Day 11: Ascend to summit Uhuru Peak

MOUNTAIN ROUTE OVERVIEW

Summit is an 11 to 16 hour day. Climbers go to sleep after an early dinner the night before and are woken up around midnight to being their summit attempt. After a light snack, they ascent into darkness, cold, and wind. Temperatures usually range from -4° to 5° fahrenheit. This is where climbers feel the altitude, so they’ll carry as little as possible, hike slowly, and take many rests to ease the symptoms. They’ll make their way up a trail that is flanked by the Ratzel and Rebman Glaciers. After climbing for around six hours, they’ll reach the edge of Kilimanjaro’s crater between Stella and Hans Meyer Points. They’re just an hour from the summit when they get here! After a hot cup of tea and rest, they’ll begin climbing on a rocky and icy trail to the summit, Uhuru Peak, at 19,344 feet which is the highest point on the continent of Africa. Once they reach the summit, they’ll spend a few minutes making sure they touch the sign, celebrating with the group, and taking pictures before descending to Kosovo Camp. Once they reach camp, they’ll eat lunch and take a short nap before continuing their descent to Mweka Camp. Once they arrive at camp, they’ll have dinner and go to bed early after a 13 to 19 hour day of hiking!

MOUNTAIN ROUTE STATS

ASCENT

Starting elevation 15,400 feet

Ending elevation 19,344 feet

Elevation gain 3,944 feet

Distance hiked 4 miles

Average hiking time 8 to 10 hours

DESCENT

Starting elevation 19,344 feet

Ending elevation 10,200 feet

Elevation loss 9,144 feet

Distance hiked 8 miles

Average hiking time 7 to 9 hours

JOURNAL ENTRY BY KASEY BOST

Hello everyone!!

TODAY WE WOKE UP AT MIDNIGHT FOR OUR SUMMIT ATTEMPT! We ate “breakfast” then all gathered for a prayer before we grabbed our headlamps and hiked under the stars. The hike was very cold, but fortunately there was no wind as we went step by step up the relentless switchbacks to the peak. At around 5am we saw the sun start to peek out as we were around 17,500ft. All of the guides carried our daypacks and served us unbelievably well to get to the top. At around 6:45am we saw Stella Point which was just 400ft below Uhuru Peak. Most of our eyes were filled with tears as we climbed the last difficult part to reach Stella Point. We then got hot tea before we went for the final stretch. At this point the sun rose and we could see all of the glaciers, the view was absolutely breathtaking. Everyone reached the peak as we celebrated, hugged each other, and took pictures of this once in a lifetime experience. Seeing how the Lord used each person and guide to get everyone up was incredible, and each step the only thing we could all say is “thank you Jesus”.