February 15th, 2024–
The climbers and Chagga staff all together at Shira Camp (Phunuru)
The team emerged from the forest zone and climbed today up to the Shira Plateau, at over 12,000 feet. This is a perfect elevation for acclimatization!
They are now in the middle of the “zone of weird plants” that live at high altitude on the Equator, only on Kilimanjaro and Mt Kenya. These include the giant groundsel and giant heather. Phunuru reports that everyone is doing great and that the weather remains good.
Tomorrow the team is on schedule to climb to over 14,500 feet, then drop back down to 13,000 at Barranco Camp. So far so good!
Nice views during the hike up to Shira Camp (Phunuru)
Giant heather and groundsel plants on the way to Shira Camp (Ang Jangbu)