Trip Reports

Kilimanjaro - Western Breach 16 to 27 Sep'17

Written by Leader, October 2017

Having met the team in Amsterdam airport, with the exception of Vanessa who was already in Africa, we flew onto Tanzania along with Mark Hendry and a Lemosho Glades team.

After the long and tiring flight we finally slept at the Keys Hotel in Moshi at around midnight. Early the next morning we met up with our guides Bossco, Clemence and Thomas (one of a few Tanzanian mountain guides who has summitted Everest). We drove to Mt Meru and started our ascent stopping at the Miriakamba Hut for the first night.

After a good night's sleep we woke up to a good day and continued our climb to the Saddle Hut. After some rest we climbed little Meru in about an hour. After good views and pictures we descended to the hut for a few hours sleep.

Waking at about midnight we left for our summit push at 1 am. Steady walking found us at Rhino Point in about an hour, from there we continued along the ridge with the odd scrambling move or two to the summit, arriving at 7:20 in the morning. The final team members reached the top at 8 o'clock for a great view of the African plains and the Meru crater below. All the team felt satisfied to be on the summit together.

We packed up and continued our descent to Miriakamba Hut, spending the night on the mountain. Despite heavy rain the next day the weather was OK and we were treated to be able to see Giraffe on our exit from the park. It was a quick trip back to the Keys Hotel for a shower and a good night's sleep and for some, to catch up on emails etc.

Thursday saw us start our ascent of Kilimanjaro. The first day is through the tropical rainforest, which was a damp experience although it didn't actually rain. Forest camp is situated on a hillside deep in the forest. We slept well and then the next day continued our ascent through the giant Heather zone onto the ridge and to the great Baranco Camp at 3,900m. We stayed here for two nights.

I went with Thomas to recce the Western Breach which did look good and was almost devoid of snow, while the rest of the team had an hour and a half acclimatisation trek and then a good rest before the next stage of the trip.

Back at the Baranco Camp we rested and prepared for the ascent the next day. In a little under four hours we climbed to Arrow Glacier Camp where we acclimatised and prepared ourselves for a 12 o'clock wake up call for our summit day.

As always most people wake up before the alarm call. We were away a few minutes after 1am. A slow but steady pace was maintained on this fantastically exciting scramble, which, despite the darkness, we could see some of the route. At 5 o'clock in the morning it's always the coldest part of the trip. Many members were feeling a bit chilled but we eventually arrived at the crater rim at 7.30am. After being warmed up by the morning sun we continued the ascent and arrived on the summit of Africa at 9.30am in near perfect conditions. The descent back down via the Stella Point went on and on, but eventually after 14 hours on the mountain we arrived at the Millennium Camp for a good feed and sleep.

The following day our descent continued quickly to the park gate where we thanked our large and loyal staff and journeyed to the hotel for a shower before boarding the evening flight back to the UK. A few members remained in Africa to enjoy the extra experience of a safari for a few days. All in all, this was a successful and enjoyable 12-day expedition, with everyone summiting both peaks.

Andrew Chapman 1st October 2017 « Previous report | Next report »

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