Trip Reports

Kilimanjaro - Lemosho Glades 20 to 29 Oct '12

Dawn on summit day - Kilimanjaro Lemosho Glades

Written by Leader Guy Jarvis, October 2012

The small team of 6 all met for the first time at the departure gate at Schipol airport as we filed on to the KLM flight to Kilimanjiro airport: Patrick and his 16 year old son Ed, Ruth and Dan, and Claire and Catherine. The excellent flight deposited us into the warmth of Tanzania and a night at the Keys Hotel in Moshi, at the foot of the mountain.

The next morning saw us driving up a very muddy four wheel drive track to the start of the trek with a support crew of guides, cooks and porters totalling 29! The rains had made the track quite treacherous so we stopped 2-3km from the road head and started walking in. Soon we were deep in the steep rainforest populated by Langur and Blue monkeys working our way up to the Big Tree campsite at 2800m. The path was very slippery in places and made the going hard for a first day but eventually we arrived at the camp just before sunset to have the first of our excellent and huge evening meals.

The next two days saw us settle into a pattern of trekking up to and across the Shira plateau to an altitude of about 3800m. The plateau is quiet and huge with good views of the summit of Kibo – our target. We had clear mornings but a lot of cloud in the day as we got to grips with the effects of altitude for the first time. Claire found the going very tough but pushed on for all three days with a smile on her face. By the morning of day 4 she decided to descend back to the Keys hotel using the high altitude four wheel drive track, to recover. A huge achievement, Claire had worked to the point of exhaustion but still had the safari days to look forward to.

The rest of the team carried on to the Lava tower at 4600m and then descended to Barranco to camp at 3900m. This day was really tough as the ascent to Lava Tower was done in cold, cloudy and windy conditions, which was quite exhausting at this altitude. Luckily the clouds parted on the way down the Barranco valley with its spectacular vegetation and views of the huge 1500m Breach Wall to the summit.

The next two days saw us steadily work our way around in sunny weather to high camp on the lava ridge of Barafu at 4600m – all well acclimatised for the final big ascent. This is a 1300m climb done in the cold of night and a tough ask for anyone. The ascent ground away in cold windy conditions with the team wearing everything they had. Finally at about 6pm we reached Stella point on the rim of the crater in the light of the rising sun. A final gasping hour’s trudge saw us on the summit at 7pm including Catherine who followed up behind with the guides – a huge effort. Views of the summit region glaciers and down to the plains were spectacular, but all too soon we were heading down on what was to be a 3000m descent to the warmth of Mweka camp and a well-earned meal and deep sleep after a very long day.

A beautiful walk through the forest again down to the waiting vehicles and a farewell to the support crew saw us back at the hotel and a reunion with Claire. We had showers, food, beer, resting by the pool, laughter and stories before heading back to the airport that evening for the flight home. Ten days after meeting in Schipol airport we were back saying goodbye! It all seems quite surreal…but wonderful.

Guy Jarvis, Trek Leader « Previous report | Next report »

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