Local family scales Africa’s highest mountain
Print Edition
SUNTANNED and brimming with stories about her summer holiday adventure, 15-year-old Zhu Yuchen was back in classes at the Shanghai United International School when the new term began this week.
She and her parents went to Africa during the holidays to climb 5,895-meter Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
“If I had known about the difficulties I was to encounter, I might not have wanted to do the climb,” said the seventh grade student.
“When it was over, the first thing I craved was an ice cold bottle of Coke.”
Her father Zhu Jinsong told Shanghai Daily that the idea for the climb came about a year ago. “We wanted to set up a challenge for our daughter, an experience we thought would stead her well in the future,” he said.
Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano, with its base at 4,877 meters and its temperature gradient between top and bottom of more than 35 degrees Celsius. It is a popular mountain for trekkers, with about 25,000 people attempting to climb Africa’s highest mountain every year. The trek to the top involves an arduous hike but no ropes or technical climbing experience is required.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy, as Zhu and her parents found out.
None of the family had any real climbing experience before the trip. Zhu’s father talked with a coach on Tsinghua University’s mountain climbing team and with a Chinese representative working for Kilimanjaro National Park before deciding that the family would take the Machame route, one of seven to the top. The Machame route involves a 70-kilometer journey spanning six days and five nights.
Apart from buying equipment like sleeping bags and walking sticks, the family did regular exercises every day to physically prepare for the trek. Zhu’s father said he lost 7 kilograms during the pre-climb period. The family hired a 16-member support team — two guides, one cook, one waiter and 12 porters — to assist them on the trek.
Zhu Yuchen said the second day of the journey was the toughest. They walked 8.5 kilometers in eight hours to reach a base camp at 3,850 meters. Zhu said she suffered a headache and leg spasms from altitude sickness.
“It was raining and cold,” Zhu said. “I had to take pain killers. The climb was grueling at the time, but now it’s something I am proud of having done.”
Zhu’s toe was infected by an ingrown nail during the journey, but she declined the offer from a guide to carry her downhill. “That would have been embarrassing,” she confessed. “I simply didn’t want to be a wimp.”
In addition to freezing temperatures, the family had trouble sleeping. Zhu said they cheered one another up with conversations about their favorite meals. Her mother promised her she could get a cat as a pet once the journey was completed. “I kept a check on our blood oxygen levels and heartbeats,” said the father. “Before the final leg on the sixth day, my heart was pounding at 130 beats a minute.”
The family reached the summit in time to view a spectacular sunrise. It was so beautiful that Zhu Yuchen said she burst into tears.
“We had talked about the poses we wanted to take in pictures at the top,” her father said. “But when we were finally standing there, we were too exhausted to remember anything.”
“I wanted my daughter to learn the spirit of teamwork from this trip,” her father said.
The adventure cost the family 100,000 yuan (US$15,680). Afterward, they spend a week touring Tanzania.
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