Entries from Kilimanjaro

Jambo from Safari Day One.  We left the Rivertrees Inn just past 7:30 this morning with our safari guides (and drivers) Simon and Nixon.  It took nearly an hour to break free of the big city of Arusha and to get traveling through the arid countryside to the west.  Before long we were seeing herds of cattle tended by Maasai in their distinctive tartan blankets.  We peppered our guides with questions about Tanzanian history, society and life in general.  By the time we reached Lake Manyara at 11 AM we were considerably smarter.  We entered the forest and the National Park all at once and began looking for wildlife.  Monkeys and Baboons were first up.  We began to see some great birds as well.  There weren’t great numbers of animals but eventually we were finding elephants, giraffes and Cape buffalo.  Simon and Nixon were clearly on a mission following our picnic lunch.  They were chasing clues that took us farther and farther into the park, basically a strip of forest between the gigantic lake and a steep escarpment of the Great Rift Valley.  Finally, we hit a small jackpot.   There were a family of elephants on one side of the dirt road we sat on -and three lions lounging amid trees on the other side.  About a hundred feet separated these two factions of the “big five” (and we were directly between them).  The lions (a big male and two females) were napping, but it was the kind of napping where they put their heads up to watch every move the elephants made.   Eventually we bid them goodbye as it was getting a little late and we had some distance to go to reach the town of Karatu and The Plantation Lodge hidden away back in the farmland.  We pulled in just before 7PM and quickly made ourselves at home.  Tomorrow we’ll get an early start on our journey into Ngorongoro Crater. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

More than a few of us got up this morning saying we’d slept better than on any other night on the mountain. 

Mweka Camp was calm and quiet… except for the now familiar sounds of our kitchen crew going to work to get breakfast on.  We enjoyed one last meal on the mountain and then threw packs on for the final walk down.  We needed to get rid of four thousand feet of elevation.  Almost immediately, we were into the rain forest and the trail was slick and a little treacherous as a result.  We picked our way carefully down muddy stairs as porters from various expeditions ran at full speed a few inches to one side of our team. We reached the Mweka Gate at 11:15 a.m. and signed out with the Kilimanjaro National Park.  A short bus ride took us to our celebration lunch hosted by our fabulous mountain staff. They sang a few traditional songs and got our gang dancing.  We took the opportunity to distribute tips and thank the entire team of hard working men. 

A two hour bus ride got us back to Rivertrees Inn and showers and fresh clothing.  We relaxed and started the process of shifting gears from climbing to safari-going. 

We’ll head out first thing tomorrow to see what we can see at Lake Manyara. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn and team

We reached Mweka Camp at 2:50 PM to finish our 16-hour climbing day. 

The “day” began last night at 11 PM when we woke for our summit bid.  After a little breakfast, at 12:05 AM we hit the trail behind Naiman - our lead guide. 

Our team made rapid progress, passing several other teams on the dirt and rock switchbacks.  It was a fairly cold night, and that was before the winds started up.  By our second rest break, a few hours into the climb we were adding clothing layers and putting on bigger gloves.  By our fourth break, most of the team had all available clothing on.  We hit the crater rim at Stella Point by 5:40 AM and took just a brief pause there for food and water before pushing on toward Uhuru - Kilimanjaro’s summit.  The light of day came slowly and beautifully on as we walked on the rim at 19,000 ft.  Sunrise was most welcome at 6:30 but by then our attention was on the phenomenal shadow cast by Kilimanjaro in the skies to the west… exactly over the summit of 15,000 ft Mt Meru.  

We hit Uhuru at 6:40 AM and shed a few tears, shook hands, hugged, and snapped photos.  It was an amazingly beautiful time of day.  But it was also bitterly cold and windy, so we got out of there at 6:55 and headed back to Stella without delay.  Winds were really picking up at Stella then and putting a lot of dirt and dust in the air, so we cruised right on over the edge and started dropping altitude.  The descent was a combination of careful steps and full-on boot skiing through steep gravel and pumice. 

We were back to camp at a respectable hour 9:40 AM, rubbing our eyes and wiping dirt and dust off our faces.  Our fabulous staff treated the team to a full brunch/lunch of 15,000 ft pizza and coffee, after which we left camp bound for Mweka - 5000 ft lower.  The trail down is direct and rough, we certainly were cautious and ready to be done for much of it. 

Now it is a relief to be camped in the forest for one more night.  The air has moisture again… and oxygen in abundance. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & team

Yet another perfect weather day, calm and sunny… clear above and cloudy below. We ate breakfast in Karanga Camp and then said a temporary goodbye to two of our climbers.  John Bobbitt aggravated an old knee injury and Erika Bobbitt wanted to make sure he got down safely.  They set off for the Mweka Gate of the park as we set off for high camp at 8:30 AM. In an easy three hours, we had climbed the 2000’ vertical feet up to Barafu and begun to settle in.  From 15,100 ft, we now had unobstructed views of our climbing route to the top.

The afternoon was taken up with resting and getting our gear and clothing ready for our planned alpine start. Chef Benson’s fine spaghetti dinner was served early so that we could get to bed just before sunset. We want as much rest as we can get before our 11:15 PM wake-up time.

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Greetings from 13,150 ft in Karanga Camp on Kilimanjaro.  The team started the day in the garden-like Barranco Camp below the great rock wall of the same name.  It was a perfect weather day right from the outset.  There were no winds and no upper level clouds although the lower sea of clouds continued to hide the rest of the world from our view.  We got moving toward the Barranco Wall just aft 8:30 AM.  The lower third of the lava wall is a set of ledges that tend to get one’s attention.  Both hands are needed on the rock holds and the feet need to be carefully placed as we move from ledge to ledge.  It all gets a little more exciting as several hundred porters (from our own team as well as from the numerous surrounding teams) attempt to politely squeeze by with awkward and heavy loads balanced on their heads.  The wall relents in its middle sections and turns into steep switchbacks with occasional odd steps.  At the top, we were back to hands on rock to get over the final escarpments.  All told it took us about two hours to get on top of the wall.  It was a great feeling to pull onto the flat and have unimpeded views of Kibo’s cliffs and ice fields above.  We then moved down and East across several shallow valleys before we crossed a deep and steep sided one -the Karanga Valley- to reach our camp on the opposite rim.  It took roughly four hours to reach Karanga.  We were just in time for lunch and an afternoon snooze.  After dinner we stared up at the Milky Way and the southern cross and Kibo glowing in the moonlight. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

When 6:30 rolled around this morning, the clouds were all gone at Shira Camp.  Kibo stood out clear as a bell and so did Meru, the 15,000 ft volcano to our west.  There was still a sea of clouds down below, but they were well below our lofty 12,500 ft camp.  We were walking uphill by 8:30, straight toward Kibo.  It was an easy day for climbing with gentle breezes to keep us cool.  The trail was easier than those we’ve experienced so far and we made good and steady progress.  We reached the Lava Tower at around 12:30 PM and sat down at 15,200 ft for a leisurely lunch in the sun.  Our nine climbers had each broken their personal altitude records.  It was amazing to be so close under Kibo’s gigantic rock and ice faces.   Finally we geared up and started walking down.  We came gradually back into the zones where plants live and then it was wonderful to stroll down through the gardens of Barranco with Giant Senecios and lobelias and Heather.   We made it to camp at 3:30 and ducked into the dining tent for coffee and popcorn.  Coming into camp it was hard not to look over at the Barranco wall and wonder about tomorrow’s climb.  But the beauty of Kibo at sunset and the amazing stars that came out a bit later helped to settle our minds on the present.  We’ll worry about the wall tomorrow. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We got out of the tents at 6:30 this morning to find the clouds had returned. It was still calm though and not terribly cold at our 10,000 ft camp. We ate breakfast and hit the trail shortly after 8 AM. The trail was a good deal more rugged than yesterday’s with about a million rocky steps to negotiate as we steadily gained altitude through the giant heather forest. The morning rush hour was something to see, with porters from a half dozen expeditions charging up the path all at once. “Traffic” normalized after a few hours and the angle eased as we reached a ridge crest.

We found ourselves above the clouds once more as we moved along the ridge toward Kibo -which was not only visible again, but a good deal closer than it had been at our last glimpse. We made a big left turn to the North and began the traverse out toward Shira. The terrain got more interesting as we needed our hands on rock to pass a number of ledges.  The vegetation changed as we closed in on 12,800 ft -our high point for the day- we saw more giant senecios and lobelias as things got higher and drier.

Finally, we turned the corner onto the Shira Plateau and began walking downhill toward camp. We pulled in at about 2 PM… just in time for lunch and an afternoon nap. By dinner at 12,500 ft, things had cooled considerably and many of us had several warm clothing layers on for stargazing before bed.

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

After so many days of preparation and travel and anticipation, what a thrill it was to finally be walking uphill.  We left our comfortable hotel at 8 AM in a bus headed east.  We’d reached the Kilimanjaro National Park entrance by 10 AM and after a further hour of getting organized and registered with the park, we were off.  It was raining lightly when we left our hotel, but it was merely cloudy and damp when we got walking through the big trees at the start of the Machame route. Moss was thriving and hanging from every branch and tree trunk and the trail was a little greasy under foot.  Before long, we were steadily gaining altitude.  The bus had taken us to 6000 ft and our goal for the day, Machame Camp, sat at 10,000 ft, so it was always going to be a tough workout.  It was certainly tougher for our staff as they raced uphill with far heavier loads than we were carrying.  We took short breaks every 90 minutes or so in order to eat and drink and by a little after 4 PM, the trees were getting smaller, the clouds were thinning and magically, our camp appeared… right where we’d hoped to find it.   The crew had built us a wonderful home and we simply needed to move in.  We sat in our dining tent for an afternoon snack and then, just before dinner, the clouds cleared enough to give our first magical views of Kibo -Kilimanjaro’s central peak- shining in the last rays of the sun nine thousand feet above us.   Dinner was excellent and by 8 PM we were crawling into our tents and heading for bed… pleasantly tired and ready for a night with perhaps a little less jet lag. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Today was an easy day at the Rivertrees Hotel on the outskirts of Arusha.

The team met after breakfast to get into the details of our Kilimanjaro climb. We discussed staffing and itineraries and what gear gets used when. We talked about getting to the mountain and getting away from it and everything in between. We talked about packing and sorting gear and then we broke up the meeting in order to pack and sort.

Gear checks were performed back in the hotel rooms and then the gang had much of the afternoon to relax and work through jet lag.

We gathered for dinner outside on the patio and then drifted off to rest for our big first day of climbing.

Best Regards,

Dave Hahn

Wow.  We did it.  Against all odds, the team made it clear over to East Africa without missed or canceled flights and without losing luggage. 

We’re assembled here in USA River, Tanzania (on the outskirts of Arusha) and ready to begin our Kilimanjaro adventure.  Some of the team used the day to explore the town, some were still en route and some of us just napped… trying to work out the jet lag.  But we came together for a pleasant dinner in the garden-like setting of the Rivertrees Hotel.  Most chose to wear sweaters, finding the cool temps a pleasant change from the various heat waves plaguing the States these days.  The nine team members simply enjoyed each other’s company this evening…  tomorrow morning we’ll begin the business of prepping for a week of climbing Africa’s highest mountain. 

Best Regards, 

Dave Hahn