Mt. Elbert 14,440 ft. (4,401M)

Saturday June 6th 2009 – Mt. Elbert, Colorado

We left the Chateaux at 4:40am. We wanted the snow to be harder than yesterday, so an earlier start will give us a chance at the summit, depending on snow conditions. Mt. Elbert is the highest mountain in Colorado, and the second highest mountain in the lower 48 states after Mt. Whitney in California. It stands 14,440 feet (4,401M) high. Climbing it in the late summer will give you a chance at an easier summit because the snow would have mostly melted away, but in early June the snow was certainly out and about.

We drove past the old silver mining town of Leadville, Co (10,152 feet), famous in the Ultra community for the Leadville 100. The welcome sign said “Welcome to Leadville. On top of it all.” Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States.

Our start time for today was 6:08am. The first mile or so is on the famous Colorado Trail, and then we hung a right on the Mt. Elbert Trail. We ascended another 1,000 feet before we got above tree line. I could feel that today would be colder, but it was earlier than yesterday so I didn’t think anything of it. I was with George, Bill, and Pam. All of us had summated Mt. Elbrus the year before in Russia, and had climbed other high mountains around the world. Putting Mt. Elbert on our resume was something we all planned to do today.

The climb was steep, but less steep than Quandary Peak, and the snow seemed to be less. Maybe it was because of the way the sun beamed down on Elbert. After taking a few breaks, I decided to push on and go for the summit on my own. I ate a turkey croissant and an orange which was my fuel to ascend to the summit. The wind was harsh, and I was breaking trail above 13,000 feet as there was a fresh layer of snow from the night before. I was rest stepping with my Brooks Cascadias as I wanted to break them in to prepare for Hardrock 100.

After climbing up two false summits, the true summit was in sight, another 100 feet of vertical ascent and I would be standing on top of Colorado. The wind here was blowing at an excess of 70 mph. A combination of snow drift and tiny icicles would lash out with no warning and would sandpaper my face despite the buff I wore around my neck and face. This gave me an intense stinging feeling, and was like a natural microdermabrasion to the face.



Video: Summit of Mt. Elbert at 14,440 feet

Very close to the summit a powerful gust of wind blew and I feared that my body would lift off the mountain and fly away. I hunkered down, both knees to the ice and waited for 2 minutes. The summit was on a narrow snow ridge which probably would melt away in a month. It was here the serious thought of turning around came to mind. I waited it out. The wind died down for a few moments and I was on the summit at 9:55am (3:47 hrs). I enjoyed the summit views and more microdermabrasions for 12 minutes. I met Clint (61 years old), a Leadville native who has climbed all the Co. 14ers, on the summit. He thanked me for breaking trail and offered to take a summit photo of me. During the 12 minutes on the summit Clint pointed out all the peaks that surrounded us.

I descended slowly, and the snow was not soft like Quandary Peak, but icy. Continuing as much as I could with my heel step on the descent I felt safe coming down. The ice was hard on some sections and I was having some difficulty kicking it in. It was here I broke out the ice axe and the crampons! Soon after I laid down my pack, Pam, Bill, and George appeared. They were looking strong and were all wearing boots and crampons. I warned them they summit would be windy, and high fived them all. They pushed upward to the summit while I descended slowly.


Click on photo above: Can you see three climbers ascending to the Summit?

The weather down below was a bit warmer and less windy. I knew I would have at least an hour before the rest of the summit team made it to the top and back to where I was. I was in no hurry to get off the mountain, so I strengthened my lungs with a high altitude mountain dance. After waiting a while and getting snowed on, and getting colder, I descended more. I hung out with a marmot for a few minutes and descended further. We rendezvoused on the mountain at tree line and went out for dinner that night.

My first visit to Colorado was amazing, and I have a feeling that I will be attempting more 14ners to come!

Quandary Peak - 14,271 ft. (4,350M)

Thursday June 4th 2009 – Breckinridge, Colorado

After sitting on the tarmac for 45 minutes our pilot explains that we are next in line for take-off. It’s drizzling rain, humid, and gloomy in Charlotte. Within minutes we are cruising at 30,000 feet and are now completely above the weather system. The sea of clouds remind me of the endless dunettes (small sand dunes in French) in the Sahara.

After landing we make our way to Bills house in Breckinridge. The plan tomorrow is to be out the door by 7am and hike up to Quandary Peak (14,271 feet). Bill has cautioned me that if I wanted to reach the summit I would need full rain gear, ice axe, my double plastics, crampons, etc. So I packed it all.

Friday June 5th 2009 – Quandary Peak, Colorado

We left the house by 7am and made a pit-stop for breakfast. I had oatmeal with blueberries and brown sugar. This would be fuel to get me to the summit.

We began our ascent at 8:35am, the trailhead elevation was at 10,890 feet. Taking our time to hike up, and acclimatizing, we made several stops for some hydration and calories. I was in no hurry, taking photos and some videos of the amazing expansive views before me. The climb up Quandaray can be steep in some sections and the ridge is narrow. I few feet to the right and a few feet to the left could be a fatal fall of 800 feet, you don’t want to slip here. The snow had built up nicely and a cornice had formed high up on the ridge which I took note of. As I ascended into the Colorado skies I noticed black clouds moving in. The summer time in Colorado is known for afternoon storms and clouds. I decided to pick up the pace and get my first Colorado 14er under my belt. I was at the summit at 11:25am (2:50hrs) and I was surprised at how calm it was at the summit. I made a few phone calls and took some shots of the majestic views. I decided to spend some time on the summit as I was feeling good and pulled out some sweet Western Cherries and cooled them on the summit snow, then gobbled them up. Shortly after I began my descent.

The was softening as it was warming up later in the day. Take huge strides digging in with my heel allowed me to cover the descent in 10% the time it took me to climb it up on the ridge. I had my ice axe out in front of my chest in “ready mode.” I prepared to fall at any point and arrest myself should I need to do so. After I was off the snow, I trotted down to the car and unloaded my heavy gear. I was feeling great to be high up in the Rockies and decided to go for a run. So I did just that, and ran from the trailhead to Erics Pizza in Breckinridge (8.3 miles away) in 1:15hrs. I downed a French Onion soup and 2 and 1/3 slices of pizza with my Mt. Elbrus climbing buddies and went back to Bills for more food. We enjoyed a new culinary concept to me that is originally Swiss, grilling on the Raclette. It was fantastic!

HARDROCK 100

I'm in!! For those of you not aware of the Hardrock 100, its a Beast.

The Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run is an ultramarathon 100.5 miles in length, with 33,000 feet (10,000 m) of climb at an average elevation of over 11,000 feet (3,400 m). The race is held on a loop course on dirt roads, dirt trails, and cross country in Southern Colorado's San Juan Range. The race is dedicated to the memory of the miners who settled in the area and who built the mining trails on which much of the race is run.

I am one of 140 runners accepted into this adventure with 206 on the waiting list. I'm pumped!

Russian Federation Report

I have always been intrigued by Russia, and how it is portrayed in world history. That combined with my interest in the seven summits and my love for mountaineering led me to this amazing adventure. I do feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to have traveled to this part of the world.

I had just spent 4 days traveling from Switzerland thru France and up high into the Italian Alps, and back. This was a warm up hike in preparation for Mt. Elbrus. My plane landed at 4:12pm in St. Petersburg, Russia and I was being stopped by the Russian immigration officer. After examining my passport for 10 minutes, she signaled for another officer to take me away. The airport seemed in worse shape than the Moroccan airport I fly into the city of Tangiers, a city that is literally 100 times smaller than St. Petersburg. No one wanted to ask me any questions, and no one was answering any of my questions! That pisses me off. After about 25 minutes of silence I was free to go. I picked up my bags, a large North Face duffle and an Arctyrex Bora 95. I immediately met Vern Tejas, our American guide, when I exited the airport. Shortly after Jason and Georgina followed. We rode a bus into town and checked into our hotel. That night the entire team arrived and we had a group meeting. We discussed our itinerary over the next two weeks. We would plan to spend two days in St. Petersburg, two days in Moscow, and the rest flying down to the Caucuses and climbing Mt. Elburs.

7/14-7/15 – St. Petersburg, Russian Federation – 36 feet

St. Petersburg the city is much better than its airport. The buildings are endess and the city is a labyrinth of rivers crisscrossing each other. We stayed in the Azimut Hotel (I would not recommend this place if your looking for a nice hotel) and my roommate was Joe from Tacoma, WA. The next day we took a tour of the city and had a chance to view the Hermitage. I felt like I was in a history class. By this time I was itching to go south and get up some mountains.

7/16/08 – Mineral Vody, Russian Federation – 1,020 feet

The 13 of us boarded a Russian flight from St. Petersburg to Mineral Vody. The flight sat on the tarmac for 30 or so minutes and everyone was instantly sweating as the AC doesn't even work! The plan appeared to have been built in the 1960's. After a few hours we landed and took a 4.5 hr. bumpy bus ride to the Baksan Valley. We met our Russian guide Nicolai, checked into the hotel and slept.

7/17/08 – Azau, Russian Federation – 7,500 feet

After breakfast we all hiked up a mountain closest to the boarder of Russia and Georgia. Here we had to carry our passports and there were tensions between Russia and Georgia and Russian military was patrolling the area. They could ask you for your passport on demand. The plan was to acclimatize. We took a chair life up to 8,700 feet and continued to hike up to about 10,985 feet. It was a sunny and beautiful day in the mountains. That night Vern played his harmonica for us. He told me he learned how to play in the Alaskan back country, which is where he is from.

7/18/08 – Azau, Russian Federation – 7,500 feet

The plan again was to continue to acclimatize. This process is extremely important in high altitude mountaineering. The human body needs to adjust when going up so high. If you climb high too fast you can suffer from AMS (Altitude Mountain Sickness). Pulmonary and Cerebral Edema can be life threatening. So we took our time going up and down several days before getting on the big glaciers. Today was about a 3,000 foot hike up to about 10,000 feet in complete rain. It was a bit chilly, but when I got moving I warmed up quickly.

7/19/08 – Barrel #7 (Base Camp) – 12,000 feet

I wasn't comfortable riding up gondolas and chairlifts to the base camp of the Barrels (ill get to this later), but hey, that's what the itinerary called for and I was sticking to it. We took up two gondolas and a chair lift to take us right to the Barrels. How convenient? I was staying in Barrel #7 which was next door to the Norwegian team. I noticed that the Norwegians like to roast in the glacial sun. They don't get enough of it in Norway. Once settled in we pulled out all of our sharps and practiced our mountaineering techniques and self arrest moves. The weather was perfect.

7/20/08 – Barrel #7 (Base Camp) – 12,000 feet

After breakfast we headed higher towards the Postakov Rocks (4,700 M). This is a rock formation created by lava flow the last time this massive volcano erupted. Several people set up tents here and this would be considered a Camp 2 area for those trying to climb without using the huts or the barrels. A few days ago however they had white out conditions up here and 16 tents blew off the mountain. Most of the team headed back after the reached the bottom of the rocks, but me and a few decided to continue to the top of the rocks up about another 100 meters. The day was mostly sunny, with clouds on the descent. I ran down to the barrels in 50 minutes.

7/21/08 – High Huts (Camp 1) – 13,700 feet

We hiked up 1700 feet from the barrels to the high huts and immediately began to start packing our summit packs and resting. We would plan to summit tomorrow. The teams plan was to take a snow cat from the Huts to the bottom of Postakov Rocks (where most left off yesterday). I decided that I would rather hike up to Postakov vs. the snow cat. Dr. Jeff Prchal, a Czech native living in French Canada decided to join me and skip out on the snow cat.

7/22/08 – High Huts (Camp 1) – 13,700 feet - SUMMIT DAY 18,510 FEET / 5,642 METERS

Me and Jeff work up at 1:15am, had breakfast with Nicolai, and had our crampons strapped on and ready to go by 2:30am. We met the rest of the group at lower Postakov at 4:30am. Me, Jeff, and Nicolai had been waiting about 15 minutes. My hands almost froze off at this point. I wanted to keep moving, but Nicolai insisted we wait and stay. The Russian tolerance for the cold is amazing. The temperature was better than expected at about 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The entire team was together after the snow cats arrived and we pushed upward at a slower pace than what me and Jeff were going a few hours earlier. This was good because I could feel a headache coming on. My plan was to not take any medication (diamox) at all, and climb this mountain el natural. I had done this before on Kilimanjaro the year prior and was confident I could do it again on Elbrus. I was pressure breathing like crazy, with three short power breaths in one long push. This helped tremendously. When the sun came up with was scorching. The weather was the best Vern could remember that high up. We all made it to the summit and took some photos and congratulated each other. We then hiked back down and made back to the High Huts safely. It took me 12:20 round trip to summit with a net gain of 5,080 feet.

7/23/08 – High Huts (Camp 1) – 13,700 feet

After getting some rest, and some calories, we all hiked down to the barrels and took the first chair lift down, and then two gondolas down back to Azau and crawled back into our hotel rooms. After a few hours of rest several of us went out to eat. After lunch I felt like going for a run! I ran down the road away from Azau and back to the hotel for a total of 11 miles. I lost about 1,200 feet of elevation while running down and gained it all back on my return. During my run I had thoughts of the climb being too easy. The lifts made it so much easier. For this reason I had planned to get up early the next morning and hike up to the Barrels from the hotel room. Basically hike up what the two gondolas and chair lift would take you, about 4,500 feet of elevation gain. I ate dinner, packed what I needed for the next day, and slept early while the entire team was out celebrating the success of the summit.

7/24/08 – Azau, Russian Federation – 7,500 feet

I woke up at 4:30am. I had everything read to go, so I was on the trail within 10 minutes. Today was a planned buffer day for bad weather. Because we had amazing weather and summated a day early, I had the opportunity to hike up this section. When am I coming back to Azau, or Russia for that matter? I was determined to take the opportunity and hike up while I had the chance. It took me 3 hours to reach the barrels. This section of trail was definitely less than 3 miles. This gives you an idea of how steep this section is. It's made up of scree and you can slide around easily. The most difficult part was the last 1/3 mile up to the Barrels when I hit the glacier. I had carried an ice axe with me, but didn't feel the need to carry my crampons, as I wanted to run down, and move lighter. I took me a long time getting up on the glacier and I was slipping all over the place (not recommended). We I finally reached the top of the Barrels I was pleasantly surprised by anther European sun lover! They were not expecting someone running up the backside of the mountain this early in the morning. I snapped a photo and began my descent. I ran down in about an hour. My total time up and down was 4:03:53.

7/25/08 – Azau, Russian Federation – 7,500 feet

After waking up casually and having breakfast we took the same bumpy ride back to Mineral Vody. We pit stopped along the way for lunch, and then took a flight to Moscow.

7/26/08-7/29/08 – Moscow, Russian Federation – 830 feet

We toured Moscow. This is an amazing city. You can really see the effects of communism here. The contrast between the old and the new is clear. I could have spent a few more days here.

Several days after returning back home to the states war broke out between Russia and Georgia.

European Adventures

I leave for Switzerland today. Tomorrow I will be hiking somewhere in the Alps between the boarder of France and Switzerland, one foot in each country. I’ll be there for a few days (warm up) before heading to St. Petersburg, Russia. There I will check out the town and see what it has to offer before I fly south to Mineral Vody, Russia. I will take a bus down to the Caucuses and begin to wander around until I find my way to the top of Mt. Elbrus. Once I reach the top and snapped a few photos, I’ll run down the mountain. From there I will fly north to Moscow and check out that town before heading back to the hills of North Carolina.

More details and photos whence I return!

Mount Olympus, West Peak 7,965 feet and Mt. Baker 10,790 feet.

This mountain has a very long approach. 44 miles round trip. While this would be manageable running with two water bottles in hand, it’s an entirely different experience with a 60lb Arct’yrex Bora 95 pack! Day 1: The first day was flat and cloudy with some rain mixed into the hike. From that point on until I got back to the parking lot 4 days later my cloths never dried. We spent the first night at Lewis Meadows, set up camp, cooked dinner, and prepared for the next days hike which is where the elevation started taking place. I dropped some food and dry cloths at Lewis Meadows and lightened my load by a few pounds. Day 2: The next day we hiked up to Glacier Meadows following the Hoh river which is where most people end their journey. It was there I met the white mountain goat. I also found weird bones left on the trail, not sure what kind of animal it was (photo). I knew we didn’t have much time as we were planning on getting up at 3am for an alpine start at an attempt to summit the West Peak of Mt. Olympus. I can see why not too many people attempt this climb, the approach is extremely long and tiring if you are carrying all the necessary gear for a safe climb. Along the way we met an Italian team and a San Francisco based team. The Italians didn’t seem to have all the necessary gear for the climb, but appeared to know what they were getting themselves into. They had rope, but no harnesses, which can be scary while traversing over ice bridges and crevasses. They explained that they were used to glacier and snow travel as they lived above 6,000 feet in Northern Italy. Giovanni and Paula were their names.
Day 3: We got up at 3am, and ate breakfast and began gather our gear (crampons, anchors, harnesses, rope, etc.) We hiked up the moraine and down the moraine in complete darkness by way of our headlamps. The sun began to come up while we were on the blue glacier. This glacier is one of a kind and is filled with small crevasses with blue ice frozen over and is almost never covered in snow. You literally are walking on ice that is tens of thousands of years old and is distinctly blue. After crossing the Blue Glacier we continued up to the Snow Dome at 6,600 feet. Moving towards the left we entered an area called the keyhole and turned around the summit. It was there we ended up on rock and not glacier. We rock climbed to the summit, and reached it at 9:40am PST Tuesday.

As we headed back down the snow conditions were much different after a few hours of sun light. The snow was mushier and now less safe to travel. I lead our rope team on the decent. This can be a tricky job. If an ice bridge weakens after the sun heats it up and thus makes it unstable, I will be the one to take the fall. Good glacier knowledge and glacier travel technique is certainly something you need to know at this point. I made it back to Glacier Meadows camp at 1pm. We all gathered our gear, repacked our bags and continued down to the Ranger Station another 10 more miles down. We pitched the tent near the Hoh river hoping it wouldn’t rain and that the breeze would carry the mosquitoes away.

Day 4: We repacked everything, and hiked another 9 miles out to the cars. My legs were trashed at the end of this climb. Too much hiking with a heavy pack left my muscles and my joints felling it. We still had another mountain to climb.

Our gear was wet, we were all exhausted and we decided to take a rest day, and quickly changed our minds on climbing Mt. Rainier and used our back up option, Mt. Baker via the Easton Glacier. I had done Mt. Baker a year ago with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Washington. Last year I climbed it via the Coleman Deming Glacier. We headed north and crossed the Olympic Peninsula via a ferry to Oak Harbor, Washington. We spent the night in the Auld Holland Inn (http://www.auldhollandinn.com/) which I recommend if your looking for a good deal in that part of Washington. There we washed cloths, lets our gear dry, and planned for our summit bid on Mt. Baker. The plan was to climb Mt. Baker in 24 hours. This is a lofty goal alone, but to do it after a 4 day climb up Mt. Olympus was a bit of a stretch.

Day 1, 3pm: Because we had planned to do this in one day our load was light. We carried enough food and gear only for a night and the next day. Approaching Mt. Baker from the North we hiked in 2.5 miles and set up camp on the base of the glacier. It was there we spent 1.5 hours digging and building a platform on the ice for our tent. 10 feet away there was a crevasses. I believe we were safe however because we were very close to the rocks. We pitched the tent, began cooking dinner, and watched the sun go down. I have attached a video of my friend Tito giving a pre-climb report.

Day 2, 3am: We woke up, made some oatmeal, and gathered our gear and were roped up and climbing by 4am. The ascent up Mt. Baker started off easy, but quickly became steep. We reached a 40% grade which is fairly steep for me. Your crampons have to be able to dig deep into the hardened snow and you must trust them to hold you and your entire loads weight. We reached the summit at 10:20 am PST for a beautiful morning. The weather could not have been better. We stayed at the summit for 40 minutes and then began our decent. Again, I took the lead descending. We were descending about 2.5 to 3 times faster than our ascent. By this time we were all feeling the fatigue in our system, but kept moving along. We would be traversing around crevasses and ice bridges. Finally we made it back to camp at 2pm. I knew that I would not make it out of there in 24 hours, I still needed to pack up all my gear, and hike down a very steep 2.5 miles out. I was back at the car at 4:20, 25:20 minutes to summit Mt. Baker and back. Last year it took me 3 days to reach the summit and get back, so Id say it’s a bit of an improvement.

It certainly is good to be back on land, and back in Carolina trail country.

Mt. Baker Summit

I reached the summit at 10:20am PST Friday.
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Mt. Baker Ascent

After using our one contingency day to dry our wet gear we realized that Mt. Rainier was no longer an option. Mt. Baker is our next adventure, and we plan on climbing it between now and very late Friday via the Coleman Glacier route. We are departing from the trailhead at 3.30 PM PST.

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Mt. Olympus Update

No cell phone reception. All 4 charlotte based climbers have returned safely. I reached the summit of Mt. Olympus at 9:40am on Tuesday PST.
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Twofer Climb - Pre Report: Mt. Olympus & Mt. Rainier

Objective: Climb Mt. Olympus (7,965 ft) and then Mt. Rainier (14,411 ft) in six days.

Yes, there is more to Mohammed than just running. I really enjoyed climbing Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier last year, and I’ll be back again this week with a small group from Charlotte. We will attempt to summit both peaks in one week with travel from and back to Charlotte.
Both of these peaks will require glacier travel and that means crampons and good rope-work must be put into play. I will be updating my blog live from the summit of both mountains (pending good cell phone reception).

Jabel Toubkal 13,671 feet

Morocco is always an adventure. Every year I discover a new village, and meet new people while I am in Northwest Africa. The very same mountains that inspired me to get out and become more active and learn how to run in the hills were paid homage. Jebel (mountain in Arabic) Toubkal, the highest of the Atlas stands at 13,671 feet. I reached the summit of Toubkal on Tuesday July 24th at 8:45am. I remember the summit being cold, and very windy. Windshield temperatures were freezing which was cooler than expected up there.

My journey started on Monday when me and my cousin Ra’fat started a seven hour drive down to the Berber village of Imlil. We started in Tangier Morocco, the gateway to Africa from Europe. In route we passed Rabat, Casablanca, and Marrakesh. Driving conditions were good as the new highway that was built in the last few years now went all the way to Marrakesh.

When we reached the town of Imlil we parked the car and attempted to find the trailhead. We didn’t hire a guide because I knew there would be many people attempting the summit and we would be able to follow people we met on the trail. The first half an hour we got lost a few times, but then we go on the right track and headed up the trail. The town of Armoud was especially nice. Here you can visit a village that has about 180 households with no road access. The only way in is by foot or by mule. Further along the trail I visited the mystical shrine of Sidi Chamharouch. Here only Muslims are allowed to enter and view the shrine. By this time, Ra’fat was feeling the heat and the effects of hiking for 4 hours on the Moroccan trail. This was his first time ever attempting a hike. The pack I was carrying had approximately 50 lbs. and I offered to carry all of his weight. A few Berber villagers offered to carry his pack on their mules, but being a trooper, he declined and wanted to carry his own weight.

Darkness was quickly approaching and we still had another hour of hiking until we reached the base camp of the French Alpine Refuge (10,686 feet). We headlamped it until we reached our base camp where we found a warm bed, food, and a group of 50 other climbers. We were the last two to reach camp that night. I was impressed with Ra’fats accomplishment so far. After dinner, I explained to him that we would need to get very early start so we can beat the heat on the way down. The next morning after hiking for 20 minutes, Ra’fat decided to stop as exhaustion took its toll on his body. He hiked back down to camp and rested as I continued to push on for the summit. I took off at this point and was passing several hikers along the way. Some rock scrambling was required in certain area’s. Much of this area reminded me of Kilimanjaro. The scree was a bit annoying on the way up, and was very dangerous on the way down.

After reaching the summit, I stood on top of North Africa and admired the view for 10 minutes. It was here that the high winds stopped blowing for 2 or 3 minutes. Complete calmness, and then back full force. The wind was so strong that I had to crouch down a little for fear of flying off the face of Toubkal. An hour and forty five minutes later I was back at base camp. I hired a mule and his owner Ibrahim to carry my cousin Ra’fat down the mountain, and also carry my heave pack down as I wanted to save my joints for my run that I would attempt 3 days later.

We made it back to our car, and drove to Jama elFna in Marrakesh for dinner, and continued all the way back to Tangier arriving at something like 3am on Wednesday.

Summit Kilimanjaro 19,340 feet

Kilimanjaro is one of the seven summits of the world, the highest mountain in Africa. I began the climb on the Machame route on the western side of this massive mountain. The journey will take 7 days round trip, to the summit at 19,340 and back down to Moshi, Tanzania. One of the awesome aspects of this climb is going thru all the climactic zones, from the tropics to the arctic.


I was part of a gr0up of 11 climbers from Charlotte, NC. Below are some photos of the climb.


Day 1. Machame Camp 10,000 feet
Day 2. Baranco Wall 12,500 feet (via Lava Tower 15,000 feet)
Day 3. Baranco Wall 12,500 feet.
Day 4. Karanga Hut 13,100 feet.
Day 5. Barafu Camp 14,500 feet.
Day 6. Summit 19,630 feet and back to Millennium Camp 12,200 feet.
Day 7. Meweka Gate 5,900 feet.

Day 1. Machame Camp 10,000 feet.

Day 2. Baranco Wall 12,500 feet (via Lava Tower 15,000 feet)

Day 3. Baranco Wall 12,500 feet.
Day 4. Karanga Hut 13,100 feet.

Day 5. Barafu Camp 14,500 feet.









Day 6. Summit 19,630 feet and back to Millenim Camp 12,200 feet.






Day 7. Meweka Gate 5,900 feet.

Both the safari and the climb were booked with Zara Tanzanian Travel which I highly recomend. They did a wonderful job!

Mt. Rainier