometime along the way but it was still amazing to see everything come to life, we're finally on our way up this mountain, all of our plans were materializing in some ways better than we'd imagined.
After "tea" & the briefing explaining the next day I was over the tent and pulled my chair outside to watch the sun set on the mountain, the top had been shrouded in clouds all day and they were threatening to disperse - several others joined me all with cameras ready - and the mountain did not disappoint.
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| Kibo, from Shira 1 Courtesy HS Jablow |
Dinner started with soup, fish was the entree with potatoes & spinach, fruit was our eventual dessert. We recognized a few birthdays in the house with a cake the "stomach engineer" threw together, and we all sang Happy Birthday to Christine & Jono celebrating while we were still all mostly in high spirits. It was nice but again I just wanted to be outside, the stars had come out and it was time to enjoy them before crawling into my bag and calling it a night... deeply appreciating for the first time in a very long time, only sky above.
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