Mt Mulanje

As I am sure that you are aware, I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro back in August. So, when I said I wanted to climb Mt. Mulanje and reach the peak (3002m), I thought "this should be easy."

Walking to the mountain through the tea plantation

Wrong!

Luckily, both of my climbing buddies canceled due to work. I talked Ryan into doing the climb with me (he lives as the base of the mountain and has actually reached the summit before), but I also asked that he arrange only a day up and a day down, instead of our original 5-day hike plan. This means we would only hike to the plateau, and not attempt to summit.

GPS Track of our hike

Why is it lucky that I could only spend 2 days on this wonderful mastiff instead of 5 you ask?


It turns out that skipping breakfast, consuming more beer than water in the week leading up to it, skipping all that silly conditioning, not stretching, and saving money by not hiring porters were not good strategies for taking what is considered a technical hike done during the worst conditions of year.


Ryan and I were dying. For some reason, our guide did not know the meaning of "slow down," even though we kept repeating it in both English and Chichewa. Maybe he couldn't understand us because we were wheezing from a total lack of breath. At one point, we were convinced our friendship would end on that mountain. I think the only reason we didn't quit was because we thought the other was doing better.

Filling my water bottle on one of our many breaks

However, once we reached the plateau I instantly became glad we help on. It's a field of flowing grass and you'd never suspect you were 2000m in the air, 1500m above the surrounding lands. 

The plateau of Mt. Mulanje

The cabin where we stayed was something out of a story book. The hot bath was heavenly. Our peanut butter and jelly sandwich dinner was the best imaginable. 

Approaching our cabin

The next morning we climbed down, and for whatever reason, even though our guide was still racing (which led to a few minor injuries), we seemed to fair much better. We both admitted we were glad we did it.  My calves were sore for a week.  I'm also happy to report, Ryan and I are...
 

...still friends