Trip Reports

Kilimanjaro Lemosho Glades - 4 - 13 Sep '10

Dawn on summit day - Kilimanjaro Lemosho Glades

Written by Leader Paul Westwood, September 2010

4am Birmingham airport and Paul Westwood, Expedition Team Leader, meets up with the first seven team members. Four more join the party at Schiphol airport and the final two join at Key’s Hotel, Moshi at 9.30pm that evening – the team is complete. All 14 sit at the dinner table to eat and discuss the next 9 days’ activities – there are a few nervous questions as this is new territory for almost all of them.

Bright and early the following morning the team, five local guides and the trekking crew set off for Londorossi Park Gate and, park formalities done, onward to the start of the Lemosho Glades Route. The tracks to get there are extremely rutted and very dry due to lack of any recent rain – the team thought it was a good bonus having a 4x4 off-road safari thrown in for free. The rest of this day and the next two days would see the team climb through jungle rainforest into heather and moorland and finally onto and over the plateau left by the Shira volcano. The fine volcanic dust gets absolutely everywhere. The team were quite surprised by the large range of temperatures encountered from baking hot sunshine to severe ground frost at Shira 1 camp. Sun hats to down duvet jackets, all on the kit list and all definitely needed on this trek.

The trek largely followed an easy day, hard day, easy day, hard day pattern so day 4 was to be a hard day – and it certainly was. Gaining 840m in the morning to Lava Tower, at an altitude of 4640m, and then loosing 740m in the afternoon was definitely hard work for everyone. Dave in particular didn’t like the downhill bits and told everyone so – often!

The next day the intimidating 200m high Baranco Wall was scaled with ease and Karanga Camp came and then went the following morning as the team made their way to Barafu Camp. Barafu in Swahili means ‘Ice’ and this was to be the cold base camp for the team’s summit attempt. Off to ‘bed’ at 6pm before being woken at 11.30 for a midnight start. There was just time to get up and have a hot drink and a couple of biscuits before the team headed off, just past midnight, for the summit of Kibo, the highest of the three volcanoes of the Kilimanjaro massif. Unfortunately Paul H had picked up an ailment and was forced to leave the summit attempt. [Had he been well I’m sure he’d have made the summit – PW] Thomas, our local guide, set an excellent pace and after climbing for more than seven hours the team arrived at Uhuru summit. Thomas and the other four guides helped the whole way with encouragement and banter but the team also showed much courage and determination in helping each other too. It was a great effort but despite this Luke still had enough energy to go down on one knee and propose marriage to Caroline under the summit sign – she had just enough breath to say Yes – how romantic? Weary and aching legs took the team back through Barafu and Millennium camps to Mweka camp some 2800m lower than the summit.

The final three hours of the trek ended at the Mweka Park Gate where the team were presented with commemorative certificates and the trek crew entertained everyone with their animated singing. A short drive back to Key’s for lunch with the local guides, showering and repacking for the international flight home later that evening. Paul, Janice and Brad remained in Tanzania for beach/safari extensions while the rest of the team were flown back to the UK. Quite a hectic and strenuous final 72 hours and a ‘full-on’ enjoyable 10 day trip by anyone’s standard.

Paul Westwood – Expedition Team Leader « Previous report | Next report »

Jagged Globe Newsletter

We publish an email newsletter with trip reports and latest availability, plus features, competitions and general news of our climbing, trekking & skiing activities.