July 28, 2014

19340ft. (Ken Maclaurin)

Sheldon called in from the summit of Kilimanjaro at midnight, Pacific Time, last night.  Lots of hooting and hollering going on in the background.   All climbers were standing with her on the summit of Uhuru.  She also called back later to let me know that everyone had made a safe and successful descent to high camp, Barafu.  Repacking had been done and they were all sitting down to a hot lunch prior to making the last few hours hike down to Mweka Camp (10,000’).  Long, rewarding day.  Super nice to be back to the land of thick air.  They will sleep like logs tonight.

Safari’s next.

Phil Ershler

July 25, 2014

How can you top this?!

Just had a chat with Sheldon via satellite phone.  At Baranco Camp (13,000’).  Cloud deck kept them cool on this long day and it never sprinkled.  Perfect.  Cloud level will certainly lower this evening and they’ll have spectacular views of the mountain.  With the Breach Wall directly above camp, this is probably the most scenic camp on the climb.

A couple of members are calling it quits and will head down in the morning.  The Umbwe Route is the perfect ‘escape route’.  It’s in good condition these days and the team will reunite at the Keys Hotel for their safari when the climb’s complete.

Karanga Camp, after climbing the Baranco Wall tomorrow, is the next goal.  I’ve always thought those couple of hours working up the Baranco Wall were the most fun of the entire trip.  Fun scrambling and spectacular views – not a bad combo.

Phil Ershler