Kilimanjaro, Day Four: Pole-Pole

"You can sleep in", Robert said. "We won't wake you until 8am". It's not like the extra hour sleep was a gold nugget, but when you've hiked 6 hours uphill the last two days you'll take it with a smile on your face.

Upon awakening, we met our new friend Mohamed for breakfast and were "thrilled" to see that the eggs were indeed nowhere to be found. We had hoped that Robert was playing a cruel joke on us the night before, but somewhere the mongoose were "frying" and "scrambling" away.

Midway through a season of "Survivor" there is always a merge, and our version was no different. Team Yellow and Team Green decided that now was the time to join forces, and formed the new tribe "Team Success". Lindsay, Mohamed, and Phil, LMP, or as we liked to call ourselves the L egendary M ountain P eople, would take on the rest of Kili as a group.



The idea of the hike on our Acclimatization Day was to get up about 500 metres before descending back down to Horombo for the night. Along the way we were able to take a break at the Zebra Rocks, and we made it all the way to the turnoff to Mawenzi Peak. There we were able to have a distinct view of the Uhuru Peak, as well as being able to see Kibo Huts where we would be headed the next day.





Climbing a mountain is interesting because each day that you begin your hike you find yourself out of breath searching for air that will fill your lungs with oxygen. Often you feel like you'll never have enough, and you begin to gag, panicking about the condition. This feeling went away fairly quickly the first two days, but lasted almost the duration of this climb (4200 metres) which made my asthmatic self weary of the remaining challenge. Lindsay was also facing adversity, as she had much trouble heading back down the mountain upon the realization that your knees are taking much of the load. We laughed at ourselves for skipping the "Leg Raise" machine in the gym, as that would have further prepared us for the impact. These struggles reminded us that slow and steady wins the race, and Pole-Pole was readapted as our team motto. They also reminded us that we were a team, and that conquering this mountain could only be done together.



Along the day's hike we were impressed with the swift changes in vegetation, and depressed by the migraine like headaches we were left with back at Horombo. Altitude was beginning to really be a factor, and there was some doubt in both of us about whether we would be up to the task.

At dinner, Lindsay and I drank several glasses of Milo (The Energy Drink of Future Champions), and repeatedly explained that it was much tastier then our other options on the table which included Cadbury's Hot Chocolate. Knowing Cadbury was a company from the UK (and one which Mohamed personally loved) we got a kick out of pushing his buttons about Milo's superior taste, freshness, and overall satisfaction.

Before heading off to sleep we decided it had become too cold to really do much of a job when cleaning ourselves, that we really should have brought along our camel pack, and that headaches on a mountain were much worse then you could ever really prepare for. Outside of our cabin we heard a fellow Canadian tell stories of his failed attempt at the summit the night before, and his distinct feeling of helplessness searching for air. He mentioned dizziness, disorientation, and disappointment in not succeeding. For the first time on the mountain, I can honestly say that fear was taking over my confidence. I privately hoped Lindsay and I would be able to dig deep, and complete our mission...