Entries By dave hahn

We had it pretty good on the mountain... but it sure was nice to sleep in beds last night and to take showers this morning. We breakfasted at the Arumeru River Lodge and then hit the road at 8 AM with our drivers/naturalists/guides Francis and Michael. We didn’t do too badly in the rush hour traffic skirting Arusha. Before very long we were out in open and dry country, pushing west into lands dominated by the Maasai tribes. We saw plenty of cattle herds being brought to or from water by Maasai herdsmen in their distinctive Tartan blankets. We reached Lake Manyara National Park a little before midday and popped the tops of our two stretch Landcruisers. We then stood with our heads and cameras out the roofs of the vehicles, looking for what might be hiding. We found monkeys and baboons, of course. But also Cape Buffalo and Elephant families and a hippopotamus momma and child lounging in water lilies a few feet from the road. There were hundreds of exotic birds for Keith, there were distant giraffes for Guillaume. We got a little used to seeing wildebeest and zebra and impala. We looked up in the branches of every tree we came to, searching for lions, but they weren’t available today. As the afternoon went along, the animals -and our expeditioners- got sleepy and so Michael and Francis pointed the Landcruisers toward the cushy Plantation Lodge. We sipped sundowners while watching the sun go down, dipped in the pool and generally lived the good life in this perfectly laid out compound of accommodations and gardens. We got together for a fine dinner -with many noting that it was almost as good as Tosha’s 15,000 ft fare- and we hatched plans for a pre-dawn start in the morning. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

After such a massive and intensely challenging day as our summit bid, today was cruiser... and downhill cruising at that. We woke at 6 AM in the forest, commenting to one another that 10,000 feet was sure an easier altitude for sleeping than 15,000. We enjoyed one last excellent breakfast on the mountain and came out into the morning sunshine for the "gratitude ceremony". Our entire fifty-man staff assembled and began singing. They danced and clapped through the Jambo song, and the Bomba song, then assistant cook Benson took them -laughing- through the Churra song. The laughing became uncontrollable when Peter showed his Minnesota dance moves. Then we did a few small speeches and handed gratuities to each of the staff along with handshakes and “Asante Sanas”. We thanked them very much for helping and befriending us. Minutes later, at 8 AM, we were on the trail and heading down into the rain forest. It took just a few hours to walk carefully down the four thousand vertical feet of slippery trail past some giant trees and a few Colobus monkeys. We shared the track with porters from a number of other expeditions, running at top speed with big loads balanced on their heads. Everybody was ready for the finish. The gang assembled for a final group picture at the Mweka Gate trail sign around 11 AM. Then we dutifully lined up to sign the park service ledger and loaded onto our bus for a short ride to a picnic area. Tosha and our camp waiters, John, Alfredy and Damien, served us an excellent lunch out in the strong sunshine. We said our goodbyes and got on the bus for the big (2.5 hour) ride through the Tanzanian countryside back to Usa River and our lodge. Folks were understandably ready for showers and internet and an easy afternoon of getting ready for Safari. We celebrated over a victory dinner, outside with the monkeys and Dik Diks. The Arumeru staff honored the team with a surprise cake and a song. Finally, we did our toasts and our goodbyes to Joe, who’ll be winging his way home tomorrow while we continue the adventure. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We’re down at Mweka Camp, in the trees at close to 10,000 ft. A long way from this morning’s summit. And an even greater leap from where we started the day at Barafu Camp. We actually started the day yesterday -at 11:30 PM. As usual, we didn’t all get great sleep ahead of the summit bid. Those of us lying awake in our pitch black tent interiors got to listen to persistent rain showers rattling on our shelters. When the alarms went off and we got outside, we found ourselves in a wet cloud... but very near the top of it since we could see stars overhead. We ate our midnight “breakfast” and got walking behind Naiman at 12:35 AM. The clouds washed in and out at our level a few more times in that first hour of climbing, but ultimately we got above it all and had a fabulous night for stars. The moon came up as a perfectly oriented smile on the horizon. We had no ability to capture the image, so it was just something to enjoy thoroughly in the moment as we trudged in line up the rough rock path. As expected, life got colder as we climbed higher. We took short rest breaks and put on every stitch of clothing we had. The sun finally came up once we were hitting 18,000 ft and life got easier (and more beautiful) as we reached the crater rim at Stella Pt by 7:05 AM. The walk along the crater to Uhuru was amazing. Rain in the area had cleared the ever-present haze and so we could see a good chunk of Tanzania that normally stays hidden from above. We hit Uhuru at 8 AM and our timing was excellent. We had the top to ourselves -another rarity- which we took full advantage of. Twenty five minutes later we were headed downhill. The descent was smooth and we made fine progress (with ample help from our amazing staff). We got back to High Camp at 11 AM. Tosha cooked us up a great “brunch” which fortified us for packing and bailing out of high camp by 12:40. The descent to Mweka was mostly in murky cloud, and it must be admitted that we all just wanted it to be done, the trail is rocky and requires a ton of concentration (tough to come by 15 hours into a summit day). We rolled in just after 4 PM and the fine camp waiting for us made every inch of the descent worth it. This will be our last night on the mountain... it seems likely that nobody will have trouble sleeping. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

The weather changed overnight. It was still perfectly calm and reasonable at Karanga Camp this morning, but the upper mountain was caught in a cloud cap and we could see there’d been a dusting of new snow from about 16,000 ft up. Some of our team reported being aware of a short-lived shower of some sort rattling on the tents in the darkness. We went for the same lazy start as yesterday because today’s expected time on the trail was even less. At 9 AM Naiman led the team upward on gently sloping, wide open terrain. The vegetation didn’t last very long, in fact it was mostly played out by our first rest break at 14,000 ft. We were under cloud for a good chunk of the walk (with the usual solid cloud layer forming a floor below us) but conditions weren’t bad at all for walking. Things steepened some just before we reached camp, but our now seasoned team of ten tough climbers just chugged right on up without much trouble, arriving at 15,200 ft Barafu Camp at 12:15 PM. The altitude didn’t seem to give Tosha, our chef, any problems, he put out a fine lunch at 1:30. In a sign that they are all doing quite well, our team ate every last bit of that fine lunch. The afternoon was spent resting and prepping to climb. We’re headed for an early dinner and an early bedtime, although it might be tough to take our eyes off the sunset. We’ll be getting up early (or more properly -late tonight) There is a mountain to climb! Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

It was sleep-in day at Barranco Camp. We didn’t start slurping coffee until 7:30 this morning and breakfast at 8:00 was a leisurely affair. There were several good reasons for going slow and dragging feet. Barranco Camp is a beautiful place and absolutely worth spending a little more quality time in. But strategy-wise, we wanted to give neighboring teams and their associated porters the chance to get out ahead of us and to clear the tricky ledges and scrambly bits of the Great Barranco Wall before we committed to it. Secondarily, we knew we didn’t have a long way to go to reach Karanga Camp. So it was 9:40 before we put on our packs and followed Gama to the start of the wall. The strategy worked... while we didn’t exactly have the track to ourselves, there weren’t any big bottlenecks or traffic jams and we were able to figure out the tricky rock moves without much pressure or stress. In truth, the great majority of the “wall” is just walking or careful walking. And we did all of that well. We gained about 900 feet in elevation and popped out on top of the wall to easy terrain and gorgeous views of Kibo and the rest of the world. As usual, the rest of the world -with a few exceptions- was under the sea of white cloud lapping at the slopes of the mountain a thousand feet below. We had tea and snacks at that 13,900 ft high point and then carried on traversing to the east. After another hour we’d reached the steep walled Karanga Valley. Our camp sat on the opposite rim, so we dropped down a dusty trail to the valley floor and marched up the opposing flank to our home for the night. Karanga Camp is at virtually the same altitude we slept at last night -13,000 ft, so we hope to solidify our acclimatization before moving higher tomorrow. We made it here in four hours,allowing plenty of time for rest, for kite flying, and for more of Tosha’s great cooking. Best Regards Dave Hahn

Our night at Shira was calm and quiet and not terribly cold. There wasn’t much frost on the tents at 6:30 AM when we rolled out of bed. Mt Meru -our 15,000 ft volcanic neighbor to the West- was standing proudly on the horizon above low clouds. Kibo was cloud-free above us. After the usual deluxe breakfast, we set out around 8:15 for higher places. Walking was easier than yesterday as the altitude gain was more gradual and the terrain much more open and broad. The vegetation -at first- was like a high chaparral mesa in the American West, but as we climbed toward the base of Kibo, the vegetation played out to just a few simple grasses. Within a couple of hours, we’d broken altitude records for half the group as we passed 14,000 and ultimately 15,000 ft on our way to the “Lava Tower” at 15,200 ft. The upper sky stayed largely free of clouds as we reached our high point at the tower. Our fabulous staff had a picnic lunch waiting for us. We lounged about in the strong sunshine until 1 PM before throwing on packs again for the descent toward Barranco Camp. There were a few steeper spots that required full attention on the walk down, but much of our afternoon was on easier grades that allowed for sightseeing. There were lava caves and waterfalls and groves of scenecios and lobelias. Up above was the gigantic and precipitous south face of Kibo with snow and ice fields clinging improbably to the mountain. Near 3 PM we cruised into another expertly constructed camp -this one at 13,000 ft below the Great Barranco Wall. Then we got into our familiar afternoon pattern, snack, drink water, nap, stare in wonder at the beauty around us. By nightfall, the stars above were outrageous and some of the lights from Moshi were showing through the clouds below to complete the magical scene. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

We did get a peek at Kilimanjaro this morning before breakfast. The glaciers and icefields were seemingly hanging at impossible angles on Kibo’s flanks. But since -at Machame Camp- we were just in the top layer of a sea of clouds, the views didn’t last too long before we were within the soup again. Nieman introduced our Barking Zebra staff after breakfast -we are supported by fifty men- and then we were treated to a couple of songs as everybody danced and clapped along. Then it was time to get walking at 8:30 AM. Immediately out of camp, the trail got a little more difficult than what we’d encountered yesterday. The trail became a series of rock steps, like a giant stairmaster up through a corridor of giant heather that became a little less giant as we got higher. Eventually we ended up walking along a ridgeline above the clouds. We had great views of Kibo (Kilimanjaro’s central peak) and could look around as the vegetation changed with increasing altitude. Large white-necked ravens flew acrobatic and aerobatic maneuvers in the thermals around us. We began turning to the north and climbed a few small rock walls to get out to the Shira Plateau -west of Kibo. From this 13,000 ft high point for the day, we then had an easy walk down to our camp at 12,600 ft. It took us five hours on the trail, which meant we had most of the afternoon to lounge about in Shira Camp, getting used to the altitude, stocking up on food and water. The clouds came back over in late afternoon, depriving us of a much anticipated sunset, but when we came out of the dining tent after dinner, things had cleared and we had world class views of the night sky. The Southern Cross, the Milky Way, Jupiter and Saturn were all easily visible and making it tough to get inside our sleeping tents for the night. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Greetings from 10,000 ft on the flanks of Kilimanjaro. My team hasn’t actually seen Mt Kilimanjaro yet, they are taking it on faith that there is a big volcano hidden somewhere in the clouds. From the Arumeru River Lodge at 7 AM breakfast, there was no sign of the mountain and we didn’t get even a hint of a sighting during our 1.5 hour drive to the Machame Gate of the National Park. Along the highway and under the clouds, there was plenty to see. We watched Tanzanian kids going off to school and their parents heading off to work. We saw people laboring in corn fields and vegetable gardens. We watched plenty of buses and taxis stopping to let folks on or off. As the road steepened closer to the mountain, people were tending to banana groves and coffee plants. The park gate itself was a busy place as trucks and buses unloaded and porters were issued loads and signed up for their week of hard work. We got signed in with the National Park and were issued our permit. At 10:20 AM it was finally -after months of planning and training and after days of travel, packing and prepping- time to start walking. Our local guide staff, Naiman as leader, Freddy and Philibet, Jorome and Gamma led us up a road into the big trees. The road became a trail after 30 minutes and the trail eventually started going uphill steadily. It was all made slightly easier by the cloud cover keeping the sun off of us. In fact it was a perfect temperature for walking. We came up 4000 vertical feet in five hours, which included a few lunch/rest breaks. In the process we got out of the big, lush forest and into the “giant heather” of the Moorland vegetation zone. The team took it all in stride -so to speak- and we pulled into Machame Camp close to 3:30. We were pleased and surprised to see the fine camp our staff had already built while we hiked. Our sleeping tents were ready for us to move into and a snack and hot drinks were waiting for us in the dining tent. There was time for a welcome rest between tea and our 6:30 dinner. Chef Tosha came into the tent as darkness fell and dinner was served to greet the team and introduce his assistant cooks and wait staff. We were amazed and pleased to have such a fine meal halfway up a mountain... assuming again that we really are on a mountain. Maybe we’ll see it tomorrow. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

This was our prep day for Kilimanjaro. We got started with introductions and itineraries at 9 AM in the hotel "boma" -the meeting place. There was plenty to cover regarding what to expect on the climb and how we’d tackle various challenges along the way. We followed the meeting up with equipment checks and packing... and lunch on the outside patio of the dining area. After lunch all that remained was to weigh the bags and to catch up on some rest. Some chose to walk the garden-like grounds of the hotel, checking out the Dik Dik (smallest of the antelope family) population and the vervet monkey troupe that came to visit. We didn’t get a view of Kilimanjaro itself today although our morning overcast eventually broke up... things stayed murky to the north and east. We enjoyed dinner on the patio to finish the day and turned in by around 9 to get plenty of rest for the start of our adventure. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Wonder of wonders, all ten climbers made it through to Tanzania and Kilimanjaro International Airport without missing flights or losing baggage. We’ve got the team assembled at the Arumeru River Lodge on the outskirts of Arusha...folks have eaten dinner and are now attempting to sleep away some of their jet lag. In the morning we’ll meet to get into the nuts and bolts of preparing for a Kilimanjaro climb. Best Regards, Dave Hahn