Keg Spirit Foundation Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

August 15, 2010 – It's Uhuru Peak or Bust! It's Summit Day!!

We woke up in Kibo Crater with one thing on our minds - reaching Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and the highest point in Africa. To be sure, the scene and temperature in the Crater were hard to ignore, but that was not something we could let distract us. We had a quick breakfast with little chatter and set out up the inner wall of Kibo Crater.

Almost three hours later, I had the pleasure, the honor, and the satisfaction to announce in front of my brothers in this adventure: "It's 11:13 on Sunday, August 15, 2010 at Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and the highest point in Africa. And it's time to get the Led out!!". With that, we had some hugs and handshakes and did a bit of a dance to 'Misty Mountain Hop', followed by 'Stairway to Heaven'. All ten of us had made it to the summit; we had taken on a challenge and succeeded. What an incredible moment for all of us; a moment none of us will ever forget with friends we will never forget.

But the hard reality of the situation is that we were only at the beginning of a long day with much difficult work still ahead of us - for another ten hours as it turned out. We traversed across the crater rim back to Stella Point and then began a long and painful descent. Suffice to say there is no spring left in anyone's step after that day's work! But we all made it down until the end and had our last excellent dinner on Kilimanjaro at the Mweka Camp, even if we didn't sit down until nearly 10:00!

Sleep was as welcome as it has ever been, and knowing that our Kilimanjaro Climb had come to such a successful conclusion made for sweet dreams indeed!

But tomorrow is another day, and we still need to get off the mountain. Please stay tuned until the end of our adventure.

– By David Aisenstat