Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

January 30, 2009 – Arriving at Lava Tower

Hello this is Dwight calling from Kilimanjaro, reporting on the last two days. Day three on Kili was a four and a half hour hike. We woke to a crystal clear morning to get a photo of Kili before the sun came up directly behind the peak. There was fresh snow down at the transition area; frost was on the ground and frozen rain on the tents. Ten minutes after the sun came up over the mountain, all traces of snow and ice were gone.

The first third of the hike was flat across the Shira plateau. We made good time. We passed two groups, one of them was 12 climbers and one guide. Our group stopped at the Scott Fisher memorial camp ground for lunch, we had fried chicken, french fries and mixed veggies.

The group of 12 showed up behind us and they were lost as they were looking for a completely different route. We sent them back to where they needed to go.

In the afternoon we made it to Moore hut and saw interesting rock formations with slate floated up by magma, mixtures of mud and ash which was modified by recent glacial activities. We then camped beside a lateral moraine. We even found partial elephant bones at Moore camp. Very sheltered there, with no wind.

We lost most of our vegetation early on. Now it really looks like a moonscape (just a few remaining tuffs of grass in sheltered spots). We are now camped at the Lava Tower which we planned to climb this afternoon, just for fun, but the clouds and fog moved in so we were not able to go.

Two of our porters were slightly sick with AMS (acute mountain sickness) but they are better now. We checked our levels of oxygen saturation and everything looks good. We are doing well, we will report soon.