Day 5 started out like any other on the mountain, except what I didn’t know was that it would be my summit day. The hike on Day 5 was similar to that of Day 2 in that we were climbing a significant vertical distance. So I wasn’t too worried when by the first break at 1030am I had a fairly well established low grade headache. After my experience on Day 2 I understood that my body took some time to acclimatize to the altitude and the headache was simply a symptom of that. So I took some paracetamol, let Kelly of K2 Adventures know I was at a 4/10 (the system they had asked us to use to grade our pain) and kept moving. 
The day was long. The landscape was bleak. And the headache was slowly escalating. I continued to drink water, take ibuprofen in addition to the paracetamol and increased my Diamox (altitude medication) under the guidance of our experienced leaders. I had fortuitously ended up behind one of our team members who kept a slow and steady pace. Although that meant the majority of the team passed us, including my husband. Up until that day Adrian and I had always been hiking together, either him in front or me in front but on this day he assumed I was okay with the steady pace and decided to head up a little faster. Somehow it didn’t occur to me to let him know the pain was getting worse… After several hours my headache had escalated such that with every step I took it felt like shards of glass were being pierced through my brain. My mind was screaming in agony and the pain got so bad that similar to my experience during childbirth I simply had to ‘leave my body’ mentally in order to cope. At one stage, I had a team member in front and behind me and it was their sheer force of will that kept me going. They kept encouraging me to ‘rest step and pressure breathe’ and just keep putting one foot in front of the other. When I reached our stop at Barafu Camp, I was the last one to emerge over the lip of the hill. What I didn’t realise at the time, was the whole team were there waiting and saw me step up and collapse. The pain was so intense that I had tears (and snot) streaming from my eyes and nose so I definitely was not a pretty or confidence inspiring sight! Of course Kristen and Kevin from K2 Adventures, Blair and my husband rushed to my aid. I was bundled into the warm clothing from my pack and given plenty of water to drink. After taking my pulse and checking my oxygen saturation (which were both acceptable) Kristen spoke to me about my choices. Given the pain level (I had told her it was at an 11 out of 10), she advised I could sit and rest for a while to see if the pain lessened before trying the last leg (we were at Barafu Camp but were actually stopping for the night at Barafu High Camp). Or I could make my way down to Mweka Camp which is where we would be the following night after Adrian and the rest of the team summited. It was at that moment Adrian said to Kristen “If she goes down, we both go down”. While Kristen seemed a little surprised at Adrian’s comment, she took it in her stride, looked back at me and said “It’s up to you”. What Kristen didn’t know was that Adrian and I had already agreed on our ‘Code of Honor‘ for the mountain. Through Blair and his courses we had learned the concept which allowed us to agree on our rules to govern our expectations of each other on the mountain. One of which was that we were sticking together no matter what. We would either both summit, or we wouldn’t, but we would do it together. So what was going through my mind at that moment? So many things… the physical pain, the sheer exhaustion, the disappointment of letting my husband down and letting myself down. I had to try. I told Kristen that I wanted to see if the headache would dissipate with some rest then see if I could go on. The team were great, Adrian of course stayed behind with me but so did Kevin our lead guide in addition to two of the porters who were assisting Adrian and I with our day packs. And the rest of the team headed up to Barafu High Camp. We waited for over an hour. And when Kevin asked me how I felt, the relief I experienced at being able to tell him that the headache was down to a 7/10 was indescribable. I knew I was going to give it a go. Luckily I made the decision before I saw what it was we had to do! 
The last section of the climb for that day between Barafu Camp and Barafu High Camp was a 45 degree angle rock face we had to traverse and in my case scramble up. With my headache still firmly in place, I did have more than a moment or two where I wondered what the hell I was thinking about continuing!?! Particularly because as we were going up we encountered more than a few people being physically dragged off the mountain in various states of physical demise. (They ‘looked like roadkill’ as several people on the mountain were fond of saying.) Although it took me longer than the rest of the team I finally made it into camp and the welcome was resounding. I had conquered my physical demons as well as my mental demons. I knew going to bed that night if I woke up the next morning and my headache was gone then I was meant to summit. I was certain of this because I had totally shattered my previously perceived limitations of the levels of physical pain and mental anguish that I could push through. I had found a new level of resilience and persistence within me that totally shifted my perception of what I am capable of. Day 5 Statistics Start: Karanga Camp @ 3995m (13106 ft)
Finish: Barafu Camp @ 4673m (15331 ft)
Distance: 4km (2 miles)
Time: ~4-5hrs 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 1) 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 2) 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 3) 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 4) 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 6) 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 7)
The day was long. The landscape was bleak. And the headache was slowly escalating. I continued to drink water, take ibuprofen in addition to the paracetamol and increased my Diamox (altitude medication) under the guidance of our experienced leaders. I had fortuitously ended up behind one of our team members who kept a slow and steady pace. Although that meant the majority of the team passed us, including my husband. Up until that day Adrian and I had always been hiking together, either him in front or me in front but on this day he assumed I was okay with the steady pace and decided to head up a little faster. Somehow it didn’t occur to me to let him know the pain was getting worse… After several hours my headache had escalated such that with every step I took it felt like shards of glass were being pierced through my brain. My mind was screaming in agony and the pain got so bad that similar to my experience during childbirth I simply had to ‘leave my body’ mentally in order to cope. At one stage, I had a team member in front and behind me and it was their sheer force of will that kept me going. They kept encouraging me to ‘rest step and pressure breathe’ and just keep putting one foot in front of the other. When I reached our stop at Barafu Camp, I was the last one to emerge over the lip of the hill. What I didn’t realise at the time, was the whole team were there waiting and saw me step up and collapse. The pain was so intense that I had tears (and snot) streaming from my eyes and nose so I definitely was not a pretty or confidence inspiring sight! Of course Kristen and Kevin from K2 Adventures, Blair and my husband rushed to my aid. I was bundled into the warm clothing from my pack and given plenty of water to drink. After taking my pulse and checking my oxygen saturation (which were both acceptable) Kristen spoke to me about my choices. Given the pain level (I had told her it was at an 11 out of 10), she advised I could sit and rest for a while to see if the pain lessened before trying the last leg (we were at Barafu Camp but were actually stopping for the night at Barafu High Camp). Or I could make my way down to Mweka Camp which is where we would be the following night after Adrian and the rest of the team summited. It was at that moment Adrian said to Kristen “If she goes down, we both go down”. While Kristen seemed a little surprised at Adrian’s comment, she took it in her stride, looked back at me and said “It’s up to you”. What Kristen didn’t know was that Adrian and I had already agreed on our ‘Code of Honor‘ for the mountain. Through Blair and his courses we had learned the concept which allowed us to agree on our rules to govern our expectations of each other on the mountain. One of which was that we were sticking together no matter what. We would either both summit, or we wouldn’t, but we would do it together. So what was going through my mind at that moment? So many things… the physical pain, the sheer exhaustion, the disappointment of letting my husband down and letting myself down. I had to try. I told Kristen that I wanted to see if the headache would dissipate with some rest then see if I could go on. The team were great, Adrian of course stayed behind with me but so did Kevin our lead guide in addition to two of the porters who were assisting Adrian and I with our day packs. And the rest of the team headed up to Barafu High Camp. We waited for over an hour. And when Kevin asked me how I felt, the relief I experienced at being able to tell him that the headache was down to a 7/10 was indescribable. I knew I was going to give it a go. Luckily I made the decision before I saw what it was we had to do! The last section of the climb for that day between Barafu Camp and Barafu High Camp was a 45 degree angle rock face we had to traverse and in my case scramble up. With my headache still firmly in place, I did have more than a moment or two where I wondered what the hell I was thinking about continuing!?! Particularly because as we were going up we encountered more than a few people being physically dragged off the mountain in various states of physical demise. (They ‘looked like roadkill’ as several people on the mountain were fond of saying.) Although it took me longer than the rest of the team I finally made it into camp and the welcome was resounding. I had conquered my physical demons as well as my mental demons. I knew going to bed that night if I woke up the next morning and my headache was gone then I was meant to summit. I was certain of this because I had totally shattered my previously perceived limitations of the levels of physical pain and mental anguish that I could push through. I had found a new level of resilience and persistence within me that totally shifted my perception of what I am capable of. Day 5 Statistics Start: Karanga Camp @ 3995m (13106 ft)
Finish: Barafu Camp @ 4673m (15331 ft)
Distance: 4km (2 miles)
Time: ~4-5hrs 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 1) 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 2) 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 3) 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 4) 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 6) 7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 7)
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