Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

January 30, 2009 – Dwight and Richard Attempt Lava Tower

Hi this is Dwight and Richard checking from Kilimanjaro. Its day five on Kili for us and we now camped at Karanga Camp 13,900 ft., so we are a little lower than we were yesterday.

Stunning views from the base of Lava Tower

This was our most difficult day yet. We experienced many significant altitude changes as we traversed around the mountain to the southeast side. First thing in the morning we climbed to the base of the Lava Tower, our highest point so far. We had hoped to climb it but the access was too icy so we gave it a pass. The Barranco Wall is very challenging; we spent the whole time looking for the next hand holds and footing. You have to stop and remind yourself to take in the stunning views. From the bottom it looks straight up and daunting so we were surprised that it only took us an hour to climb up here.

It was quite warm when we reached camp so we took the opportunity to do a thorough wash which felt great. We decided that the theme for our climb is “Twende mlima” which means “let’s go climb the mountain”.