Philmont Staff Association and Friends Kilimanjaro Climb and Safari Dispatch

June 20, 2011 – Summit Success for Everyone!

I am very happy to be calling from the summit of Kibo, the highest point on Kilimanjaro and the highest point in Africa. At 3:30 this afternoon, everybody in the group successfully reached the top. We are having a wonderful celebration up here. Lots f photographs, lots of hugs, lots of congratulations. We had a very good climb this morning – very challenging with 3000ft elevation gain from our camp at Stella Point. We had a late lunch and the weather was good, so we decided let’s head to the summit today.

Speaking of photographs, we’ve got lots of terrific ones that will be on their way to the website very soon. Now we will head to our camp in the crater floor and have a big celebratory dinner and a good night’s sleep. Everyone has certainly earned it. For now, from the top of Africa, from the entire group – every last person –we are very happy to be here. Congratulations to all of us and thank you for all of your support.

Beautiful glaciers line the path to the summit

The walk was hard and we were getting tired, but it was all worth it.

Reaching Stella Point with just 300 ft to go

We made it!