August 16, 2010

Sunrise over Mawenzi on summit day.

IMG guide Andy Politz reports by sat phone that the team had a beautiful summit day reaching Uhuru Peak, the highest point on the continent shortly after dawn.  The descent went smoothly, and the team is now back to Mweka camp, at the upper limits of the forest zone.

Tomorrow they will finish off the descent down through the forest to the Mweka gate, for the checkout with the Kili Park rangers and getting their official Kili certificates.  Then they will catch a ride in the Land Rovers back down to the hotel in Moshi, just in time for a late lunch, showers, and cold beer!

Up next… Safari!

Eric Simonson

August 15, 2010

Check out their current location thanks to Andy's SPOT GPS Messenger (Green Arrow)

IMG guide Andy Politz reports by sat phone that the Kili team reached Barafu camp (15,000 feet)  today by lunchtime.  Everyone is doing well and the weather remains excellent.

After lunch the team had plenty of time to get packed up for the summit climb tonight and have a good lazy afternoon of rest, then another meal, then more rest.  That is super important for Kili–getting up to the high camp early enough so you can get off your feet, eat, hydrate, and rest sufficiently.  It makes all the difference on summit day, and this is why we take seven days for the IMG Kili trip.

The teams’ plan for tomorrow is to start climbing about midnight, which should put them on top shortly after sunrise.  We’ll look forward to hearing from them and relaying the news to you.

Eric Simonson

August 14, 2010

Check out their current location (Green Arrow)

IMG guide Andy Politz reports by sat phone that the team had a great day of hiking today and all are doing well at the Karanga camp (about 13,000 feet).  The weather has been great and they are above the clouds.

Today they left the Barranco camp, climbed up and over the Barranco Wall, then traversed below the hanging glaciers on the south side of the mountain.

Andy’s carrying a SPOT GPS Messenger – check out the team’s location in the photo by zooming in on the green arrow.  Zoom in far enough and you can see the trail forking at Karanga, with one going up to Barafu (that is for tomorrow) and the lower circuit trail continuing around towards the Mweka descent route.

Eric Simonson

August 12, 2010

Andy's carrying a SPOT GPS Messenger - check out their current location (Green Arrow)

IMG guide Andy Politz reported by sat phone that that the team members are all doing well.  Today they climbed from Machame Camp to Shira Camp (about 12,500 feet) via a steep section of trail that winds up a ridge to the Shira Plateau.  Again, they had no rain but cloudy skies kept them cool as they emerged from the forest zone and climbed up into “the zone of weird plants”.

The Shira Plateau is an immense remnant of ancient lava flows from the now extinct Shira volcano (Kilimanjaro is composed of three volcanoes, Shira, Mawenzi, and Kibo).  At this point the team are above most of the vegetation on the mountain, with only occasional lobelia, groundsel, and other plants remaining.

It is easy to see these vegetation zones if you click on the Google map photos here, with the precise camp locations transmitted by Andy’s SPOT GPS Messenger.

Eric Simonson

More On Kilimanjaro

August 11, 2010

Andy's carrying a SPOT GPS Messenger - check out their location (Green Arrow)

IMG guide Andy Politz reports from Machame Camp that the Kili team had a good day today and everyone is doing well.  Yesterday they organized their gear in Moshi and this morning headed up to the trailhead  in 4WD vehicles.

There was no rain today, but enough clouds to keep it cool and comfortable for them as they climbed from about 6000 feet up through the forest zone to the Machame camp at about 10,000 feet.  After a good night rest, tomorrow they will head for Shira.  So far so good!

Eric Simonson