Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch
March 9, 2008 – Back Down at Mweka Camp
Today is Monday March 9, 2009 and we are now safe and sound at Mweka Camp (10,170 ft/ 3,100 m). We did an 8,200 ft descent from the Crater Camp. The air is thicker down here and it’s a lot warmer!
From inside the crater our team can see
the glaciers that cover Kilimanjaro
We slept a very cold night in the Crater; however, it was an amazing experience sleeping with glaciers all around.
Trevor, who climbed with BBBS last year, had taken a photo of one of the glaciers and noticed that it had a huge fracture line. Julius told us that the fracture line has grown 10 meters in the last year.
After we left Uhuru Peak, our summit, yesterday and made our way down to Crater Camp, the descent was down snow, ice and boulders. Trevor noticed that the glacier has totally crumbled. Julius, who was hired years back by the Ohio University to spend 38 nights in the crater taking samples, told us that this is a true indication that global warming is in effect.
The team is still doing wonderful and going strong. The comments so far has been about finally being nice and warm and relaxing now that our team: John, Karen, Daryl, and Greg, his daughter Julia, Trevor and I had made a successful summit.
We will now enjoy a nice warm sleep and reflect our days that have past. We will have many memories to take with us back home. This is a great group and I feel very privileged to have spent these days with them along with our amazing BAI staff who worked really hard to make our climb even more spectacular.
Down at Mweka Gates we will enjoy a farewell celebratory lunch with our staff and team. Greg and Julia’s family, mother Beverly and sister Hannah, will be meeting us at the gates and then will continue on with us on safari.
Daryl is off to Malawi to do some missionary work, John will be leaving and then joining his family back in Hamilton, Ontario to tell stories of his journey and Trevor will be heading back to Alberta to continue his fund raising efforts for BBBS and the Linde School. The rest of us will be heading off on 6 day safari so stay tuned as our next report will be in the midst of the wildlife in the parks of Tanzania, Africa.