Friday, Sept. 30, 2011
Mawenzi Tarn, Tanzania, Africa

 
The 2011 team is now at Mawenzi Tarn at 14,200’! This is within the same height as the peak of Mount Rainier in Washington, United States. The team left the Kikelewa Caves this morning, hiked for four hours, sat down to lunch and then a few team members took some time to rest. Everyone is doing well, and the team spirit is exceptionally high, despite some torrential rain that lasted for a few hours.

Murray Williamson, the team spokesperson for the call, talked about the progress of the climb. “Today was interesting, we were totally shrouded in fog and just about all day we kept thinking to ourselves ‘boy, the mountain sure is making it difficult weather-wise’, but the sun would break out periodically and you'd really feel the strength of [it]”. He commented on the “extremely beautiful views today, the vistas of Mawenzi in particular”, and the occasional shot of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

As expected, the team is feeling the effects of the altitude. “We’ve had the odd team member that felt a little queasy,” said Williamson, but drinking lots of water gets them back on track. "We got one team member that sets her clock - every 10 minutes an alarm bell goes off, so we're doing pretty well on the water intake".

The team members were sitting down to dinner when Williamson had found a ridge with better reception at the time of the call. He reflected on the experience thus far: "The African porters and guides have been great – they’ve been conscientious about how we're doing, very courteous, the food's been good, no complaints, so we're all well-nourished, and we're really looking forward to the next two [to] three days, especially summit day."

The team will continue to hike until Monday when they will begin the summit climb to Uhuru Peak. The Ascent team is hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro via the Rongai route, which means ascending from the northeastern side of the mountain, along the border between Tanzania and Kenya. This route retains a sense of unspoiled wilderness and offers a different perspective on Mt. Kilimanjaro by approaching it from the north.
The next call home from the team is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 3 after they climb back down from Uhuru Peak.