Sept 18 - Summit Day

The guides awakened us at 4 AM. Most of us did not need a wake up call. We had gone to bed at 8 PM, were anticipating the excitement of Summit Day and were sleeping at 15,200 ft. This made sleep difficult, but safe to say to say we all got at least a few hours of off and on sleep. After a hot breakfast, we started climbing shortly after 5 30.


At this hour it was still dark so we climbed with our head lamps. When we raised our heads, we could see a line of climbers like a string of faint lights well ahead of us. Many groups start their summit day at midnight, so these people were 5 – 6 hours in front of us. We chose to climb during the daylight.

There were essentially three parts to the climb: a rocky pitch of 1,000 ft that started shortly after Barafu Camp; 2,500 ft up a scree field to Stella Point, the lip of the caldera; and finally, a 600 ft climb to the summit.

We got a real treat when we looked to our right shortly after daybreak. There was Mount Mawenzi, Kilimanjaro’s other peak, not nearly as high at 16,900 ft. The most famous Kilimanjaro peak, Kibo, was the one we were attempting today. The two peaks are linked by a saddleback that was lightly covered in morning mist. It was an awe inspiring sight.

We climbed the first pitch rather quickly and then faced the scree field. The dictionary defines scree as “an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a cliff”. On Kilmanjaro, the scree contained a lot of dust as well. On some parts of the mountain it was more than a meter deep. When you climb through a scree field the old adage of “two steps forward, one step back” is a very accurate description of the experience. After a short break, we started and quickly realized that the 2,500 ft climb to Stella Point would be the toughest part of the day.

We finally arrived at Stella Point shortly before noon after a long, slow climb. The altitude combined with the dust was taking its toll. Dani was using her puffer to control her asthma. Henry, who was not able to take Diamox because of the side effects, was coughing a lot. Was it a return of childhood asthma after 42 years, dust, or the early stages of pulmonary edema? He asked the guides to test his oxygen level. The result was 77%. Any result over 70% means that you are not in danger, so thankfully it was just dust. We stopped for a lunch break, before the final push to the summit.

We started the final climb to the summit. We were now climbing on the lip of the caldera towards the peak which we could see in the distance. The climbing was actually a lot easier than the scree field. We were looking down on the glaciers, the snows of Kilimanjaro made so famous by Hemingway.

We continued slowly but surely to the summit. The glaciers were on our left. Kombe, our head guide, told us that they were 25% smaller that his first summit 20 years ago. We passed a group of 3 Americans plus their guides and porters, whom we had gotten to know, on the way back down from the summit so we knew we must be close.

We lifted our heads and there it was, the famous sign that every climber dreams of reaching. A few more steps and at 1 PM local time we did it. It was an emotional moment for all of us. Within minutes of reaching the summit, the clouds cleared and allowing the sun to raise the temperature. There were hugs, and photos, and calls to family and friends from Hans’ satellite phone. This is one of those times when a picture is worth a thousand words so please enjoy the summit photos that we’ve uploaded.

We started our descent after about 45 minutes on the summit. We were quickly back at Stella point when a snow storm started. This was the same time that we had to tackle the scree field again, this time on the way down. The best way to descend in a scree field is to “ski”. You don’t really ski continuously like on snow. Each step is 5 – 6 ft and then your heel digs in and you take another step. If you let yourself go and maintain your balance with your trekking poles it’s actually a lot of fun. However, if you don’t have the confidence to let yourself go and fight the scree it can be a long painful descent. Our team were all good “skiers” and the heavy snow added to the “skiing”experience.

We were almost to the bottom of the scree field when we saw Amani climbing towards us.  Amani was our waiter.  He had served us three meals a day for over a week so we had gotten to know him quite well.  He had hiked up the mountain with a large thermos of hot tea.  We went to a sheltered spot and really enjoyed his treat.

We returned to Barafu after another hour.  We had spent almost 11 hours in total and were all very tired.  We cleaned up, had a hot dinner and most of us were sound asleep before 8 PM.