Kilimanjaro: Hahn & Team Reach Uhuru Peak - the summit!
The biggest day of the trip was enormous. We were up at 11 last night and walking uphill from our 15,200 ft camp just after midnight. Conditions were perfect. It was cold but dead calm. And we had most of the moon shining, so headlights were helpful but not essential. We targeted an ascent lasting about seven hours but as it turned out we were a little faster than that -unintentionally. We stopped for rest a few times, naturally, but the cold and the traffic on the route (all teams were basically on the same schedule) meant our breaks needed to be darn quick. The team was up to the task. Our guides threaded us through the “crowds” and helped us in a million ways, singing to entertain us as we trudged up endless, steep paths through the rock and scree. It was still dark when we hit the crater rim at Stella Point but a cold wind with a wisp of cloud made us skip the normal rest break there. We just marched along the rim -the roof of Africa- as the light and colors came up in a magical display. The entire team hit Uhuru -the summit- at 6:50 AM. 19,341 ft never felt so good. We loved it… and we loved that the sun was starting to warm things up. Our descent to high camp was completed at 10 AM and we tried to wrap our heads around the idea that we still had to climb all the way down to 10,000 ft to finish the day. Tosha and Michael, our world class chefs made it all possible by serving us pizza for brunch and fortifying us for the four hour journey. Clouds had come in to Barafu Camp and at noon, we were eager to get walking as it had gotten quite cold. We ducked out of those clouds in the first hour and by the time we reached Mweka Camp it was sunshine and blue sky again. We’re breathing thick air again and relaxing… and still a little amazed that we reached the highest point in Africa this morning.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
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