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Jonathan Yarak | profile | all galleries >> Travel >> Tanzania 2013 >> Kilimanjaro tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Kilimanjaro

We climbed the 19,341ft Mt Kilimanjaro on the 7-day Machame route in mid-August 2013. It was 5 days of hiking and camping, an unbelievably cold and strenuous summit climb, and a day and a half of knee-crunching descent. But we made it!! I hauled my camera and 3 lenses (including the 70-200 2.8 IS II) all the way to the summit, though I could barely use them with my fingers as cold as they were, but I was determined!
Sign with timings at Machame gate. We had to register at the start and at every camp. Porters getting their loads packed. A blue monkey seeing us off. Requisite photo at the starting sign.
Porters setting off. This guy's pack-size-to-leg-size ratio was impressive. One of the few endemic flowers on the mountain. These guys had their porters set them up an entire lunch table on the trail... Now that's real cloud forest.
Breaking through the forest into the first camp at the Machame hut. First view of the crater rim. A wider view of the rim and Western Breach. Heading up on day 2. Clouds below.
First views of the Shira summit. Heading up into the clouds. A Kili raven! Everything was a Kili-something. g9/78/587478/3/157646898.64YkkPVg.jpg Steep section of the trail.
Our guide Abdul posing above the clouds. Another one of the endemic flowers on Kili. Shira camp. Sunset over the Shira summit. Rainbow at sunset!
Sunset continuing over Shira, with Mt Meru on the left. Sunrise on Shira. Our whole crew. 10 porters and 2 guides for the 3 of us... A Kili dove! Shira plateau in the distance on day 3.
The trail up to Lava tower with the crater rim above. The train of porters heads up, silhouetted against the mountain. Heading into the clouds. Lava tower shrouded in fog. 15000ft altitude at this point. g9/78/587478/3/157646915.eriyt5vl.jpg
g9/78/587478/3/157646916.F8ZPO8bA.jpg g9/78/587478/3/157646917.NDBxjZYX.jpg g9/78/587478/3/157646918.VEziFAlx.jpg Kili from Barranco camp, after the clouds finally cleared. Barranco camp and the summit.
Sun setting on the Kili summit. Looking down from Barranco camp. Barranco camp and Kili. Perseid meteor on the left, with the Milky Way extending from behind the Kili summit. Moon and the Milky Way.
Sunrise on Barranco. The Barranco wall, note all the climbers and porters heading up it.. Looking up the Barranco wall. The abandoned Barranco camp, as seen from the wall. Short afternoon acclimatization hike above Karanga camp.
g9/78/587478/3/157646931.3X0aTRof.jpg Mountain Hard Wear has done well for itself here... Night shot of Karanga camp and Kili. A 16 minute exposure over Kili. Summit peeking out from the clouds on Day 5, heading to Barafu camp.
Our guide Abdul at a resting point. Last steep section heading up to Barafu at 15000ft. The Mawenzi summit and some anti-crepuscular rays. Kili summit from Barafu camp just before sunset. Mawenzi and even more pronounced anti-crepuscular rays.
Mawenzi and the Moon at sunset. Looking down onto the clouds below at sunset over Barafu camp. Sunset at Barafu. Heading out at midnight. Stars above, headlamps below, just before dawn on the summit ridge.
We made it! That's the shadow of the Earth being projected into the sky. Glacier with Mt Meru in the distance. The edge of the ash pit is just visible on the mound on the right. Sun first peeking over the clouds at the summit, Mawenzi is on the right.
Kilimanjaro's shadow being cast over Mt Meru. Close up of the glacier and Kili's shadow. Sunrise above the clouds. Sunrise on summit glaciers. Sunrise on summit glaciers.
Sunrise on summit glaciers. Stella Point in the strong wind. g9/78/587478/3/157646961.5vtuxfNM.jpg g9/78/587478/3/157646962.Hmz4IsbL.jpg The crater floor and ash pit mound.
Glaciers on the edge. Heading back down to Stella point. The summit sign in the distance. The Uhuru peak ridge as seen from Stella Point. Stella Point sign.
Abdul heading down the ski route. Sliding down on the gravel. Clear view of the trail up and Barafu camp on the ridge on the right. The three of us, victorious. Our guide Abdul posing.
Mt Meru in the distance. Telephoto of the Mawenzi summit. Our porters chilling while we rested after the summit climb. New climbers coming up to Barafu camp. A rescue sled on the climb down.
Rescue helipad. Our only sighting of a colobus monkey! Back into the cloud forests. All that I remember of this is that it went on FOREVER. But we finally made it down!

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joseantonio01-Oct-2014 04:16
Wonderful gallery with many great images.V.
click on thumbnails for full image