We were supposed to camp in the Crater on Day 6, however due to the 3 feet of snow in the Crater we decided against that. We did not feel it was necessary to injure any of our group, guides or porters. Plus I think most of us would have been miserable anyhow.
We left camp at 6:15 am and headed up the mountain. This part was by the far the most challenging, painful and hot. Boy is the sun strong at that elevation, especially when it is reflects off snow. We moved pole, pole (slowly, slowly) up the steep area. Once we finally got to Stella Point (19,000 ft) which was the edge of the Crater we enjoyed a great lunch before knocking off the remaining 340 feet to the summit. We all needed the rest and food and got pretty excited when we could see the sign. It was amazing to finally be there after all we had been through. Our guides and the porters that made the summit with us sang and danced for us and we spent about 20 minutes taking pictures.
Because of all the snow on the mountain we were able to take the express route down - glacading. Similar to sledding minus the sled and your brakes are your feet or your trekking pole. That was so much fun. I got such a kick out of our guides and porters, most of which, had never done or seen such a thing. It took them a little bit to get the courage up to try but once they caught on they had a blast. It took us 6 hours to get up the mountain and only 2 to get down. How great is that. We stopped at "snowman" camp and had a snack and continued another 2+ hours down to Millennium camp. We were so glad to camp there, rather than in the snow.
We woke up the next morning and hiked out through the rain forest and drove back to Arusha. Because of not spending the night in the Crater we had an extra day in town before we head out for safari tomorrow morning. We enjoyed the day catching up on journaling, emails, playing cards, laying in the sun at the pool and recuperating our sore muscles.
In summary, climbing Kilimanjaro was the hardest thing I have ever done. I am so thankful we chose the company that we did as our guides, they are amazing. We could not have done it without them. It amazes me what the human body is capable of doing. Since our trek is nothing like what it was supposed to be, as you cannot control the weather, maybe someday I will come back and do it again to see what it is supposed to be like.
Time to go pack up for safari. Not sure when I will post again, but hope you enjoyed reading the summary. Hope this finds everyone well.
4 comments:
Wow, this sounds like such an amazing adventure. I am so proud of all of you!
Great to hear from you, and glad you made it up and down safely and had such a great time!
Hope you have enjoyed the safari and saw lots of animals. You dad and I will be anxious to hear about your travels and see pictures.
We are going to be in the Cities on the 13th. We are going to call Cory and see if he will be around the night of the 13th and day of the 14th. If he is, we would bring Paige and Kona home at that time and stay over with Jerry and Georgeann. Would that be ok with you? Let us know.
They have done very well but, I think, are missing their mom and dad!
Sounds like a great time! And I'm so glad you used pole, pole, too. I love that phrase!!!
Post a Comment