Heck Of A Day On Kilimanjaro

August 3, 2016

IMG Senior Guide, Phunuru Sherpa, sent us more pictures overnight.  You can see a few things from the photos right away. First, the weather is perfect. Can’t really improve on that! Second, this group is having fun. Lots of smiles all around. While we were all sleeping over here last night, Phunuru and Team climbed up to Lava Tower at around 15,000 feet, then descended down to Barranco Camp at around 13,000 feet. The views on this stretch are amazing. The first half of the day you are walking straight towards Kili. Then you get up to Lava Tower and have lunch. Then you start traversing the upper mountain passing underneath (but not directly) some of the upper glaciers. On top of all that, this an excellent acclimatization day adhering to the mountaineer’s adage of ‘climb high and sleep low.’ That is one of the reasons that make the Machame route our preferred route on Kili – its excellent for acclimatization. Add an extra day in there – we do 7 days while most groups squeeze it into 6 – and this is a recipe for success! Tomorrow is one of my favorite days on Kili, the Barranco Wall! Stayed tuned.

Dustin Balderach