A personal journal recording and reflecting on my walks around the world.
Kilimanjaro is the highest free standing mountain in the world, one of the seven summits and still an active volcano. Here is my journey to ‘The Roof of Africa’. Click on the walk to read the post or use the interactive map to see the route.
Day 7 (Part 2) Summit day – Uhuru Peak 19,341ft to Millennium Huts (12,556ft)
Why men climb mountains is a question that has been asked for as long as men and women have been climbing mountains. I guess the answer is as individual as the person who is asked. I’m sure Alex Honnold and Chris Bonington would give different, but not maybe too different answers. For me, walking satisfies a deep need. A need, not to achieve, or conquer but to find peace with myself. It gives me time to think and reflect, time to pray and settle my mind, time to consider and make decisions. Life and experience change us but the Mountains remain reassuringly the same. They provide a constancy in our lives and the mountains are always bigger than our own personal circumstances. So here I am on top of a Mount Kilimanjaro, filled with that immense sense of satisfaction that comes from doing something that is not easy, that takes something out of you but gives you so much more back in return.
Day 7 (Part 1) Summit day – Barafu Huts Camp (15,295ft) to Uhuru Peak 19,341ft
It’s two minutes past midnight and we are ‘pulling the trigger’ on our summit bid as Joshua put it in his briefing. Another phrase that struck me in his pre-summit briefing was “give me the next six hours of your life and I’ll get you to the Roof of Africa”. I’ve dreamed of climbing Kili for years, I’ve planned and prepared for this trip for nearly seven months, I’ve walked for six days to get to this point and now, all that remains is six hours, six hours to fulfil a dream.