Down from the Mountain

1-31-08

We had a great four days up on Mt. Meru. Summited at 15,000 ft. (actually something like 14,996 ft, but that means our heads were over 15,000ft) yesterday morning at 6:15am just as the light was beginning to peak over the horizon and about 20 minutes before sunrise. (We started hiking in the dark at 3am). We saw a beautiful sunrise just to the right of Kilimanjaro -unobscured and marvelous.

The frost was glittering on the ground as we hiked up with head lamps on. There was some rock scrambling and we had to use our hands. We were the first to the summit, having passed a group of Danish/German/Austrians who had started an hour before us and having maintained a pace brisk enough to stave off the pro-mountaineer who started 15 minutes after us. (http://www.navarra8000.com). We left our ranger (see previous posting) sleeping at the camp and ascended with a porter as our guide. No elephants or buffalo to worry about up this high, above the vegetation and along the narrow ridge line created when the volcano blew its top. We had great views down toward the cone and out to Kilimanjaro. We'll post pictures when we get home.