Holidays and absences

oh, Orwell ;D

It's nice to see that there are some tough people here that endures cold weather It snowed today, wet snow, like very watery, so it didn't stay long, but all the hills are now covered, I just need to walk uphill for about ten minutes tomorrow I might have decent picture of the first snow

I got back and hopefully washed the smell of wood smoke out of my hair, but I have some stuff to take care of that I wasn't able to finish before I left so I shouldn't spend too much time on here tonight. I had a great time being away from it all but it's good to be back.

[quote="Lancebloke"]I camped out on Kilimanjaro when it was significantly below freezing. A decent sleeping bag and some thermals is all you need.

Also visited an ice

As soon as I read Kilimanjaro, I felt the tears well up. Oh the memories, the smells, the rarified atmosphere, I just cannot explain it.

I would go to the ice palace. They have them also here in Canada , in Quebec. That is what I love about the truly cold winters. We don't have them so much in British Columbia, we are a semi arid climate here where i live at least. It can be forty in the day and very cold at night though. We do have rattle snakes here and some brush and only a mile away it is like the Riviera and we grow fabulous grapes for internationally admired wines and just that one mile away at night in the summer is unbearable, too hot.
Oh , by the way dear Orwell, I am thinking , and I could be wrong, that you may just have to wait to tell Norc she is fifty three. and wait,,,,,,and wait, and wait.

Leelee - a fellow summiter then? Which route did you take up there?

Lemosho, loved Mti Mkubwa campsite., was pretty much terrified, hated big tooth area.I suffer from panic attacks, I have not your courage, but in fact it was not that that brought tears to my eyes Lance. It was meeting my very best friend in the world Lee who sadly died from complications of a brain tumour. She, unlike me was brave, the bravest girl I have ever known. She came from a poverty stricken family in eastern Canada. She scrubbed floors and toilets all through high school and saved every bit. After a couple of years post graduation she worked at several more lucrative jobs, still saving. Then she got her passport in order, bought judiciously some beautiful clothes and having booked passage, set sail on a luxury ship bound for Africa, I think she had to fly somewhere first, can't remember, but at any rate the captain fell for her and she dined at his table regularly She went then to Johanesburg and worked in a high fashion house, and that is where she met her intended, a geophysicist, Herbert. At one point kili caughter her eye, she did that and then without telling anyone she bought a battered jeep and set out on an adventure, all alone, a white woman. She had the most amazing pictures. She stopped at some bizarre village of actual still practising cannabils, none I am happy to say who fancied her.(she might have been pulling my leg, but they looked the part at least in the pics) She was totally naive about life in Africa and so blundered her way along and back. AFter she and Herbert married in Kenya he , who also worked part time for fun shooting pics for National Geographic, took one of there baby daughter on a pristine beach. Tany was only crawling and she crawled to a native boy of about two and there they were on their hands and knees nose to nose staring in wonder at one another.
So, that is why I said the very mention of kili, well a lot of Africa period makes me mist up and wander back down memory lane.
Tell us more though about your wanderings. i don't go much of anywhere now. I also suffer from inner ear problems and travelling can just make me so worn out and sick I spend most of my time laying down recovering. By the time i feel I can do anything it is time to head home.

David H wrote:
I stayed there one night when I was hitchhiking through in February. It sounded weird, but it was fantastic! Beautiful whimsical ice carvings everywhere, and the light was magical. The game in the bar (where they served whiskey in shot glasses made of ice) was to press your hand onto the bar, which was made of a slab of quarried lake ice, and see who could let it melt into the surface the deepest. (I think it's a fair test of who is the drunkest....) If you get cold, there's the sauna next door.

You hitchhiked to the ice palace. Only you, David...only you.

I did the Rongai route.

Sorry to hear about your friend

And you clearly do have courage to be able to deal with all that... plus you did it!!

halfwise wrote:

David H wrote:
I stayed there one night when I was hitchhiking through in February. It sounded weird, but it was fantastic! Beautiful whimsical ice carvings everywhere, and the light was magical. The game in the bar (where they served whiskey in shot glasses made of ice) was to press your hand onto the bar, which was made of a slab of quarried lake ice, and see who could let it melt into the surface the deepest. (I think it's a fair test of who is the drunkest....) If you get cold, there's the sauna next door.

You hitchhiked to the ice palace. Only you, David...only you.

Actually I didn't mean to hitch to the ice hotel. I was trying to get south from Vardø and ended up hitchhiking across Finnmark, shooing reindeer ahead of me down the road in the snow. The Sammi were always good about giving rides, but they were short rides and they always turned off the highway in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes they had young reindeer in the back of the pickup, going back to the village to be nursed. Once I had to sit on a pile of bloody hides on the passenger seat. They never had the heater on though it was -10 C outside.

I remember when I crossed the boarder into Finland the customs officers thought I was crazy. It was twilight and snowing, they were on a deserted stretch of highway maybe 10 miles from any village with trucks or cars coming by only about once an hour, and I came walking out of the blowing snow like a ghost .

They gave me coffee and we talked for quite a while. When the next car came, they asked him if he would drive me to the next village (presumably so they wouldn't have to deal with a frozen American when the snow thawed in the spring...) Score! They stamped my passport. Norc, is Kivilompo'o the place, or does it mean something?

Anyway, the Sammi had told me that the best place to catch the train was Gallivare, but then I was picked up by some Tourism Board people from Kiruna coming back from a convention in Karasjok. They convinced me that I needed to see the Ice Hotel, and I could ride farther in their car with the heater on if I did. It was an easy decision that I never regretted!

Actually the hotel seemed warm at -4 C with a good sleeping bag, a big pile of reindeer hides (not bloody) and a couple shots of vodka from the bar.

Kivilompo'o? Have no idea. Finnish or sami I believe. LOL.

sounds like you had a lot of fun, I would love to do something like that. Though I'de have to bring a man.. safer

Lancebloke wrote:I did the Rongai route. When
Sorry to hear about your friend

And you clearly do have courage to be able to deal with all that... plus you did it!!

Your route, was it the hardest one, did you meet up with any other route around the third day, machambe, I think that is how you say it, we met up with that one at some point. Did you have trouble breathing around day four or five?
I wish I could go on the luxury tour, real huts, think about it, not having to sleep on some terrifying ledge . Also, what about the food, did you like it? When I get cold I could eat just anything , well just about, if only to keep warm. And did any of the team leaders tell you not to give any tips, period until you and your stuff were safely at the gate? I guess that life is the same anywhere, whether at New York Plaza or a kazillion feet above ground dreaming of hot lentil soup and fresh baked bread with dairy butter

The Rongai route is one of the longest, but by that fact makes it easier in terms of acclimatisation. It comes up under Mawenzi Tarn (the jagged second peak of Kilimanjaro with the little lake) and then over the saddle that has the plane crash on it.

I didnt have any issue with breathing though people in our group had some issues... a few with some quite impressive hallucinations on summit night.

Food was good. The few days around summit night were hard as it was all about the carbohydrates (lots of porridge and potatoes) and it isnt easy stuff that sort of thing down you in large amounts, which you need to keep energy up.

We did meet up with another route on the way up which is the same one as we used on the way back. Wasn't the Lemosho but cant for the life of me remember what it was called. Takes you back through the jungle where you can see Colobus monkeys swinging through the trees.

Tips... they told us to make sure we didnt give anything out openly. Reason being is that they have a very specific way of giving tips out at the end based on seniority and duties etc. Giving stuff other than that can cause fights.

The porters etc were bloody fantastic though and deserved every penny that we gave them (plus those bits that we gave on the sly). I think there were people in our group who would never have made it as far as they did without those guys.

Think we got about everyone to Gilmans point which is where you can officially say you have summited. About 40% of us got all the way to Uhuru despite ou tour leader saying it was the worst weather she had experienced in 8 summits!!

An amazing experience! Would recommend it to anyone. Whether it is looking down at the clouds below as the sun comes up on summit night or just being in that part of the world and meeting the amazing people.... it is so worth it!!

Oh - you also asked if I was well travelled.

Well, not as much as I would like (I want to visit everywhere!!) but I have been lucky in the experiences I have been able to have so far.

Norc wrote: I would love to do something like that. Though I'de have to bring a man.. safer

Hmmmmm.....either safer or more sketchy I think, depending on the man.

I'm sure Norc you could always swear your way out of trouble.

haha, yeah, true Petty.

I've always wanted to visit Sahara, I hear you can see the start pretty well there also, Kilimanjaro's fauna is something of it's own. I would love to go there

"Food was good. The few days around summit night were hard as it was all about the carbohydrates (lots of porridge and potatoes) and it isnt easy stuff that sort of thing down you in large amounts, which you need to keep energy up."

you just described typical fjordan food. Porrige and potatos.

And the stable of Scotshobbits!

Kili has some interesting fauna but if you really want to see something epic you need to head to the Ngorogoro crater and Serengeti!

one day, Lance.. one day

by the way.. I thought you meant Kili.. as in the Hobbit lol

He may also have some interesting fauna... have to ask Tauriel!!

I've often had a fantasy where Norc and Ally get taken to the Moon and are left there.

Lancebloke wrote:

He may also have some interesting fauna... have to ask Tauriel!!

not in his face, though, it's bare as the dessert

well.. if he only had looked like this:

And that would still be a shitty beard for a dwarf!
Oh PJ what were you thinking- oh silly me, I know what you were thinking- 'this Tolkien guy can be improved, by ME!'

well, he did save for the movie, give him creds for that.