Newbridge College student climbs Kilimanjaro

When SiSi O’Driscoll heard that the legendary snow cap on Mount Kilimanjaro would be gone by 2015 due to global warming, she realised there was no time to lose. Last April, the sixteen year old Newbridge College student from Calverstown spoke to her father, Fin and the idea of a trip to climb Africa’s highest mountain was born.
 
Kilimanjaro, at 5895 metres is the highest free standing mountain in the world and rears above the flat Tanzanian Plains in East Africa, just 300 kilometres south of the Equator. To reach the summit does not require technical climbing experience, but it is an arduous high altitude trek that is most definitely not a ‘walk in the park’.
 
SiSi’s uncle, Colm Buckley heard them talking about the proposed trip and decided to join up. The training started in May and SiSi, who was spending her transition year in a boarding school in France, started daily walks and circuit training. From June, the three climbers then met each Saturday in Glendalough to climb around the lakes.
 
It was decided to ascend by the difficult but panoramic Machame route and descend by the Mweka route allowing a full traverse of the mountain over seven days. The climb was scheduled to start on 11th July to coincide with the full moon for the summit ascent on July 17th.

Abdi the local guide from Moshi and his team of porters, cook and assistant guides met them at the Machame Gate where everything was ready to go. The team of three climbers and ten support staff had to be completely self sufficient with tents, food, water and clothing for the trip. The conditions ranged from tropical rain forest and temperatures of 30 degrees on the lower slopes to arid desert and Arctic conditions above 5000m, with temperatures as low as minus -15 degrees. The first 3 days involved trekking 40 kilometres and acclimatizing from 1800m to Barranco Camp at 4010m. The sheer Barranco wall was a major obstacle before reaching Barafu camp at 4680 m.
 
The summit attempt started at midnight on July 16th, the plan being to climb at night under the moonlight, arriving at Uhuru Peak at sunrise. After six hours slow slog up the scree slopes, across Rebmann Glacier and along the crater rim, they reached 5895m and the weathered wooden sign at the summit. SiSi proudly brought her NewBridge College flag and waved it with joy at the top of the mountain. At -16c, it took a while to get the batteries of the cameras warmed up but after some frantic minutes, the precious photos were obtained as a stunning red dawn broke on the mountain.

The summit achieved and after a ten minute rest to admire the view, it was all about getting down as quickly as possible and an eight hour walk got the threesome to Mweka gate (1800m) and a Jeep transfer back to the Springlands Hotel in Moshi. The first hot showers for a week, massages on aching legs and a swim in the pool were absolute bliss. The next day a Jeep safari in Arusha National park nearby was an ideal end to a great trip. As they took off from the airport, they took a last look at Kilimanjaro in awe as it towered over them in the plane.