The team reached the summit of Kilimanjaro at sunrise today! They woke up at midnight for an “alpine start” to the day, and after a bit of breakfast they started up the Western Breach. This is a steeper route to the top and the dusting of snow made the day a bit more challenging, but they did great. The Western Breach is a break in the crater rim where you step right into the bottom of the summit crater, walking past the remnants of glaciers across the crater floor and then up to the rim and the high point of Uhuru Peak at 19,341ft. It was windy this morning as they broke over the top into the crater, before the sun came up and they were wearing everything they had to stay warm before the sun came up. They reached to top at sunrise and were able to enjoy the views from the highest point in Africa for a bit before beginning the long descent.

After summitting up through the Western Breach, they descended the “normal” route down through the Barafu high camp and continued down the 9000 ft descent to Mweka camp for the night.  It’s a long day for sure but they all did great and they are enjoying a big dinner and celebration on their last night on the mountain tonight.

Here’s Eric with the dispatch from camp this evening…

Kilimanjaro Summit Day Dispatch