Entries By dave hahn

Our entire team was in agreement that a night at 10,000 ft was just what the doctor ordered.  Sure, there were some tired legs and sore backs at Mweka Camp this morning, but so many other problems had magically disappeared with the dropping of a vertical mile in sleeping elevation.  We ate breakfast as the sun started to find its way through the heather and hanging moss.  Afterward, our entire staff assembled to serenade and entertain us (and themselves) with singing and dancing.  Before long, we were all laughing and clapping at their costumed portrayal of a western tourist, out for a climb.  The customary tipping ceremony followed in which we passed out gratuities while shaking hands and personally thanking each of 51 strong and talented men.  By 8:30 we were on the trail and losing altitude once again.  Quickly, we transitioned back into a thick and lush rain forest.  While we’d started out with blue sky and sunshine, inevitably we entered the cloud sea that had been so far below for much of the week.  We never got anything worse than the odd sprinkle and a little mist down in the clouds and that kept the dirt trail from getting totally sloppy and slippery.  One certainly had to pay close attention though, so as not to slip, trip or tumble in the process of descending 4,000 vertical feet.  Porters from our own team, as well as from surrounding teams, came thundering down the track -mud or no mud- with fifty pound loads balanced on their heads.  By late morning we’d all reached the national park gate at Mweka.  Naturally we got pics of the gang at the final signpost of the journey, then we signed out of the park and walked through a bit of road construction to where the Barking Zebra staff had laid out a fine picnic lunch at a local art gallery and tourist shop.  Thus fortified, we took on the two hour bus trip down through Moshi and over to the edge of Arusha.  Everyone was ready for showers and comfy furniture back at the Arumeru River Lodge.  The afternoon passed quickly as we reconnected to the world, dried and cleaned gear and readied other -less serious and substantial gear- for our safari starting tomorrow morning.  We had a relaxed victory dinner together to celebrate the completion of the climb and to bid farewell to Darcy who’ll be boarding jets and getting home for work while we go poke around a few more National Parks to see what we can see. 

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Update August 14th at 10:56 am PST:
The nights are long in this part of the world… approaching 12 hours.  My Kilimanjaro climbing team knows this all too well after today’s climb to the tippy top.  We set out from high camp at 12:40 AM and it was nearly six hours before the sun made an appearance.  Our first few hours of climbing weren’t so bad… it was pitch dark -with no moon- but it was also nice and calm.  When we reached 17,000 ft though, a 20 mph wind found us and stayed with us, dropping temps and making us all crave sunshine.  When we got it -at around 18,500 ft- the sunrise itself was gorgeous, and the winds dropped away, but only until we hit Stella Point on the crater rim at 7:15.  Our victory lap along the rim to Uhuru was made in winds up to 35 or 40 mph.  That certainly made it tough to do much sightseeing.  We each just concentrated on walking and breathing.  We hit Uhuru, the true summit, at 8:20 and stayed exactly eight minutes.  That was long enough for a few high fives, hugs and hero shots… and then we boogied.  We got out of the worst of the wind when we left the crater rim and temperatures got reasonable.  We skied the scree to get lower fast.  The goal was obviously to get off the mountain safely, but it was also to get back down to the altitudes that don’t hurt one’s head and rile one’s stomach.  Our great Barking Zebra staff helped us immensely in getting home to Barafu in good time.  We were there at 11:30 AM just in time for brunch in the dining tent.  Then -although we were all in the mood for naps- we packed up and got walking down for another 3.5 hours. We shed another 5,000 vertical feet to reach Mweka Camp down in the trees at the 10,000 ft level.  It turns out that the days are pretty long in these parts too… in any case, we’re all looking forward to a long night’s sleep tonight.

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

[audio transcription]
Hey, this is Dave Hahn with the Kilimanjaro Climb. We made the summit today. We’re back at high camp now at Barafu at 15,000 feet. At 8:20 this morning we were at Uhuru,19341 feet above sea level, highest point in Africa. It was a windy cold morning. It was a hard climb, but we did it and we’re safely back at high camp and we’re going to head down to Mweka Camp, 10,000 feet to finish the day. All for now. Bye.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

All the preparation is finished.  We’re healthy and comfy (relatively) at high camp.  It wasn’t even such a tough job to get here.  We woke to perfect weather at Karanga Camp.  The sun hit while we were sipping coffee and gazing down on the now-familiar sea of clouds far below.  Kibo was cloud-free and out in all its glory above us.  Without a puff of wind, it was easy to put the final touches on our packs after breakfast and to get ready for walking at 9 AM.  Our fifty man support staff didn’t want us to walk away all grim and work focused though… they quickly assembled and began clapping and singing -and inevitably dancing and laughing, until we joined in and got our morning stretch session done the fun way.  We then set out behind Philibet’s capable leadership.  It was easy ground compared to the walls we’ve climbed in recent days.  Just a steady and slow altitude gain through progressively less desert vegetation.  We had the whole move done in three hours and pulled into 15,000 ft Barafu (Swahili for “ice”) Camp at noon.  The team alternated between resting and eating, drinking and packing for the afternoon.  The normal lassitude and our fair share of intermittent headaches afflicted us as we whiled away the afternoon, but all in all we’re feeling strong and excited… ready for an “alpine start” and a big day of going to new heights and seeing new sights.  Tosha is going to serve up a 5:30 dinner and after it, we’ll try not to stare overly long at the sunset and amazing colors… we’ll zip ourselves into the tents for some crucial rest before the alarms go off at 11:30 PM and the climb to the top of Africa begins. 
Stay Tuned.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

A number of the team reported their “best night yet” at Barranco Camp.  Perhaps that was because we’d put in a good hard day, but it could also have been the calming ambient noise of waterfalls and streams flowing near the tents.  We were drinking coffee at 7:30, still before the sun found its way into the steep sided valley.  After another great breakfast, we were headed off to climb the Great Wall at 9 AM.  Luckily, we don’t have too many other teams on our schedule and so “traffic” was light as we tackled the steep rock ledges of the lower wall.  Frank led the team today, while Freddy, Philibet, Naiman and James kept careful watch on the team, pointing out the odd missed hand or foothold in the rough lava scramble.  It was quite pleasant to rest atop the wall in calm sunshine with the steep bulk of Kibo shining overhead.  Another, easier section of walking took us to the steep cut of the Karanga Valley.  All that remained then was to drop down one steep side of the gorge and to march up the opposite side.  The team mastered the “rest step” on this ascent and kicked in some “pressure breathing” for good measure.  We rolled in to camp at 13,100 ft at about 1:30 and were sitting down to lunch not too long afterward.  Clouds formed up to hide the upper mountain and to shield us from the strong sunshine for the afternoon.  We’ll see if they break up for sunset and to allow our traditional stargazing after dinner. 

Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

It was a perfect day for climbing, right from the start at Shira Camp.  Not too cold and not too hot, and not much to worry about from clouds and squalls.  We set out walking directly toward Kibo, Kilimanjaro’s central peak, at 8 AM.  The terrain was a good deal less steep and the trail less confining than what we’d encountered yesterday.  We worked up through high desert vegetation on a gently sloping plateau of lava boulders.  Within a few hours, we’d busted all-time altitude records for Darcy, Lory Beth, Kathy, Jon, Jensen, Kevin, Melanie, Logan, Phillip and Emily.  By noon we hit our high point for the day, the Lava Tower at 15,200 ft, and the weather stayed fine as we picnicked and watched the white necked ravens performing elaborate aerobatic maneuvers in the thin air.  At this point, we’d reached the base of Kibo and the cliffs and ice fields towered 4000 vertical feet over us.  As we headed down into the valleys below Kibo’s southern flanks, the afternoon clouds formed up but didn’t bother us much.  We dropped back down into gardens of giant senecios and lobelias as we closed in on Barranco Camp at 13,000 ft.  By 2:30 we were moving into a perfectly built camp and getting ready for afternoon tea and popcorn in the dining tent.  We rested away the afternoon and came out before dinner to watch the light change and to gaze up at tomorrow’s challenge -The Great Barranco Wall.  Damp and dense clouds then washed in and out over camp for the next few hours like waves at the beach. 

Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

We woke to crystal clear skies today at Machame Camp and so the team got their first views of Kibo, Kilimanjaro’s central peak.  We could see the hanging glaciers and ice fields sparkling in the morning light.  Way down below us, there were clouds, but they were minding their own business and didn’t seem capable of rising up to swallow us.  After a fine breakfast, we hit the trail at 8 AM with Philibet leading the charge.  It was a slow charge as the trail steepened and got a whole lot more rocky just out of camp.  But we made good progress anyway, gaining altitude through a forest of giant heather.  Directly behind us and out on the western horizon was the giant pyramid of Mt Meru, Tanzania’s third highest peak rising out of a sea of low cloud.  We gained a ridge crest and traveled along it toward Kibo for a ways before banging a left turn and traversing a series of old lava ledges.  Finally, at about 12,700 ft we turned a corner and walked onto the broad Shira Plateau.  We finished up by dropping downhill briefly before coming into our new camp at 12,500 ft.  We’d seen our first Senecios and Lobelias, some of the distinctive endemic plants of Kilimanjaro.  We’d gotten the walking finished in about five hours which gave us plenty of time for a relaxing afternoon in Shira Camp.  The team reviewed their Swahili vocabulary at 4:30 tea time and watched a fine sunset a few hours later out over the old volcanic towers of Shira.  We filed into the big dining tent by headlight at 7:00 and were once again greatly impressed with the meal that Tosha had produced in his simple kitchen tent.  It was another fabulous evening for stars and planets… and sleep as well. 

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

With all due modesty, we crushed day one.  We were out of our hotel and on the bus and on the road just after eight.  Out on the highway, our driver Said had the windshield wipers on as the clouds were low and gray and leaking a little rain.  But ninety minutes later, as we passed in to Kilimanjaro National Park at the 6,000 ft Machame Gate, it wasn’t raining.  As is normal, it took a bit of time to get the group registered for the climb and to get the staffing and loads sorted out, but then, at 10:40 we started walking.  Freddy, of our local guide staff, set a “pole pole” pace… nice and slow and steady and we fell into a good rhythm behind him.  James, our lead guide, and Frank, Phillibet, and Naiman brought up the rear.  The trail, which can be muddy and slippery, was actually in pretty good shape today.  The clouds stayed with us for the first half of the day and we got a hint of wet mist and sprinkles before things cleared out a bit in the afternoon.  We could even see our shadows from time to time as the sun came and went.  The team walked well and seemed to have little difficulty with the steady gain in altitude.  We went from hours deep within the rain forest, to a final half hour in a transition to the “Heather and Mooreland” zone and finally walked into Machame Camp at 10,000 ft in a respectable five and a half hours after our start.  Our staff had not only beat us to camp, they’d built the camp.  Everything was perfectly set up and welcoming for our team to move in.  We did afternoon tea with popcorn and then followed that up with one of Chef Tosha’s magnificent dinners.  We spent a few minutes looking up at the night sky before turning in… Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars were putting on a show and the milky way was trying hard to outshine them.

Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Well it took until mid-morning, but we finally had our whole team, with gear, in one place.  Ten climbers and one RMI guide meeting at the hotel in Usa River on the outskirts of Arusha, Tanzania.  Folks are jet-lagged, but today was actually an easy day of discussing the plan of attack, conducting gear checks and getting things packed and ordered for going on the mountain.  That didn’t take the whole day, and so there was plenty of time for napping and strolling the gardens of the Arumeru River Lodge.  Kilimanjaro was visible from the viewing tower on the grounds and was looking magnificent with all of the recent snow up high.  We got together for dinner and talked climbing (naturally) but also chatted about running and biking and careers and pretty places. 
We’ll get on the road in the morning for Kilimanjaro. 

Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

There was plenty of debate last night as to whether the tent fabric of our accommodations at Balloon Camp would keep out leopards and lions.  But nobody showed up for breakfast this morning with visible scarring.  In fact, we each slept quite well in the deep quiet of Tarangire National Park at night.  We got going at first light today, with Francis and Ibrahim taking the Toyotas down by the giant marsh on the Eastern border of Tarangire.  We covered a lot of ground along the edge of the wetlands.  At times, there were no animals apparent and we had to settle for the physical beauty of the place itself.  At other times, we bumped into four hundred skittish Cape Buffalo, galloping along -raising a dust cloud- and looking warily about for whatever might be chasing them.  We saw plenty of good eagles and even a fascinating set of Eagle/Owls -a mom and her offspring- eating their breakfast on a tree branch.  We looked everywhere for big cats but failed miserably at that, having to content ourselves with wall to wall elephants and giraffes, wildebeest and zebra along with majestic baobab trees.  We’d made our way to the main gate of the park by 11:15 AM and had to tear ourselves away from Tarangire and get on the road back toward Arusha.  We stopped at the city’s edge to check out the cultural heritage museum and shop before cruising through Sunday traffic to the Arumeru River Lodge.  There was time then for showers and repacking and a pleasant early dinner before we boarded a bus for the airport.  Most of the team started their journey homeward tonight.  We said fond farewells as we diverged.  I -for one- am sticking around for round 2, another climb and another safari, but that will all begin soon.  For now I’m still thinking of the adventure and the challenges of the past two weeks and the fine team we became in enduring (and enjoying) it all. 

Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We made a couple of stops along the route from the Plantation Lodge in the high country to Tarangire National Park down in the Rift Valley.  We checked out a Maasai village where we saw traditional dances and chanting.  The tribesmen showed us their method for building fire without matches and took us into their small huts to answer questions about the traditions that they follow.  We then drove down to a busy afternoon in Tarangire.  We began seeing elephants, right form the start.  Herds of them… big family groups and gangs of bulls.  Impalas, zebra and gnus were everywhere.  We developed an eye for lilac breasted rollers and for vultures and snake eagles.  Although we roamed over miles and miles of twisty, turny dirt roads, we didn’t see cats today… no lions, no leopards, no cheetahs.  All the animals we did see had no problem whatsoever with the lack of cats though.  As the sun began to sink, we pulled into Balloon Camp where our room assignments were “tent cabins” and where we needed to request an armed escort to get over to the lobby and dining area.  We are still within the park and there aren’t any fences. There is a good deal of natural beauty though.  Just after sunset, we watched “bush television” (a campfire) and gazed up at the Southern Cross and the Milky Way.  Then we laughed through another fine dinner together and got ready for a final night in Africa. 

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn