S2S: Sofa to Summit
| FEBRUARY 27, 2023 NEHA SHAH |
Table of Contents
Preparation – A week before our journey
Summiting to any of the ‘Seven Summits’ is a great feat and is surely not for the faint-hearted. Summiting to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro which is permanently covered with snow, and which stands tall at 19,341 Ft above sea-level is a grueling challenge. The whole idea of penning this is to share my experience of trekking up the world’s largest freestanding mountain and motivate others to step out of their comfort zones .
Prologue: Sofa to Training
During the Fall of 2022, I came across this winter hiking group that would train and hike on many trails across Northeastern states. I was very intrigued by the group and was keen to learn more about how to dress for cold weather and build up your stamina for long hikes. Therefore, I started attending their online sessions on Winter Hiking Gear and gathered enough knowledge about winter hiking which enabled me to muster up the courage to take up this new challenge.
Initially, I started with a beginner level hike and soon built up enough stamina to move on to the intermediate level hike. I was thoroughly enjoying this new adventure and wanted to challenge myself with a more strenuous hike. While researching various trails and hikes, like the Grand Canyon Rim hike, I came across Mt Kilimanjaro Summit hike and what really intrigued me was that the Mt Kilimanjaro hike consists of five distinct climatic zones, which makes a person feel as though he/she has traveled from the equator to the North Pole.
I began to desire the stunning views from those mountain ranges, the brilliant star-studded night sky, and the gigantic and marvelous glaciers. Day by day my curiosity of summiting Mt Kilimanjaro grew and I started evaluating the hike to Mt Kilimanjaro based on its difficulty, weather conditions, porters’ availability, required training, oxygen level, and days required to hike up the mountain. After days of research and conversations with multiple experienced hikers I came to the conclusion that it surely was a doable challenge.
As the saying goes “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. ”— Paulo Coelho. This is exactly what happened to me.
Once I decided to climb and trek Mt Kilimanjaro, amazingly, things started falling in place like a self-solving jig-saw puzzle. I joined a group of 10+ women who were also aspiring to summit Mt Kilimanjaro led by an amazing and thorough leader.
Training for the hike was a three-pronged approach. First, we would hike up and down the Cushetunk mountain 5 times in one go carrying 20lb backpacks on our backs. This monotonous and strenuous hike helped us strengthen our muscles and our minds and taught us to never give up. The most important aspect of this training was to focus on putting one foot at a time in front of the other, when you felt like your feet were bleeding and your lungs were about to give out. Secondly, Breathing Yoga techniques – helped us to increase our lung capacity and regulate our breath. Focusing on strengthening our lungs was imperative to prepare for the painful drop in oxygen levels involved with the increasing altitudes throughout the hike. Lastly, probably the most important one, was on how to dress for your body type. Everyone’s body is different in regulating temperature; hence, it is very important to understand that and dress accordingly. I learnt about the right way of wearing winter gear, like how to layer up with 4 layers, namely – the base layer, the fleece jacket, the 800 down and the shell jacket. Just by adding and subtracting these layers one can combat any kind of weather.
Training went ahead in full swing but there were days when I doubted myself and my ability to achieve my goal. Surely, mentally I was strong and wanted to do it, but I always wondered whether my body would support my mind through this strenuous journey. My cheerleaders – my husband, my sister, my walking buddy and my group leader always cheered and constantly encouraged me. They would say ‘We are confident that you can do it’. My mom’s statement nailed it best which was ‘You reach your summit which can be 15k, 17k or 19k ft. Go till, where your body takes you’. There was no looking back after that.
Preparation – A week before our journey
Before embarking on the journey on the 10th of February 2023, there were many items and tasks to be taken care of like Hotel and Flight bookings, VISA to Tanzania and Nomad insurance coverage. I reviewed all the required items plenty of times by spending hours wondering how to dress for each day.
I purchased the necessary items like a 125ltr duffle bag to hold all my hiking gear, three vacuum storage bags and packed 2 days of clothing/ treat bags /medical supplies in each bag. I also purchased a sleeping bag 650 down, fleece shawls as liners, treat bags (handful of dry fruits, Liquid IV, Vitamin C packets), 10 pairs of Socks, backup hiking shoes, head lamps and battery packs.
Before starting my trip, I visited the Lord Balaji temple in Bridgewater, NJ to obtain God’s blessings, and with a hesitant smile on my face, I bid my family goodbye.
Day One
 | And our trip begins from the JFK Airport in NY. When flying from Nairobi, Kenya to Tanzania we were among the clouds and adjacent to us was the peak of Mt Kilimanjaro. The true scope of the expedition dawned on us, and we questioned ourselves – Will we be able to hike up that mountain and reach the summit? We all were equally scared and reaching the peak seemed an impossible task. I used the breathing technique to calm myself and just be in the moment and not think anything beyond that. |
The first night we reached Moshi town where we were welcomed by the rest of our teammates and the guides. We were briefed about the hike by our tour guide and our head guide. Our head guide also reviewed our individual gears in detail. If anyone was missing any gear, they were allowed to rent it from the guides. Most of our teammates decided to take a personal porter who would carry their day backpack.
Day Two
Moshi town to Machame gate to Machame camp
| After breakfast we were all packed up and ready to take on the next 7 days of adventure. We were transferred by road from Moshi town to Machame gate. After registration we began our trek through the rain forest zone with our guide. The forest was densely diverse with flora/fauna. We did not experience any rain; a steady but relatively steep hike took us to the edge of the forest and heather zone. On our way we had our packed lunches and we started taking Diamox 125 mg medicine twice a day. After endlessly walking we finally saw some tents where we all crashed after the first day’s walk. We settled in our tents, had a team dinner, drank some hot water, towel cleaned ourselves with a bowl of hot water and got ready for the first night in our tents. In our tent we were sleeping in our sleeping bags with a 1 1/2-inch mat. It was an extremely scary and challenging experience for me to sleep alone in my tent which was positioned very remotely. I spoke to the head guide, and he promised to put my tent in the next camp in the center so I would feel more secure. Altitude: 5870 ft – 9875 ft Distance: 5.5mi Trekking time: 7 hours |   |
Day Three
Machame camp to Shira camp
  | Heading towards the Shira Camp, we left Machame camp after breakfast at 9AM. The hike was a little shorter and began with a trek through the heather & moorland zone up a steep ridge till the semi-circular cliff known as the Picnic Rock. From there we had an excellent view of the Uhuru peak, jagged peaks of the Shira Plateau to the west and Tanzania’s second highest mountain (Mt Meru 15k ft) to the east. The remainder of our day was much gentler/flat trail to our camp, where the views were equally spectacular. Before leaving the Machame camp we were all emotional as we got the news that one of our hikers Mom had passed away. There was no way of communication which made it extremely difficult for us to decide what should be done next. After a lot of discussion, we decided to proceed to Shira camp where there might be better scope of communication. Rocky trails, climbing up and down boulders was extremely challenging to our calves. We felt excruciating pain in our muscles, but we progressed ‘Polle Polle’ (slowly slowly). We reached Shira camp at around 2PM where we had our lunch and went to our tents for some rest. Soon I could hear Porters and guide singing. We all joined in the celebration, as we sang “Jambo Bwana!” The Hakuna Matata Kilimanjaro Song. We were then lured to dance to some Bollywood numbers. After a long time, the entire unit was in a festive and celebrating mood. Later on, in the evening we all met up for dinner in the tent. Here our pulse rate and Oxygen levels were checked. This mandatory check was done twice a day during breakfast and dinner and was recorded in a medical sheet. This helps the guide to review our health and make decisions if our health deteriorates. Altitude: 9875 ft – 12615 ft Distance: 4.5 mi Trekking time: 6 hours |
Day Four
Shira camp to Lava Tower to Barranco camp
| Today’s hike takes us towards Uhuru peak, steadily climbing up and over the edges of the alpine desert to our first high altitude of 15k ft at the lava tower. This hike helps to acclimatize our body to higher elevation. It is also a great indicator to see how our body can handle high altitude. From the Lava Tower you begin your steep descent to Barranco Valley passing the large flowering mountain cacti unique to Kilimanjaro. The day ended around the same elevation as we had started on the edge of the heather and moorland. The terrain was long, hot, rough, strenuous and steadily ascending. My 125mg Diamox was not supporting me with oxygen. My legs were cramping, and I was feeling out of breath. Just ½ a mile away from Lava Tower I started feeling acute Nausea and headache. I could not walk any further, I threw up and passed out for a few seconds on the trail. Luckily my doctor co-hiker was next to me and immediately came into action. She gave me meds for nausea, sugar chewy and after 20 mins of popping multiple things in my mouth I could finally feel that I could control all my limbs, and I could get up and walk. I told myself I will touch “my summit”, 15k ft @ lava tower and return. I made it to the lava tower with my team cheering for me but due to nausea and headache could not eat anything. I wanted to come back to 13k ft ASAP. I walked back down to Barranco camp with my porter, increased my Diamox to 500mg and rested in my tent. That night after all the mandatory checkups, I spoke to the head guide for options to return if health continues to deteriorate. He suggested that we reevaluate my health in the morning and then plan a return journey. Next day, I was happy to see my body had adjusted to the High Altitude. I was breathing better , I had a slight headache but overall I felt very energetic and was ready to resume my journey to the summit. Altitude: 12615ft – 15190ft – 12990ft Distance: 6mi Trekking time: 8 hours |    |
Day Five
Barranco camp to Karanga camp
  | This morning we left the camp and ascended the Barranco wall. This is an impressive non-technical scramble and gives a feeling of mountain climbing (without any previous experience or advanced equipment required) and is rewarded with a superb view from the top back into the camp and the Heim glacier on the peak. The remainder of the hike is through the alpine desert slowly winding around the mountain till the Karanga valley which is the last water point. Though the guides had helped us scramble up the wall, we did have a few incidents. One of the co-hikers badly sprained her ankle and another had a concussion as she tripped. By now the food had become monotonous – cucumber soup, rice/noodles, vegetable curry. Our taste buds had numbed due to the altitude, and we had lost appetite. We encouraged each other to eat just to get energy to hike and summit. Gloominess around the dining table continued. Views of Uhuru peak had become closer and for once we felt we could reach the peak. We were eager to know from the guide when we would summit and how hard it would be, but our guide always said to us “let’s take one day at a time”. That is an important lesson that we learned, that when things get tough just hang in there and take 1 step at a time. Altitude: 12990 ft- 13255 ft Distance: 4mi Trekking time: 6 hours |
Day Six
Karanga camp to Kosovo Camp
| Today our climb was casual through the empty landscape of the alpine desert. The short distance meant we had plenty of time at our base camp to rest and prepare for the summit attempt tonight. After having lunch at Kosovo camp, we were instructed to sleep, we had an early dinner and again slept. There were a lot of conversations on how to dress for the summit. Some said they would wear 5 layers, another said 4 layers. I decided to go with the same layers I had trained with in NJ and it was indeed the best decision. Altitude: 12990 ft- 15978 ft Distance: 2.5mi Trekking time: 3 hours |  |
Day Seven
Kosovo Camp to Stella point to Uhuru peak to High camp
   | In the early morning (around 00:00am) we began our final ascent to the summit of Uhuru peak through the arctic zone. The trek is a steep hike over loose volcanic scree through the dark and cold night and takes a slow pace in a zigzag pattern towards Stella point 18650 ft which is your first stop on the Kibo crater rim. From here, a short (but difficult) hike remains to take you to Uhuru Peak 19341 ft, the highest point in Africa. When we started walking at night, we saw a string of lights walking slowly up the mountain. We knew it was a long treacherous walk. Our guides and porters sang songs, gave us tea/chocolate so we could keep going and reach the peak. Finally, we saw the sky turn pink and we knew the sun was about to rise. We soon reached Stella point and started walking towards the Uhuru peak. Any resting now would mean we would be deterred from our decision to summit Uhuru peak. This walk was my favorite, we were walking in an arctic zone with glaciers around, it was all misty around. It was as if we were walking in a dream land. Finally, I saw Uhuru peak, tears rolled down my cheek as I bowed down to the almighty and rejoiced. You usually don’t spend that long at the peak due to the extreme altitude and so we descend back down to the base camp. After resting and packing our gear we continued the descent through the alpine desert, heather and moorland and eventually stopping at high camp in the rain forest zone. Altitude: 15978 ft -19341ft – 13123 ft Distance: 12mi Trekking time: 18 hours |
Day Eight
High camp to Mweka gate
| Final day on Kilimanjaro is a descent through the southern rain forest until Mweka gate where our vehicle was waiting to take us back to Moshi town. With smiles across our faces, humbled by the achievement, and aching knees we bid our support team (Porters and Guides) goodbye. Porters and Guides were the real backbone of the Summiting adventure, and I can’t imagine doing it without them. We dreamt of summiting Mt Kilimanjaro but Porters and guides are the ones that make our dreams turn into reality. Altitude: 13123 ft – 5350 ft Distance: 8mi Trekking time: 7 hours |  |
Epilogue: Learnings
Personally, I learnt so much with this adventure and can write a book on just the learnings. But there are a few things that stand out :
- Teamwork makes the dream work – Our team shared a vision and each one of them inspired me to achieve my goal.
- You are stronger than you think – Though our journey was extremely exhausting, as individuals we should recognize our strength and keep pushing through till, we reach our goals.
- Life is simple, don’t insist on making it complicated
Mountain teaches us to –
Be generous with kindness but stay humble and grounded.
Be generous with your sincerity but stay rooted and focused.
Be generous with action but stay mindful of your own ignorance and all that you still must learn.
55 thoughts on “S2S: Sofa to Summit”
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Very Proud of of You Neha … Way to go girl !!
Thanks Mohit for always encouraging me!!
Congrats on your achievement!! You are inspirations to many of us who are still sitting in sofa and dreaming of such a day. I really enjoyed reading your experience. You are an excellent writer and great story teller. I wish you many more successful expeditions and hope to read about them in your travel log. So proud of you girl!!!
Thanks Dipika!!
Thank you for sharing your spectacular journey with us. You thought, you prepared and you achieved – your true grit!
Hats off to you!
Thanks Sugeeta!!
Very well written . Congrats on completing such a difficult hike. Best wishes for many more achievements . I also loved your learnings . ..
Thanks Manju!!
This is super cool mom. Congratulations!
Thanks Dhruv for Proof reading it 🙂
Congratulations Neha on you’re adventurous achievement
Thanks Lakshmi !!
Many congratulations Neha. Many think of doing this but only a few actually get around to doing this. Well done.
Thanks Vijay !!
This is so amazing Neha, your achievement and this blog both! I could actually picture the scenery while reading the blog. Thank you for sharing this beautiful experience.
Thanks Manisha!! So glad to hear you could picture the scenery. 🙂
Wow. So inspiring. So proud of you. Sometimes we just dream about it and you made it possible.
Bravo Neha! You did it. Peers like you inspire to do better myself. I’m very pleased on your achievement and wish you many more. Thanks for sharing detailed experience with us.
Bravo Neha! You did it. Peers like you inspire to better myself. I am very pleased on your achievement and wish you many more. Thanks for sharing detailed experience with us.
It’s easy to say “you can do it” but to accomplish what you think you can is a clear “Winner” and that’s you Neha. Well written monologue!! Luv u n many more to you !!!
Thanks Sis!! Love to you too .
Wow Neha, what an accomplishment! Great job!!
Thanks Gana !!
Wow…Neha . What a accomplishment!!!. Very proud of you.Thanks for sharing your journey and learnings.
Thanks Shireesha !!
Awesome accomplishment Neha, and thanks for penning it down.
Thanks for leading us and showing the confidence in me. Cant imagine doing this without your guidance.
Awesome ; amazing feat achieved ;inspiring
Thanks Laksh !!
Unbelievable Mona. This is such an inspiring story. Congratulations on an awesome achievement.
Thanks Rajat !!
So proud of you Di. Truly an inspiration. Loved the blog.
Congratulations!!!
Thanks Pallavi!!
Inspirational and a wonderful description! I. Ould imagine the view while reading. Thanks for inspiration and hats off to you efforts to fulfill your dream Congratulations didi!!!
Thanks Gunjan !!
Awesome accomplishment . Truly inspiration. Bravo .Thanks for penning it down neha
Thanks Esha!!
Congratulations Neha!! Always knew you could do it. You are an inspiration to so many. I loved your write up. I could picture your journey up the mountain. WaIting to have a one on one with you to hear more. So proud of you!
Thanks Sita , absolutely lets meet and talk one on one. There are so many interesting details I had to edit as “editor boys” at home were watching closely blog word count. 😉
I am speechless Neha. Read the whole blog twice. Had chills while reading. How did you do ? So so proud of you and congratulations on your accomplishments. Wishing you many more ❤️❤️
Thanks Shilpi, glad you could relate and feel the blog.
Congratulations Massi!! Love the brief journey about you hike!
Thanks Ayush!!
Wonderful Neha, so proud of you. This is highly inspiring for sofa lovers like us.
You are very brave. Keep hiking and go to Unchhais. May be you will hike Everest in the near future.
Thanks Garry !! Everest is on my list . 🙂
Neha, you are an example to the rest of the folks out there, that, with will power and right attitude, accomplishment is guaranteed. Hurdles are always there in every path we travel, and you proved that they can be overcome. I am sure your words of wisdom will help many more to realize their dreams.
Thanks Basker !!
Wow, congratulations on this amazing achievement. Reading about your journey brought tears to my eyes – this was truly inspiring. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Thanks Valerie
Congratulations on your accomplishment and thank you for sharing your inspiring story with us at Hyland
Thanks Irene!!
Congratulations Neha! This is truly an awesome and inspirational accomplishment.
Thanks Tujuana!!
Amazing feat and so well written Neha.
Congratulations.
So much to learn from this.
Thanks Girish !!