Ascending Kilimanjaro - Lemosho Route
This post is many months late. I actually set out on this journey in January, 2025. It was a very unexpected adventure. At the time I was in the process of trying to sell the company I owned with my friends, and at the same time looking for what it was that I would do next. I saw that one of my friends I met through a startup accelerator had posted on their Instagram story saying they would be attempting to ascend Mt Kilimanjaro, wondering if anyone wanted to join them. I though “why not? I don’t have any other plans yet for January” and decided to reach out. Thats how it happened, that two founders, two ethical hackers and one British doctor ended up climbing Kilimanjaro together.
Day 1 - Jan 21st/22nd
This trip started off with 32 hours of travelling as I was flying from Vancouver to Frankfurt, then Addis Ababa, and then finally Moshi. My time during my 10h layover in Frankfurt mainly consisted of figuring out if my battery pack could charge my camera battery, and as a result finding one that could, as well as exchanging CAD for USD to pay for the remainder of the trip. I also started taking Acetazolamide (similar to Diamox) against altitude sickness today. From everything I have read in preperation for this trip, altitude sickness is the number 1 reason why people have to turn around or drop out. The toughest part is, that it is not correlated to fitness levels. It can hit anyone and you don’t know untill you’ve been at that elevation.
Day 2 - Jan 23rd
Finally arrived in Moshi today after another quick pit-stop in Addis Ababa, a city that houses 5.2 million people! We landed at 5am and seeing the city lights during our approach made me feel weirdly touched and excited for the adventure ahead. I think this is when it truly sank in, what I was about to attempt. Upon arriving at the airport I met William (the British doctor) who I learned would be joining our adventuring party. Once we arrived at the “Bristol Cottages” I checked into my room, which I would be sharing with Wesley (my startup friend) and then headed to the bar area to meet sam and Kiernan (the ethical hackers). Seeing the room and the having to use my social battery, which had been very drained from the 32 hours of travelling, made me feel quite intimidated and almost nervous about the next 5 days ahead. Luckily seeing the view of Mt Kilimanjaro we had from the hotel an having dinner with my new friends brought back all of that excitement I had felt earlier.
Day 3 - Jan 24th (6km)
We made it to Mti Mkubwa Camp! We set off at 9:30am today in a bus that had our luggage on the roof included us and all of our porters. Our luggage consisted of a big duffle that the porters would be carrying for us, as well as a personal backpack that would stay with us. During our drive to the start of the Lemosho route we had to wait for 1.5 hours in a town along the way because we had forgotten to pick up one of the porters. All was well though, apart from the fact that my duffle as almost lost as we got closer to the gates that marked the start of the route, and the porters had to spend some time getting all the luggage secured again. Once we got started the pace was slower than expected (“Pole, Pole!”) but that allowed me to take more pictures along the way. All of today was spent hiking through the rainforest ecosystem with luscious vegetation and beautiful flowers, including the elephant trunk flower. Camp here is massive with probably over 100 tents, as multiple tour groups and routes have not separated yet. All of us were very glad that we got the private toilet tents as well. Big recommendation. Every night the porters and guides do a health check-up for each of us. This included asking some qualitative questions as well as taking our temperature, blood pressure, heart-rate and blood oxygen content readings. Today my measurements were good and I was also feeling great! The only thing I need to keep in mind is to drink more water. The porters reminded us that we should be aiming for at least 3L a day. At sea-level we usually operate at 98% blood oxygen content and if you hit 94% they would hook you up to oxygen in the hospital. 80 -75% would soon become the norm for us.
Day 4 - Jan 25th (9km)
Today we had lunch at Shira camp 1. The food consists of rather bland and very carb heavy meals, such as past with rice for lunch/dinner, and toast and pancakes for breakfast. Shira 1 actually used to be the original peak until an additional eruption happened and multiple new peaks were formed. After that the new peak became Kibo. Heading out from Mti Mkubwa Camp this morning we saw a blue monkey extremely close up, as well as multiple ravens later on closer to Shira camp 2, as we made our way out of the jungle and into the moorland ecosystem. This was the the day with the most ascent (apart form summit night). Even though we only traveled 9km we had to ascend over the Shira ridge at 3,500m. My health chek-up tonight was great again. Still feeling good and taking two Diamox every day.
Day 5 - Jan 26th (10km)
Today we woke up to some beautiful fog rolling in over the hills by Shira camp 2. The morning and last night were a bit rough as I had gotten a headache from sleeping the night before. This night was not great either as I had had cold feet thoroughout most of it and also started to develop some rather strong bowel movement, something Wesley had complained about since the day before. Sam was so kind and offered me feet-warmers for the upcoming night, whihc as it turns out did help a lot. After having a painkiller and a Honeystinger gel in the morning I felt a lot better and made it to Lava Tower for lunch. We arrived there right before heavy snow started to fall. From Lava Tower onwards it was just downhill all the way to Barranco Camp. We played “I spy with my little eye” and I felt the best I did all trip, as we wandered through streams and over hills. I was still not using my poles at this point as I often find that they get in my way. We arrived at Barranco Camp just before heavy rain started to set in. Health checkup up was good again today, except for the bowel movements that, as it turns out, would catch up to all of us by the end of the trip. Today we completed the longest day of hiking but also the one with the least amount of elevation gained (apart form summit night).
Day 6 - Jan 27th (5km)
Today was the toughest day yet, mentally and physically. We set out at roughly 8am to scramble over Barranco wall. Just hearing those words made me tense up as I do not love a scramble, given my fear of heights. It honestly was not as bad as I had imagined. The porters were absolutely incredible, as I watched some climb up a short wall with baggage on their heads and necks, without using any hands. Absolutely superhuman! There was one short section I tensed up at and the guides had to give me confidence. After a short couple-second internal panic-attack everything was good and we were on our way again. Shortly after that we came up to the “Kissing rock”. A rock that protrudes out of the wall and which you need to swing yourself to the other side of, by keeping your body and face extremely close to it, to maintain your balance. I managed t get past that without much trouble and even kissed the rock! We then spent some time at the top of Barranco wall during our lunch stop, where Kiernan tried to befriend a raven. On our way to Karanga camp, down the other side of the wall it started to hail and rain extremely heavily. That definitely put a damper on our mood as we got completely drenched, despite our rain-gear. Fires are not allowed on the mountain and at this point we were out of the nice warm sections of the ascent, so we were all hoping our gear would dry at least a little bit, especially our shoes. Today Sam got extremely cold, as she found out her rain gear was not actually waterproof, Kiernan got a very strong headache, and Wesley was still fighting strong stomach issues. Will and I felt pretty good, however our bowels were also in motion. Tonight the guides gave us a pep-talk and told us that we were in really good shape regardless. Later that night we heard a chopper coming to camp, likely to pick someone up, but I do not know the full details. Our head-guide later told us that it was not uncommon to hear 10 of these a night as people were getting evacuated due to altitude sickness.
Day 7 - Jan 28th (4km)
Today and summit night all mesh into one. Basically after arriving at Basecamp (Barafu Camp) we had lunch and right after received the briefing for summit night, before heading to sleep so we could wake-up at 10pm for our summit attempt. During the briefing the guides and porters reminded us that we will not have a lot of time on the summit due to severe danger of AMS (altitude sickness). The plan was to set out at 10pm, a little earlier than initially planned, as Sam and Kiernan, as well as Wesley weren’t doing great, and to reach the summit in time for sunrise. They mentioned that it is extremely important that we always blow out all of the water from our drinking straws of our water bladders, so that the straw would not freeze. As mentioned Sam, Kiernan and Wesley were not doing great, so Sele, our head-guide asked them to decide whether they felt ready to summit or whether they would rather stay behind. Kiernan was the only one that decided to stay at this point due to severe headaches and nausia. Our shoes were still damp from the heavy rain yesterday, and you could tell that that thought was looming in everyones mind.
Day 8 (Summit night) - Jan 29th (17km)
We woke up at 10pm, had some lemon and ginger tea with biscuits and started to mentally and physically prepare for the night ahead. All of the porters stayed in camp as we would not need any of the gear on the summit, so we started our trek with Sele and Kingu, our second guide. The beginning was not as awful as expected but we were moving extremely slowly (“Pole, pole!”). I started to get a stronger headache and also felt a little bit dizzy, mainly due to a blocked nostril that made breathing harder, on top of all the other elevation related fatigue I was already feeling. Our fingers and toes started to get very cold, as we often had to take breaks and wait for Sam to catch up. After askign Sele multiple times whether we could split up the group because we were starting to feel very col, he finally agreed, and so the four of us continued on to the summit with Kingu at the helm, while Sele and Sam would continue at a slower pace. The worst moments during the ascent were when you saw an extremely steep section in front of you, roughly 200m long and it took all your mental will-power to get yourself half-way up that section, only to then see the headlamp light of other climbers hundreds of meeter above you, up another steep section that had previously been hidden from your view. Like I had mentioned, our shoes had never fully dried and as a result of this my shoe started to freeze and the two layers of wool socks I was wearing started to freeze onto the shoe as well. Luckily my foot was fine, it just made walking extremely difficult as my shoe became incredibly stiff. Speaking of shoes… one cool trick the guides would use, instead of wearing expensive spikes is to put on a pair of large wool socks over their hiking boots, for extra grip! And yes, even though the guides had warned us, the straw to my drinking bladder did end up freezing. Luckily I had one other water bottle on me that I used for the rest of the night. So things were not going super well, but I was so thankful we decided to split up the group! On our way up we often came across groups where some individuals were sitting on the side of the path hooked up to an oxygen tank, as they were feeling extreme symptoms of AMS. I knew that we had to limit the amount of time at this elevation and had to keep moving.
We arrived at the summit at 7am Jan 29th. As mentiond we did not have long up here. We say a hand-full of people that had to be assisted, almost carried down the summit because they were experiencing acute AMS. They looked like they were extremely intoxicated. I will never forget seeing the sunrise as we made it up the last couple of hundred meters to the summit, as well as the incredible glaciers at the top. We spent a couple of minutes taking photos and taking it all in, before it was time to head back down.
The descent was not any better than the ascent and very unexpected for me. Most of it was extremely loose scree and we were basically sliding down the side of the mountain. This side was 90% rocks and 10% snow that had turned into slush as the sun had now come out. On our way down we met Sam. She was moving very slowly but was too determined to give up. Little did we know that the next time we would see her would be the next day at 8am. We made it back to Basecamp at 11am, as we neared the camp porters came towards us to welcome us back with mango juice, and congratulate us. After a couple of minuted of heated conversation the decision was made they some of them would have to make their way up the summit to help Sele and Sam get down safe. While we waited for Sam to return we took some naps, and had some lunch. At this point the decision was made that rather than waiting for Sam and hiking all the way down to Mweka camp before dinner, we would leave now and complete the 2h hike to a camp that was a little higher up than Mweka camp, in the hope of meeting Sam there tonight.
Sam arrived at our camp at around 11pm that night, after 18 continuous hours of hiking. I would not see her unitl 8am the next morning. While not everyone on the crew was happy with Seles decision of letting her complete the ascent, that is a truly incredible feat that she pulled off!
Day 9 - Jan 30th
The next morning we completed our ascent to Mweka Gate, through the remnants of the 2022 wildfire and back into the jungle ecosystem. It rained, we were tired but we walked down filled with joy, knowing that we had completed what we had came for.
Completing the summit of Kilimanjaro still feels like a fever dream.
Takeaways
Grit and mental fortitude can overpower most physical limitations
Social media and so much of the online world is just noise. I was so much happier being unplugged. It allowed me to be present in the moment
Going back to the online world after caused a lot of anxiety
If you are present and you share a unique experience together it is very easy to become close friends with someone in only seven days
Happiness truly comes from within
Stay relaxed and give-up constant control. You will be happier. “Hakuna matata!”
Barkley Sound, BC
Located on the west coast of Vancouver Island and within the traditional territory of the Nuu-cha-nulth First Nations, Barkley Sound is one of the many gems and incredibly unique environments BC has to offer. Because of this some friends and I decided to head to a group of islands near the “Broken Group” during May long-weekend, in order to experience the area for ourselves.
We started our journey off at the Poett Nook boat launch, from where we headed out in the late evening to make landfall on an island we would call home for the next 3 days. After a short boat ride we found the perfect spot to set up camp: a wonderful white sandy beach surrounded by incredibly clear turquoise water.
We set up camp in the shade and decided to explore the unique marine environment this island had to offer. We saw countless tide pools filled with Acorn Barnacles, Moon Snails, Oysters and Green Surf Anemones. But the highlight were definitely the Spiny Pink Sea Stars and bright orange and purple Ochre Stars.
While we spent some day-trips exploring Bamfield and Julia passage, we of course also had to explore the under-water world. So we geared up in our wetsuits, snorkels and fins and wandered into the waves. This was like walking through a portal into another world. Having only dived in the comparably murky waters of Whitecliff park, BC, this was a spectacle of species and colors!
But one of the highlight of the trip was when the boys came back from a successful fishing trip bearing Rockfish and Lingcod. There is simply nothing that beats eating freshly caught fish. The same goes for the Salmon which our camp neighbours so graciously offered us the second night. We prepared the fresh fillets with some lemon and seasoning, wrapped them in aluminium foil and tossed them in the fire. Absolutely delicious!
On the last day of the trip we almost weren’t able to make it back to Vancouver on the ferry due to some trailer length issues. Luckily everything got sorted out and we were back home by 2am, although, I am sure none of us truly wanted to leave.
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 13.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
This photo sums up everything.
This is actually the last post of this quarantine photo challenge series since I need to check out of this room by 9 am tomorrow.
I chose this shot as it really embodies the fact that I can’t wait to just be able to get out there again, in nature and into the city to take photos, but also to just explore what’s around me.
I really love this shot because of the way the vibrant red color of the actual sign combines with the blue/purple tone of the shadows. I am surprised the picture turned out like this, to be honest, as I did not add any split toning…
Anyways, this little challenge I set myself really made my time in quarantine pass a lot quicker.
Nevertheless, I can’t wait to be back out there!
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 12.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
I wanted to try something new with today’s photo.
The apartment I'm staying in during quarantine has this really cool bar seating area in front of a window, and I liked the way the above perspective looked when resting my camera on the countertop. However, while the image did convey the overall theme and look of that part of the room, it did look a little boring and was missing a clear subject
I decided to give it a 16x9 crop to make the whole scene look more cinematic. That was a step in the right direction, but the last punch was still missing.
This is where split toning comes in. Now I do add split toning to most of my edits actually, precisely because it can make photos look more cinematic and dynamic, however, I really increased the saturation of the split tones in this picture. I really went hard on the teal highlights and the orange shadow colors, and I do believe that the final result above makes for a much more interesting and engaging photo than the original image.
Hope you like it too.
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 11.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
Took this super moody photo of my dad’s old Canon film camera which he recently gave to me. It’s actually an EOS 10 and I am super excited to get to try it out soon… just got to actually buy some film.
With this shot, I wanted to pay a tribute to cameras, like my own Canon EOR R6, which has allowed me to really make the most of my time in quarantine and has really made the time pass a lot faster than expected.
I set up the lamp to set the tone by creating some moody lighting and glow on the camera. It actually reminds me of a detective’s office because of the photo’s mysterious feel thanks to the shadows created by the lighting.
Overall happy with this one.
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 10.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
Something a little different today.
I wanted to convey my desire to just get outside with this photo. I think it shows really well how this quarantine has forced me to just dump my shoes in a corner so that even they want to be outside again.
That’s the somewhat dramatic feeling I wanted to capture in this shot. And if you don’t get that feeling from looking at it, I also chose this photo simply because I like the colors and light in this shot.
I honestly can’t wait to be able to go for walks again!
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 9.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
I was just about to start listening to one of my online university lectures when I happened to look out of the window and saw that the concrete building opposite mine was lit up with this incredible orange sunrise glow.
To make things even better, I then noticed that a plane was flying into the scene, pretty fast actually. So I grabbed my camera and tried to frame-up a shot, and oh boy do I love how this turned out!
I absolutely love the light blue and orange tones as well as the dark building that’s just barely visible and lit up thanks to that incredible orange sunlight. In fact, I love this shot so much that I actually made it my new phone wallpaper. Who knows, maybe a future print?
Today’s challenge is certainly complete.
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 8.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
I had absolutely no idea what to take a photo of today. I mean I had something in mind, which I saw on one of my first days here, but I want to save it for my last quarantine day.
I did happen to look over at my bed while I was looking for ideas and saw that my pajamas were just lying on my pillow and how empty that entire scene looked. I thought it might make for a nice minimal photo so I took out my camera and I must say, I actually really love how this picture turned out!
I know it’s not for everyone cause it’s pretty simple, but I think it actually really tells the story of my quarantine with its feeling of solitude and the colors that are also very muted and minimal.
Now on to thinking about what I should take a photo of tomorrow…
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 7.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
Yes, today I broke the retro streak that I was on lately. I think I need another day and another night’s sleep to think of another good vintage-themed photo to take around here.
Anyways, with all of the construction that has been going on on all sides of this apartment from 7 am - 3 pm, I thought it would be great to capture some of this activity that will forever change this place.
Right opposite the living-room windows they are constructing a multi-story building and I constantly see construction workers walk up and down the stairs. I thought it would be quite cool to capture one of them framed naturally within these unfinished stairwell windows. I thought their bright warning vests would also POP against the darker shadows in the staircase which would make the shot more dynamic and interesting.
So the shot above is the one I chose for today. I like how you can clearly see the vibrant blue facemask as well, which definitely reflects what’s going on out there currently.
Stay safe!
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 6.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
We are continuing with the retro theme!
I really love the olive/green color of this wall in the living room, as you can tell cause I’ve used it before, and I thought it would go well with the red/orange tone of this armchair.
So I pulled the chair across the room and positioned it so that part of the dark blue door would also still be in frame. I guess my inspiration for this shot was the color-blocking trend, so I tried to do something similar with the green, orange, and blue colors here.
While I do like the minimal look of this shot, I feel like it might be a little too bland and maybe a bit boring… however, I do like the color-blocking style.
Not too sure about this one.
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 5.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
So it seems like there is some sort of retro vibe forming amongst the photos I have shot so far during this challenge. I’m definitely not complaining because I was not expecting to be able to create some coherent photo sets at all while locked up in quarantine. I simply wanted one good photo a day, even if they don’t go well together.
So, today’s vintage-themed household shot is the one above and features retro cleaning appliances. What I really like about this shot are the popping blue, red and yellow colors, as well as the unique perspective.
I took multiple shots of this scene actually, cause I knew I could create something interesting out of it, but the first couple of shots had pretty basic perspectives which kind of made the photo boring and random looking. However, this perspective really makes the shot unique and tells more of a story, in my oppinion.
Let’s see if tomorrow’s shot will continue this retro roll I‘m on.
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 4.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
I’m happy to be able to say that I am slowly getting over my jetlag and getting used to being back in Vancouver!
When I first arrived in this quarantine apartment I had noticed how outdated the kitchen and its appliances looked. I decided that today would be a great day to try and capture that vintage vibe. Yes, this entire apartment is very vintage based on my previous blog post as well…
I decided that I liked this shot the most out of all of the ones I took because I really liked how the 16:9 crop made it look like an old movie scene. Together with the warm edit and white border, I think I did a pretty good job in relaying that feeling I had when I first walked into this kitchen.
However, the lighting was a little harsh, as can be seen on the kettle, since a huge round ceiling lamp was hanging right above. Because of this, there is a little bit of a glare on that kettle, at the same time, however, this also makes the photo look a bit more dynamic.
Let me know what you think down below!
Here are some outtakes:
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 3.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
Today I woke up at 3am and am definitely not over my jetlag jet!
Even though I should have probably taken a nap in the afternoon I instead decided to look around for today’s quarantine photo of the day. Having looked around the bathroom yesterday, I decided to explore the livingroom today.
As I looked around I saw this kind of vintage-looking lamp in the corner of the room and I thought that its copper-golden color went really nicely with the brown/black color of the furniture and the olive color of the wall.
Above is the final product of today’s shoot. I really went along with the vintage and minimal feel of the photo in the edit. I decided to also give this picture a white border as it emphasizes that old film look and also makes the colors pop a little more, given that the edit itself has quite muted colors.
I must say, that it was a lot easier to get a shot I like today, compared to yesterday. Then again, bathrooms aren’t known to be the most interesting…
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 2.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
Today proved to be a lot more challenging than yesterday.
I had immediately noticed the colors and the pattern of these tiles when I first walked into my bathroom. I knew that I wanted to use them to create some sort of composition for a photo, just not exactly what.
I thought I’d give it a shot today and took a couple of pictures just of the plain wall. I didn’t like how empty that looked, even though the pattern was interesting, I thought the shot was missing a subject.
So next I decided to grab my light blue hoodie as I thought that the teal would work quite well with the orange/red and green/teal tones of the tiles. Because this tile pattern was opposite of my shower, however, it was actually really tough to find a composition that I sort of liked, since I could not get enough distance between the wall and myself to get a lot of the hoodie into the frame.
I then decided to switch it up again and used an old film camera as the subject, instead of my hoodie. I did think it was kind of awkward to shoot a film camera in a bathroom setting… but bear with me here. I took a couple of shots, each from a different angle, and although I liked the contrast of the black camera to the brighter wall, it just wasn’t doing it for me.
Lastly, I tried some shots of the showerhead with the same tile pattern as the backdrop. While I did like those shots quite a bit, cause they had a mechanic/scientific, almost Stranger Things Lab type of feel, I gain felt like the subject was just a little too boring since a shower was kind of to be expected in a place like this.
So after looking through all of these shots, I decided that the shot at the top, with the hoodie, was the one I liked the most. The colors go together nicely and the whole scene kind of gives me an 80s diner vibe with the tiles and warm lighting… but in a bathroom.
Here are some of the other shots I took:
Quarantine Photo Challenge: Day 1.
I’m back!
After spending approximately half a year back home in Austria, I came back to Vancouver yesterday.
After 2 layovers and 18h of flying, I was not looking forward too much to spending the next 14 days in quarantine and self-isolation, not going to lie.
As soon as I stepped into my apartment for this coming period of time, I knew that I was going to have to be more creative than ever. See, I am determined to continue to improve my photography skills, however, I am not allowed to leave my room, which does make things a little challenging. So naturally, I decided to add to this challenge and set myself the goal to create one photo every single day for these 14 days that I was really proud of.
You can follow the whole challenge on my Instagram account here (@sophiemberger).
Day 1.
So it’s 4am and the next day. I am definitely feeling the jet-lag which explains why I went to bed at 8pm and got up at 4am, but nevertheless, I definitely remember trying to think of all of the spots in the apartment I could use for future photos while falling asleep last night.
This first photo however is not from any of these locations, but rather a shot of the North Tower of the building I am staying in. I did not anticipate it to look so gloomy and moody at 4am, and definitely did not expect any other lights to be on in the building!
I chose this as my first photo because I felt that it really illustrated the solitude I was feeling and going to feel during this time. The darkness also perfectly reflects the fact that it was indeed 4am and that I was exhausted after such a long day of traveling. All in all, I thought this shot was able to tell the story of that first day in quarantine the best for me.