top of the world....

so, i have arrived back from the mountain alive, and not alive in the movie sense where all those rugby players ended up eating each other. though, having to pack, carry and ration enough food for 5 days is no easy task.

i figure i packed in about 20kg’s worth of food, shelter and clothing in my backpack; and then had to hike that up an unrelenting incline for 4 hours straight. it was during this time that the thought of ‘what the hell have i gotten myself into?’ plagued my mind constantly… but every time i second guessed whether i had anything left in the tank to push through for that day (not to mention for the following 4 days), we’d turn a corner and be overlooking the most amazing view i’d ever seen.  this borderline self-defeatism and subsequent lifting of spirits continued for the duration of the first day, and after we had gained about 1200m of elevation in 4 hours, we hit a bit of a plateau, and then hiked for another 3 hours of a bit more level ground to the hut that we’d spend the next 2 nights at. because i was drenched in sweat and hot and tired, i didn't really notice during the hike itself.. but we had actually gained so much elevation that at night you could see your breath. it was like being back in canada, haha. unfortunately, i wasn't expecting this little taste of home and it made for some chilly nights with little sleep.

the following morning we had to get up bright and early at 5am to complete our quest to hit the peak. we ditched our packs at the base of where we started our climb and only brought enough food and water to last us for the 6 hour round trip to the summit. for me, this was the most enjoyable part of the entire trip. we scrambled up the mountain for 3 hours straight, needing to use both hands and feet for grip. unfortunately, i lost my grip at one point early in the day and slipped down a few feet and landed on a rock edge with all my weight falling onto my upper shin. it bled and swelled up pretty good, but i was able to push on. by about an hour in, we started climbing into the clouds... which made visibility pretty difficult and once we made it through, it was almost a game of trying to climb and stay ahead of the ever-rising clouds for the rest of the day.

we made it to the peak, which officially is 3002 metres above sea level, in about 4 hours. unfortunately, we lost the race with the clouds, and couldn't see as much as we were hoping at the top. on a clear day, you can see the indian ocean from the summit, which is pretty impressive... as that is past malawi, and to the coast of mozambique. sadly we didn't get that view, but surprisingly it didn't take anything away from the feeling of accomplishment. 

after a short revelling in our accomplishment [it was actually really cold at the top when the wind picked up], we made our descent back to the hut and even though the morning was cloudy, we had a surprisingly clear night and were able to crash under an amazing backdrop of stars that night.

the following two days were spent hiking around the mountain and seeing as much as we could see... it was more pleasure hiking than anything, though on the 4th day i convinced our guide to do another scramble up to a peak that we walked past during our hike. so we ditched our bags and made our way up to a second peak. this one was only 2500 metres above sea level, but it was clear that day, so we got a pretty amazing view in all directions.


we stayed at a total of 3 different huts on the mountain, for 5 days and 4 nights, and did 29 hours of cumulative hiking/climbing in those 5 days. 


we also came across a tree-planting camp during our exploring... as de-forestation of cedar trees on the mountain is a big problem. i talked with one of the planters and they are paid by the month, not the tree... kind of crazy.


so this one goes out to josh and bethany and my other tree-planting friends.... thought about you guys during that day. 

our last day was about 5 hours of sketchy, ankle-breaking switchbacks as we descended and continually crossed over a mountain stream until finally we hit the waterfall pictured to the left.

we spent about an hour hanging out at the waterfall... swimming and cliff jumping [pictured bottom left is me doing a good 30 foot jump]. it was an amazing way to end the trip.

after drying off, we finished our last 45 minutes of hiking out of the mountain. at that point, i had to negotiate a 'dink' which is a ride on the back of some dudes bike.... it was about a 20 minute
trip back to the town that we would transport out of... and i felt really sorry for the dude who had to peddle me and my backpack in the 30+ degree heat.

from there we packed ourselves into a series of mini-busses and made our way back to the centre. during this time, we played the game of 'how many living creatures can you pack into a 15 passenger van?', to which the winning round was 23 adult malawians, 4 school aged children, 3 infants, 4 live chickens and 2 mzungus...

honestly, all things considered... this was the trip of a life time. i mean, this 3 month block of time is something i'll never forget, but this trip up the mountain was more than i ever could have hoped for. it was truly incredible.

so, now i'm back into the everyday routine at the centre and will have way less exciting updates coming your way... haha. actually, i'm really excited to get back into the P.E. program and see what comes of that.

and, i'm heading to lake malawi sometime in the next few weeks, so i'm sure i'll have some things to share from that as well... as i'm hoping to rent a kayak and head to an island for a night, as well as do some scuba diving...

happy late mother's day to my mom, grandma, judy and all the other mothers out there...

peace and love.