February 10, 2012
IMG Kilimanjaro guide Craig John said goodbye to his team at the airport last night, and headed back to Moshi for a well-deserved rest day before his third and final Kili trip this season. We asked Craig to send us a short retrospective after his 20th Kili trip:
“I was sitting in my living room in Olympia, WA back in November 1995 when the phone rang. It was Eric. He said “hey CJ, do you want to go to Africa in January?” That first trip was an eye opener. First off, part of the group was delayed by a couple of days because of a huge snow storm on the east coast that forced tons of flights to be cancelled. To deal with that, we flip flopped the program and did the safari first and the climb after the rest of the group got there. It rained every day except for the day we went to the summit. I was surprised by how cold it was on the roof of Africa….here on the equator. It was incredibly satisfying to finally stand there on the summit and be in a place that I had only seen pictures of. Those shots I got from summit of the sun coming up behind Mawenzi, Kilimanjaro’s other summit, still bring back great memories for me. Back then, we descended by the Marangu route, which was a long way down: all the way from Uhuru Peak to Gillman’s Point to the Kibo huts, and then on to the Horombo Huts for the night. It’s now 2012 and last Saturday I reached the summit of Kilimanjaro for the 20th time along with eight others in our group. We had a great climb. It was cold and a bit windy, but the sun coming up behind Mawenzi still touched and warmed a place inside me that brings back that first climb. It is always satisfying to me when the people with me marvel at that sunrise just as I did 20 climbs ago. It has been my privilege to work with the great local guides from the Kilimanjaro area, the wonderful staff from the hotel, great IMG customers, and the other guides from IMG. Tomorrow my next Kili group arrives and climb number 21 will be underway….the numbers aren’t important except for looking back to remember who I was with, on the roof of Africa. So here’s to starting on the next 20 climbs….wait a minute…what did I just say? “
Craig John
IMG Climbers reaching Stella Point as the sun rises. (Photo by Adam Angel)