Berg

Hear Wally's Call from Africa

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What a morning we had...[Unintelligible]...this is amazing—full moon. As you probably know, the second time this season I've been blessed enough to make this summit attempt with a full moon—no head lamps necessary this morning. Surprisingly warm, clear skies, high clouds that look like they'll chase us and catch us before the day's over. But, I seriously doubt that's going to be before summit—we'll descend into them later.

Nobody's gone from this team, this morning there's a group of 17 of us and everybody is definitely set and ready to go. Susan is still contemplating whether this head cold, she brought up from Nairobi, is going to make it her day or not. But, other than that, absolutely everybody is on the team and set to go. Susan will probably start and if she needs to come back with an African guide, do so. Patti and Rich; Bill, who was the fellow who smelled that popcorn yesterday; Wally Cox; Dave White; of course our honeymoon couple, Tom and Lark; New York boys, Lance and John; Jutta Ulrich; Fred Peterson; I think I've got the whole crew listed here, of course, myself and Sally; and the same guide team I had on the last trip. Tobias is the chief guide, of course, and John, James, and Mark are all the Chagga guides that will be going with us this morning.

Can't imagine things looking better than they do right now, but the mountain always gets the last word as you know. So, we'll see how we do; we're going to stay humble and determined. We've got a long, long way to go here, but excellent conditions to do it in. I'll probably give you a report from Stella Point at 19,000ft, if things go well. That'll be not long after the sun comes up maybe about six hours from now.

—Alpine Ascents Guide Wally Berg, MountainZone.com Correspondent