It was a personal goal to summit the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania's largest inactive volcano. At 19,335 feet Lorne Carroll realized the trip was about more than just climbing a mountain.
"One of the things that struck me the most was the absolute poverty and absolute beauty of the area," Carroll said.Carroll left Sechelt for Tanzania, Africa on Nov. 1 with a fellow veterinarian and a group of cardiologists from the U.K. who wanted to test their stamina on Kilimanjaro's mountainside.
The group met in Heathrow, then flew via Nairobi to the Kilimanjaro airport. They took one day to rest before driving to the mountain's access point four hours away.
"We climbed the mountain in stages set out to best accustomize us to the elevation and altitude changes," Carroll said, noting the group of 12 had hired a local guide.
On the first day the group climbed for about five hours and Carroll had his first look at the untouched beauty of the slope that takes hikers through the mists of equatorial jungle to reach the snows and breath-taking views from the summit. The group camped overnight and the next day set out on a nine-hour trek to reach the second camp.
The third day came with a seven-hour hike to the third camp on Mawenzi Peak. The next day would call for a saddle climb to the Kibo Hut where they would spend their last night camping before the final ascent to Kilimanjaro's peak 5,895 metres above sea level.
"I was feeling really well, which was neat because I was with all those cardiologists who were taking different drugs to deal with the altitude sickness and I was just taking a diarrhoeic. A few of the guys weren't feeling well. There was some nauseousness and headaches by this time, but nothing major. Some were having trouble sleeping. Those are all early signs of mountain sickness," Carroll said.
The next day the temperature dropped as a snow cloud rolled in. Carroll was worried the climb would be for naught as the cloud seemed to be blocking any view from the peak.
"We rested at the base camp until midnight and then started the last leg of the ascent, about a 15-hour hike," Carroll said.
The air was crisp at minus 12 degrees Celsius and the dark was all consuming. The group was busy watching each footstep, when Carroll looked up and saw a meteor shower that seemed close enough to touch.
"It was just fantastic but so many of the guys didn't see it because they were watching their footsteps during a very, very steep part of the climb," said Carroll.
As light made its way to the mountainside Carroll could see the clouds parting and he was excited to see the view from the top.
By this time the altitude was taking its toll on climbers and Carroll started to see serious signs of mountain sickness in some.
"There was this one Japanese fellow who was told he had to go down but he couldn't really move because he was vomiting and so weak. That was the first sign of aggressive sickness we saw," he said.
About six hours into that final climb some of Carroll's group became ill. "Some of them were vomiting profusely and in extreme abdominal pain," he said.
The guides encouraged Carroll's team to increase their fluid intake and rest, then push onward.
All 12 of the team members hit Gilman's Point in time for the sunrise, which Carroll said was spectacular at that height.
But only half of the group pressed on to the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro because the mountain sickness was taking its toll."The other half of the group was feeling more signs of altitude sickness and they just weren't with it mentally," he said.
It took about three hours to get from Gilman's point to the highest peak in Africa. Carroll stopped to take in the beauty surrounding him. "It was just awe-inspiring. Absolutely beautiful," he said.
He and the guide explored the glaciers and ice caves nearby and saw evidence of the glacier's receding. "They estimate there is only about 20 years until the glacier's all gone. All the people around the base of the mountain depend on that water to survive," he noted.
Soon Carroll and the other five members of the group had to start their descent to catch up with those who stayed behind. On the way down they passed a person seriously ill with mountain sickness being carried down the mountain."The cardiologists I was with gave the man some medication and may have actually ended up saving his life," Carroll said.
It took four days to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, although the group descended the mountain in half the time. One of the guides said it was a new record for the area.
Carroll took some time to talk with the locals. "They are a very welcoming people. The people are very prideful and very happy, though they really have nothing," he noted.
He described the people wearing colourful garments and carrying their belongings on their heads, walking to every destination.
"They are beautiful people and I was amazed that I didn't see signs of disease, or they weren't obvious. Their teeth were big and bright white and they wore clothing of fantastic colours. They have all they need without the rat race - it makes you think," he said. He described the journey as the trip of a lifetime and he felt a connection to the area that he plans to take his family back to some day.
"I'd love to share what I saw and experienced with my wife and my kids. There's just something about the place that is inspiring," he said.
