|
| Elevation |
5,895 metres (19,341
ft) |
| Location |
Tanzania |
| Range |
5,885 m (19,303 feet) |
| Coordinates |
03°04'33"S 37°21'12"E |
| First ascent |
1889 by Hans Meyer, Ludwig Purtscheller,
Yohanas Kinyala Lauwo |
| Our route |
Lemosho Glade |
On July 4, 2006 Barbara Mallory age 55, Dan Mallory
age 56, daughter Laura, age 18 and friend Carlos Rojo
Solis age 19 arrived in Nairobi, Kenya to prepare to
drive to the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro at 19,341 feet
– the highest mountain in Africa.
The biggest challenge to climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is
before you take the first step. There are no Canadian
banks in Tanzania. Money is only accessible in large
cities at ATM machines that limit the amount you can
access daily per bank account to the equivalent of $375.00
U.S. in Tanzanian shillings. These shillings need to
be converted to U.S. dollars at a high commission rate
at banks or money exchangers at large hotels. Only new
U.S. dollars printed after 1996 are acceptable so any
money printed prior to that date that we brought from
Canada was useless. Everyone wanted to be paid upfront
and in cash for the car rental, outfitter’s fees,
border fees, National Park fees etc.
The outfitter in Arusha informed us we would need one
guide, one assistant guide, one cook, one assistant
cook and 12 porters to be allowed into the park and
they suggested 16 to 20 porters. There would be an extra
fee to transport all the support staff to the mountain
because it took 3 days to get all the money required
for the park fees.
We left Arusha by van but encountered brake problems
which had to be fixed on route and then had a flat tire.
As a result, we arrived late at the park entrance and
were advised by the park superintendent that it was
too late for us to depart that day and we would have
to remain there that night paying additional camping
fees for ourselves and the support staff. Dan persuaded
the official to allow us to begin our hike that afternoon.
We finally took our first step to climb Kilimanjaro
arriving at forest camp in the dark but were relieved
to be underway. Our route was the less traveled and
more difficult Lemosho Glade route which has the very
steep and challenging Baranco Wall to scale.
At the high camp, we arose at 11pm to start the summit
attempt in the dark and arrived at the Uruhu summit
on the crater rim of Mt. Kilimanjaro as the sun arose
at about 5am.
After overcoming the challenges of getting to the mountain,
the actual climb was less significant. It was however
a very worthwhile and scenic trek and seeing Mt. Kilimanjaro
with reflective moonlight on its snow covered summit
is an image to remember and with global warming will
soon not exist.
|
