Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch
February 19, 2014 – Bharath and Sheila Stand on the Summit of Kilimanjaro
Well after a very successful climb to the summit and the beautiful views of the glaciers all around us we made it back to our tents just in time for tea before a windstorm started rattling our tents with thunderous sounds overhead. As the wind started whipping I was a little concerned that the tent was going to fly right off the mountain but luckily the huge boulders that the staff kept bringing over to keep our tents in place actually worked. So we went to sleep last night with the wind whipping about us and luckily the tent was intact when we woke up this morning! It was freezing cold like I have never experienced before – I didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag this morning! But a couple of cups of coffees later we started to make our way down and it was a steep descent today, so needless to say our legs are a little bit sore. We are almost at our ending point today and we only have one day left so we are going to cherish every moment because it is almost over. We are excited we made it to the top and Bharath is doing GREAT! And we are looking forward to a nice hot shower when we get down!
Thanks!
Listen to Sheila's call
Later on today:
Hello guys, this is Bharath! It’s February 19th and it 6:10 PM local time. We are at the Mweka Camp – the last camp for the day. It’s been a great journey and this is the last day here. We summited yesterday February 18th at 2:10 PM local time.
This morning we woke up at Stella Point at 5,575m. We had an adventure just to get our tents to stay together because we had very high winds- but it was fun! We are camping tonight at Mweka camp and we will have a bit of a rest. Tomorrow we will go down the mountain and return to our hotel.
Thank you so much for supporting me and praying for me and please continue to do so until I reach Calgary. It’s been a great journey so far, very tiring but fun-filled, very painful but very joyful. This has been a great experience and to everyone in India and in Calgary thank you so much it’s been great. I will be more than happy to meet you in Calgary and speak to you about it. Thank you very much! I hope to see you soon.
Listen to Bharath's call
Listen to Bharath's second call
The storm clouds roll over Kilimanjaro.
Congratulations to Bharath, Sheila and the entire team for making it to the Summit!
The team traversed to Uhuru Peak via Stella Point. Upon return the team got stuck in the storm and spent the night at Stella Point at 18,840 ft (5,742m).