In contrast to yesterday’s long day, today’s ascent to Karanga Camp was our shortest day of the expedition. Shortly after breakfast, we broke camp and headed up the Barranco Wall. The climb was very interesting and far different from our earlier hikes. It was a mixture of Rock Climbing, Scrambling, and weaving our way in and out […]
As has become customary on every morning our trip, the 6:30 AM wake-up call consisted of two of the cooks knocking on our tent and greeting us with an in-tent service choice of coffee, tea or hot cocoa. After the warm drinks, we packed up our equipment in the duffle/boundary bags, readied our Daily backpack […]
We left the Machame Camp early this morning and headed across the mountain to Shira Camp. On our way, the landscape dramatically changed from the heath forest to moor lands littered with two species of giant groundsel, Senecios and Lobelia. As we continued to ascend to the Shira plateau, we crossed a little valley while walking […]
Today was one of the longest days of the trip. We got up at 6:00 A.M. and after an early breakfast we traveled by Land Cruiser from our Arusha hotel for about two hours to the Machame Gate located at the southern base of the mountain and the entrance to Kilimanjaro National Park. It is […]
After an early wake-up call (on only 5-hours sleep), headed down to the hotel restaurant to meet our Kilimanjaro Team and guides. After a sumptuous breakfast buffet, we gathered around in one of the large ballrooms for a detailed orientation and gear check. We have a team of 15 members with ages ranging from 16 and all […]
Having just completed the Mt. Elbrus expedition and a relaxing day sightseeing the beautiful city of Moscow, it was time to embark on the next expedition to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest peak on the African continent. The journey from Moscow to Arusha, Tanzania was a long and frustrating one due to several flight delays […]
The Mountain Czars on the Summit of Mt. Elbrus, the roof of Europe!
We awoke bright and early at 2:00 AM this morning to the sound of “reveille” via harmonica loudly performed by our esteemed expedition leader Vern Tejas. After a quick breakfast full of carbohydrates, we strapped on our crampons, switched on our head-lamps and began the long journey to the Summit in the cold icy darkness […]
We started this morning with some review of crevasse rescue and then lightly hiked to a very steep and rocky slope to practice the all important self arrest techniques. It was a fun morning as we launched our bodies down the slope in each possible way: forward, backwards, head first, and simulating falling unexpectedly. Everyone […]
As our fearless leader would say: hello there friends, family and loved ones!!! After getting settled in our huts yesterday, we gobbled a big breakfast to provide us with enough energy and fuel for the day ahead. Under clear blue skies, we departed from our high camp and climbed up to 15,000ft/4572m just above an […]