Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

June 29, 2008 – Back in Arusha – Reflecting on Our Success

Hi, this is John at 3:00pm on Sunday. Ellyn and I have arrived back in Arusha at the beautiful Arusha hotel. We hiked out this morning, descending about 4,500 feet from Mweka Camp to Mweka Gates. It was a pretty big day; we hiked starting at 2:00am until 2:00pm - from summit down to Mweka Camp. Weather was good though, nice and sunny. When we got out of the park today and we were greeted with a huge welcome, a farewell lunch and congratulations. We said goodbye to our great team who helped us up the mountain and now we are on our way to the safari part of our trip.

Hi, it’s Ellyn. We finished arriving down at the gates where you exit, where our team of porters were waiting for us (because they would always go ahead of us). They broke out in song and dance as they walked upwards to meet us and I started crying, I loved dancing with them, it was so much fun!

Let me recap in more detail about our climb up to the summit; we woke up yesterday at 1:00am to an orange moon and after ingesting many bowls of oatmeal, the headlamps went on we were off into the cold night by 2:20 am. Although we left later than the other fellow climbers, in no time we caught up to all of the headlamps in single file ascending up the steep mountain. Within an hour, we realize our camel backs were not working because the water would freeze as it would go through the hose, even though we took measures to insulate it. We saw some climbers from other groups suffering from extreme nausea, pulling off to the side of the trail and some turning back. We continued to ascend slowly but steadily, Julius in front of me, very close and Jamba behind making sure I was ok, and Rodrick our assistant guide, was in the rear carrying oxygen and an ice axe in case of emergencies.

We moved at an amazing pace, trekking as one big group. John was not experiencing altitude sickness at all, he was doing well, feeling strong warm and healthy. At one point the terrain was really steep and it was hard to believe we could be moving so slowly and be so short of breath. After 2.5 hours we stopped for a snack. With the air so cold I dreaded taking my outer mittens off. At this point we were told we had a half hour to Stella Point and other half hour to summit, this was encouraging and exciting news.

From Stella Point the route had some snow and ice. We passed by the rim of Kibo Crater, with climbers on the distant ridgeline, moving ever so slowly in the dark brought cold fresh images to my mind of Everest movies. Climbing in the dark has a unique feeling to it and later you wonder if it was a dream.

We arrived at the summit with congratulations, hugs and flashing cameras. The sun was out now and you could see this magnificent glacier behind us. We made it to summit in less than 4 hours, which is a very uncommon and impressive rate. We turned around to descend, a shortcut route of scree so loose I felt like I was at the beach. It was also quite hot, we peeled off as many layers as possible, our camel backs were now working and we arrived at camp three hours later. We were content but exhausted and celebrated our success with juice and hugs from our proud crew.

We are now at the hotel and it is almost surreal to be back. Good bye for now.