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Nov 3, 2026 : John WBloggers
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Sun Oct 25
11.7m
Climb 3528
From Kosovo Camp (elev 16,000 ft, 4876m)
To Mweka Camp (elev ~10,000 ft)
6.1m and climb 3514 ft to summit and back
5.6m 14 ft from Kosovo Camp to Mweka Camp
Cold Midnight Start
I woke up a little before 11pm. There was definitely ice on the tent. I was wearing my thicker wool socks and less breathable (warmer) gore-tex trail runners. On my legs, I was wearing mid-weight cycling tights, winter fleece cycling tights, my pants, rain pants, and over-the-calf gaiters. On my upper body, I had a long sleeve thermal shirt, my sun hoodie, a fairly lightweight fleece, and my rain jacket. On my head I had my fleece balaclava, and the hood from my sun hoodie. I was wearing my will glove liners with hand warmers in them. Additionally, I had my down puffy jacket and a pair of ski gloves in my backpack.
We headed out at 12:12 on our hike to the summit. It didn’t take long for me to trade my glove liners for ski gloves, moving the handwarmers from one set of gloves to the other. When we started climbing, that ended up being a little much, but was rectified by slipping my balaclava off my head, leaving it around my neck for ready access.
Climb to Stella Point
As the night went on, it got much colder. I felt a struggle. I wanted to hike faster to generate more heat to keep warm. And while I was never winded, I wasn’t sure if I could process enough oxygen to speed up. In any case, it was clear that others in the group couldn’t. I really wasn’t that cold, with the exception of my toes. I wished I had brought toe warmers.
It was only a day before full moon, so we had lots of light until the moon set behind Kili, allowing me to follow Herment without either of us using it headlamps.
A nice surprise was when the guides gave us hot tea a couple times. The warmth and sweetness was a real treat.
Stella Point – Finally done the steep climbing
Along the Rim
Once we reached Stella point (elev 18,884 ft) on the rim of the crater, the steep climbing was over. It was still a little while before sunrise, but it didn’t look like the whole group would make it to Uhuru Peak (the actual summit) by sunrise. Herment let Florian escort James and me to the summit, hopefully in time for sunrise. We saw sunrise from a couple hundred yards from the summit. The rest of the crew arrived about 10 minutes later.
Uhuru Peak
It was really cold and windy up there. My water bottles had turned to slushie, even though I filled them with warm water before we left camp. All we ended up doing at the peak was take several photos. No Thriller dance.
As I was walking around the rim on the way down, I saw lots of people being assisted by guides. I even saw someone getting a piggy back ride. The guides will do amazing things to help hikers achieve their summit dreams.
Looking down on a glacier and Mt. Meru from the summit
Down to Camp
The trip down beat people up. Joel and Dave both had. Joel’s stomach hadn’t felt right for the last couple days. Both of them were able to hike – they still seemed pretty strong – but the guides escorting them provided a little extra stability. Jake and James both complained about their knees hurting. I used my trekking poles to cushion every downhill step. That was one advantage of hiking a couple thousand PCT miles with them.
Long line of people descending from the summit
Camp Celebrations
Back at camp, the staff has brought the chairs out from the dining tent for us to sit in. They served us fresh juice and sang and danced congratulations for us.
Previously on the trip, there had been numerous call and response cheers/yells.
Call: Kilimanjaro Hakuna
Response: Matata
Call: One team
Response: One dream
Call: Non-stop
Response: To the top
But from this point on, “To the top” was replaced with “To the shower.” I thought that was fun.
We went into our tents to pack up and rest – no time to rest for me after packing up – before being served a brunch.
Kosovo Camp to Mweka Camp
It was a 5.6 mile hike from Kosovo to Mweka in which we also descended about 6000 feet. With the descent back to camp, that would amount to about 9000 feet of descent in 9 miles, averaging about a 20% grade.
As we passed through Barafu Camp, I was amazed by the number of trekking groups camped there. Talking to our guides, they said that the sites at each camp were usually determined on a first-come first-served basis. They also said that this was as low season, so Barafu was actually much empty than usual. They pointed out more empty sites quite a ways away from all the occupied sites.
It became cloudy/foggy almost as soon as we left Kosovo and stayed that way the entire hike. For a couple friendly sections in the middle (gradual downhill on smooth trail), it felt like we were moving quite slowly.
We actually seemed to do better later on, with worse, steeper trails. Having not been able to eat enough the last couple days, Joel was struggling, not feeling completely steady on his feet. When Herment have him some extra support (hand under the arm), Joel was strong enough to fly down the mountain. Most of the crew wasn’t keeping up with him.
The rock scramble between Barafu and Kosovo camps
Working our way through a rather featureless stretch of moorland
Mweka Camp
Mweka Camp was in the moorland zone, with lots of small trees. When we got to camp the tents were all set up between the abundant trees. There weren’t any large flat treeless areas.
After getting things set up in my tent and resting for a few minutes, in went to the dining tent for some hot drinks, snacks, and company. But I was the only one there. It want into a few minutes before dinner that anyone else showed up. They were really tired.
Guide Impressions
I was amazed by how much I saw guides doing for hikers on the mountain. That was especially true watching Herment helping Joel. Granted, Joel is very strong. He also willingly accepted the help and worked with Herment, talking about things like where he was placing his feet on some of the rocky steps. But I was truly impressed to see how effective it was.
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