Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch
August 12, 2014 – Summit Day Recap
It’s 4:30 in the afternoon and we’ve reached Mweka Camp at 10,800 feet at the top of the forest. This is our last night camping on Kilimanjaro.
We hope you enjoy these photographs that we were able to send from the summit climb yesterday. It was really a great summit day. The team was strong, we had our ups and downs but it’s a challenging climb and we made it to the summit.
Last night’s overnight in the crater went really well, one of the best nights in the crater I’ve ever had. Everyone slept and rested well and the food was great. We woke to a beautiful spot this morning being at 18,700 feet above sea level.
A special thing today is Hugo’s 25th wedding anniversary. He called Isabella, his wife in Brazil, a couple of hours ago when we had a good signal. We are proud of Hugo’s accomplishments. We didn’t mention that after we returned to the crater camp yesterday he and Sumari, the guide, walked more than 2 km across the crater and ascended up to the ash pit to look down into the cone where Kibo last erupted. Hugo has had a great trip but he is very aware of the support from Isabella and the kids back home, a part of what makes it happen. He is very proud of his accomplishment and I know he misses them. We are all thanking Isabella, his amazing wife, for supporting her husband’s goal to climb Kilimanjaro on their 25th wedding anniversary.
Tomorrow we are walking off the mountain, it is still a ways to go. We have another 5,000 feet or so to descend. But we are enjoying our last hours and our one final night here with our staff.
We are really proud of all the great accomplishments of the entire Berg Adventures teams on Kilimanjaro this year.