Berg

Hear Wally's Call from Africa

Click for [RealPlayer]  [Windows Media]

(Requires FREE RealPlayer or Windows Media)

Things have gone extremely well today. Still beautiful, layered, clouds in every direction. I'm looking across at Mount Meru in one direction and back across at Mawenzi, the 17,000ft sister volcano of Kilimanjaro, in the other direction, really beautiful walk up here.

Everybody's doing great. With all of these commuters we've got a really interesting and useful experience of having our group hit the final ridge and begin going up and begin running across people coming down who are exactly in the shoes we'll all be in about 24 hours from now. In other words, they got up at 11 o'clock or midnight and climbed through the morning, hopefully reached the summit at Uhuru, or at least up on the crater rim sometime, and now they're descending.

It's really encouraging for everyone to talk to these people; they look tired, happy. Some worried about cold or dressing warm are the first things off the lips of virtually every one of them and that's really great for me as a guide because nothing is more valid than hearing it from them. I can talk all I want about how as we become more high, possibly keep going higher, we'll need to dress really warmly and efficiently and all of that. But, looking into the eyes of another climber after he had his summit day is much more convincing than anything I could say. So they had that benefit, but also, as I said, the encouragement of seeing these folks--they've been here; they did it; they're still walking; they’ve got a few hours to go down to their camp in the forest where we'll all be tomorrow. And it was great seeing them.

The next folks have passed me, Helen and Tom, who are of course doing the climb one day faster than us, having had the glitch with their lost bags, are doing great...[Unintelligible]....we're going to give everyone all the support we can for what will be a long, long day, as we've described before, but a big day for all of us. We respect the mountain; we know that it gets the last word, but we came here to climb this thing and we're going to give it our best.

I'll keep you updated as we continue up. Maybe a little cold through the morning hours tomorrow, maybe I'll call you again when we're all at High Camp. But at any rate, with good luck, you'll get that call from Uhuru, the rooftop of Africa, sometime in the fairly early morning tomorrow.

4000 Feet to Go!
Hi Mountain Zone, it's Wally again.

I'm calling you a lot today just describing our ascent. I have finally arrived at Barafu behind most of the rest of the group. I sat down, a few hundred feet below here, and enjoyed the view of the afternoon sun on Mawenzi with Jeff Fisher and then came on up. And we're all settling down for the usual quick dinner, a lot of soup to rehydrate, a few hours of rest before our big adventure tomorrow. Jeff will be here by six and I think he'll be pretty good. I admire this guy incredibly. As I've described, he's an athlete, a very different sort than what I've been over the years; a defensive lineman, an ex-football player, who's spent a few years behind a computer. Despite the fact that he has a mountaineering heart and a mountaineering spirit, big time, his size is not working in his favor and his knees began to bother him as well. But, he's going to be here in a little bit and he'll begin to rest, with the rest of us.

A big adventure upcoming tomorrow. I always admire people so much that undertake these things. It's amazing to watch the determination, the character, the sense of adventure, resolve to see it through, with folks who come here to climb with me. Helen Fong and Tom, of course, have done this pace the same way most people do it — one day faster than Alpine Ascents usually does. They seem to be holding up pretty well. Helen, incredibly, had never camped outdoors until she got to Machame Camp at the top of the mud the other day. And her spirit and determination are really an inspiration for me to see.

We're all going to take out of here, as you well know, in just a few short hours from now. And I'm not going to do a dispatch then, I don't think; it's usually a little too cold and hurried, but hopefully you'll hear some good news from us after the sun has hit the crater rim and we've ascended 4,000 more feet from the Barafu Camp here.

—Alpine Ascents Guide Wally Berg, MountainZone.com Correspondent