Joys On A Journey

by Saj Joy

Since Saj was the only Joy who made this journey, he is taking over the blog to share his amazing account of four friends taking on this challenge. It’s one to remember….

This wasn’t a bucket list goal, nor a challenge from someone else. Quite honestly, it was a blend of realizing that before I turn 50 (yeah crazy – cause I act as if I’m 20 something), I wanted to do more than having a celebration for a milestone met – rather letting the trouvaille spirit guide me … and it took me to Africa. I’m not a mountain climber, trekker, and quite honestly not in the best shape of my life – but this was to prove to myself, that by putting my mind into something (commitment), working on it (training) and believing (faith) – then it can be done. Oh, did I tell you that I convinced my 3 closest college friends (2 who will also reach the milestone age this year) to take this challenge on with me… they would probably use the word, coerce, but none the less – now the challenge was not an individual one but that of our team – WE would need to commit, train, believe and push each other, for success would be if WE made it to the top.

I’m going to get to the end of the story – the part after we get to Africa. But, quite honestly, though it may have been boring and too drawn out for the blog, your work/effort training truly determines the outcome – and we worked hard, pushed each other and held each other accountable.

The people of Tanzania were delightful – yes, we spent most of our city time in Moshi (one day before the hike) and Arusha (one day before we left the country), but each Tanzanian’s pleasant smile, desire to work, persistence to sell arts/crafts (need to make a living), was truly survival! It was interesting to see a Mosque, Hindu Temple and Churches along one stretch of road… I did not expect that! However, I never felt unsafe, not like other countries where there may be radicalism and fear of kidnapping, or worse. Here, it was as with most developing countries, you may get pick pocketed and harassed because you walked away from a great deal but in fairness, we 4 buddies stayed together and didn’t put ourself in risky situations.

The first morning, we also met Joseph, our lead guide, though diminutive in stature was all muscle & agile like a gazelle. The survey of our hiking gear passed the check – whew – (except the need for gaiters) that we rented the following morning on our way out of town. In addition to our physical conditioning we’d been doing for months, our equipment & supplies were sufficient to begin the hike!

The excitement was palpable as the training we had done was now being put to the test – we needed to execute. The goal was to get our team to the top – if we were to be successful, it would require avoiding altitude sickness – at altitudes we’ve not tested? The closest I’ve been was Breckenridge, CO at ~12,000 feet and Quito, Ecuador (~13,000) and both for very limited periods of time. Our marathon to get to the summit was more like the Rock-n-Roll marathon – goal is enjoy the bands along the run – ours was to enjoy the varying landscapes (5 zones) along the 6 day journey to the Summit. From the farmland to the rainforests at 7,000 feet elevation to Moorlands, Alpine Desert, and Uhuru Peak at 19,341 feet!

One of the first appreciations was getting up the 3rd night to go the bathroom and noticing that we were “above the clouds”! I’ve only seen that when flying in a jet but here we were, camping above the clouds. And for the next 3 days, the goal was ahead and above us while the clouds separated us from the world below. Seeing the moonrise and sunset in one panoramic view in that setting – unbelievable.

One of the greatest challenges was also in knowing that each step higher in elevation meant lower oxygen concentration. You know a lower supply of the thing your body needs to stay alive. The 2nd night, we checked our oxygen saturation at (10,000 feet) ranging from 80s-low 90s). Just to make sure it wasn’t an erroneous reading, Joseph checked his oxygenation that revealed 99% – and he’s jumping around like what’s the issue? Understand that a low oxygen saturation impacts your cells ability to function normally and at some point cellular death. So, you can imagine my nervousness when we reached Lava Rock at 15,000 feet and my oxygenation was at 78%! The rest of the my team was also in that similar oxygenation level. Though we descended to a lower altitude to camp that night, the fear that WE may not reach the summit became a reality!

I also have a medical condition – sleep apnea. For those of you who don’t know, with this condition, one tends to stop breathing intermittently during sleep, leading to restless sleep and waking up because – yup, you guessed it – low oxygen levels! The solution is using a CPAP machine when you sleep – it delivers the necessary pressures to keep your airway open. So, you’re not taking supplemental oxygen, just allowing your lungs to stay open to breath the available oxygen in your surroundings. In anticipation of this challenge, I had the tour company get permission months in advance of the trip from the Tanzanian park system. I paid extra to have a “Noise Less” Generator & Fuel to be used to recharge the battery for my CPAP. Problem solved! It couldn’t be that simple right – my CPAP battery malfunctioned such that it would not store the charge – providing only a few hours of effective battery life to operate the CPAP. Oh, the “noise less” generator was both 50+ lbs that Machame (one of our porters had to carry) and it was quite LOUD. I would charge the CPAP battery delivering ~3 hours worth of power and stay awake the rest of the night! After three nights of this routine, at higher altitudes (with lower oxygen levels), I was getting really nervous. The 3rd night, our fuel for the generator ran out and Machame had to hike for hours to pick up additional fuel. Machame is not technically adept with small engine repair, and neither is anyone in our travel company, so when the generator engine flooded and pull cord spring locked up, we were fortunate to have Ravi help lead the solutions. Finally, on the 4th night, had to leave the generator running most of the night in order to get some reasonable sleep and prepare for the final ascend! The consequence – other campers complained of the noise from the generator keeping them from resting! So, our solution was to find the furthest spot at the summit base camp – so we could run the generator for a few hours without disturbing the others!

The summit – we get up before midnight to get on the layers of gear – but being the furthest away, when we start the summit climb, it takes us an hour just to get through our camp to the higher base camp. Then another hour to get past the 2nd base camp – I think, I’m only guessing because I stopped looking at the time and the altitude on my watch/altimeter. Along the way, I was tested by a headache (was this cerebral edema), some nausea and localized chest pain (was this pulmonary edema) because if it was, then trip was done and I’d be turning back… How did I know for sure that it wasn’t altitude sickness – I’d never been above 15,000 feet before! I hadn’t been sleeping, hadn’t been eating well, had other campers upset at me, had been hiking for days – may be it just wasn’t meant to be? This is where Joseph, our lead guide, was amazingly calm and had been studying each of us to this point. We were in constant communication with him regarding any symptoms and would try different remedies (ginger tea for nausea, candy bar/snack for energy, acetaminophen or ibuprofen for the headache, etc.). Each of the symptoms subsided and we pushed on! It was “supposed to” take 6-7 hours to reach the summit, but remember the marathon I mentioned previously, we weren’t going to start sprinting now! We caught the sunrise, but still on the ascent – not the summit. We started seeing hikers descending while we still hadn’t reached (Stella point at 18,885 feet). The encouragement we received from these hikers was greatly appreciated – they had reached their pinnacle but wanted us to do so as well! We took a picture at (Stella point) at ~8:30 (I think), not sure we had the will or energy to finish the remaining 1 hour hike (only 100 meters of elevation) to Uhuru peak. The group looked at each other, we didn’t come this far to stop here! Onward! The rest is Now, history.