Kilimanjaro: Hahn & Team Summit!
Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling from Barafu Camp. We got back here to Barafu at 10:45 this morning. We were on the summit on Uhuru the highest point in Africa. The highest point on Kilimanjaro at 7:35 this morning. It was a little too busy up there this morning to give a call, but now we are catching up. We are back down at high camp. We're going to finish the day down at Mweka. I will send you a full dispatch then, but everybody is happy and healthy and we got 10 out of 11 to the summit this morning! So it was a good day with lots of great help from our local staff here.
Thanks. I'll catch you up later.
Sunday, September 24, 2017 10:12am PST
As promised, a dispatch from Mweka Camp -near 10,000 ft- at the end of our summit day. We set out for the top at 12:35 AM under clear and starry skies. It was a windless night, which is always a plus when climbing in the cold. Initially we encountered a few other teams starting out of camp, but within an hour or so, we'd put a fair bit of distance between the teams and so had the route pretty much to ourselves. As we gained altitude and got closer to dawn, things got plenty cold -as expected. We kept our rest breaks short and business like and tried to move steadily. Most reached the point of having all of their cold weather clothing on at once. It was just getting light enough to see as we reached Stella Point on the crater rim. The sunrise was eagerly anticipated and hit us as we made the walk along the rim to Uhuru -Kilimanjaro's highest point. By the time we hit the summit at 7:35, things had warmed up nicely. We spent a half hour on top, checking out the glaciers and the immensity of the crater. We didn't have big views as an upper level layer of cloud had formed just below the mountain top. Descent to Barafu Camp took us just under 3 hours. A great mid morning meal in the mess tent helped fortify the team for the continued three hour descent to Mweka Camp, which we reached at 3:45 PM.
All in all, it was a pretty exciting day. We discovered just what it takes to climb above 19,000 feet and to the highest point in Africa. We were pleased to be both capable and lucky...and to have the friendship and help of six amazing Kilimanjaro guides; Patric, Freddy, Naiman, John, Fillbrit, and Happyson made our climb memorable and successful in a hundred positive ways.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Dave Hahn calling to Report a Successful Summit of Kilimanjaro.
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Comments (2)
Congratulations! How wonderful. The sights must have been fantastic. Best of luck on descent.
Sheila and Jim
Posted by: Sheila and Jim on
Congratulations to all! Loved following along with the expedition dispatches!
Posted by: Steph on