14,000 feet and climbing...
with Mawenzi in the background.
A view of Kibo hut from Headache Rock.
You see, I was feeling great until I wandered up to this rock.
Unlike the other huts, Kibo hut
has just one dormitory-style building for the guests.
But then we would only be sleeping for a few hours before having to
wake
in the middle of the night to start the final ascent.
It's common for people to have
trouble sleeping at such altitudes, though not everyone does.
And I've experienced sleep apnea before -- when you stop breathing in
your sleep and often
wake yourself when you gasp for breath. But this night I experienced
something a bit different.
Everytime I was falling off to sleep, I would suddenly experience a
very
distinct and dizzying sensation of falling and I would wake with a
jolt. It was awful.
And the weird thing was that it kept happening over and over again
despite my efforts to either
concentrate to ignore the effect or relax to avoid it.
Wierd.