Rob, Clay & Sam hiked across the stark magnificence of the wide and rocky Shira Plateau. They ascended thru mist and clouds to Shira Comp – a vertical change of about 2680 feet over a distance of 2.7 miles – a short distance, but plenty of upward scrambling. Temperatures are in the 40s F. The team is ten strong (2 women and 8 guys). Rob reports that everyone is having a good time and getting along well. Tomorrow, they head to Barranco Camp past the iconic “Lava Tower”, a trek of 5.7 miles.
The Shira Plateau on the left extends wide all the way up to the peak.
Lots of drizzly rain and mist on the first day of the actual climb. They hiked for five hours from about 10am til about 3pm. Tomorrow they will walk across the Shira Plateau and above the clouds. All the details and a healthy positive voice from Rob on the voice dispatch below. Unfortunately, the voice dispatch cuts off at the 3 minute mark.
email from Rob07/29/13 Spent the day recovering from the 24 hour marathon flights. Breakfast at 9am after a great sleep. Big mosquito net surrounds our beds. After breakfast our guide, J.J. Goes throughout equipment list and comes to our rooms to make sure we have everything. We pack our bags and load them on the vehicle that will take them to the trail head tomorrow. I take off with one of our porter's, Oswald, to climb a tower and look above the forest that surrounds our lodge. Then we go on a 1 hour walk to explore the next village and see some of the farms where they raise fresh fruit and vegetables. Come back to the lodge and crash for a one hour power nap. Clay gets word that their bags have arrived at the airport so he goes to pick them up.
Tomorrow up at 5 am. Breakfast at 6. Leave at 7 for the trailhead. Our starting place is the Machame Gate at 5,900 ft and we have a 6 mile hike in the forest to Machame Camp at 9,890 ft.
Tutaonana (See you later in Swahili)
Rob
Our team at lunch: Samantha in pink and Clay on the right at the Dik Dik Lodge in Moshi, Tanzania
email from Rob07/28/13 We arrived about 7:30 pm on Sunday evening Tanzanian time. 24 hours in planes and airports . Clay and Samantha's bags didn't make it because of their late arrival in Dallas from Austin. Flights from DFW to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro Airport went smooth. KLM is a wonderful airline. We are staying at the Dik Dik Lodge outside of Arusha. A Dik Dik is a small deer looking animal. We are going to sleep late and take it easy tomorrow and get everything ready to start up the mountain on Tuesday. 5 days to the summit 19,346 ft and 2 days down. Temps at the summit have been 18 to 19 F. We have a great team of climbers and a great guide in JJ Justman who was my guide on Elbrus and Acongagua last year. More tomorrow.
As of saturday morning, Rob, Clay, and Samantha are all en route to Amsterdam then to Arusha, Tanzania… (though the jury is still out on Clay and Sam’s luggage, yikes!). Clay and Sam barely made their overseas flight on KLM because of flight delays getting out of Austin.
Rob is reunited with RMI guide JJ Justman who helmed both of Rob’s most recent expeditions up Mt Elbrus and Aconcagua. You can follow JJ’s Kilimanjaro journal entries for this trip via the RMI Expeditions Blog.
A complete set of information about this expedition exists on the RMI site that includes itinerary, equipment, food, and an overall description.
