Kili kicked my ass!

We made it! After 5 days of exploring the Kilimanjaro mountain area on foot, myself, and 3 women friends summitted Kili at sunrise on a stunning morning. After 5 days of a lot of rain, our summit weather held just long enough to view the impressive and quickly melting glaciers surrounding the highest point in Africa.

And I must say oddly enough it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Odd because I've done much "tougher" mountains. I felt totally awesome on both Elbrus and Orizaba which are not much lower than Kili. I felt like I was completely out of it on Kili and getting up it ON A TRAIL, no less, felt unbelieveably difficult physically. I was very intrigued with the odd way my body felt at altitude - mostly due to the inadequate aclimationg process we did prior to our summit bid. I learned much more about how my body works at altitude. All in all an excellent climb in a very unique spot on the planet.

I'm finding Africa to be gorgeous and complex and the people lovely. Tomrrow we leave for a 2 day safari. I'll be back at you with much more detail soon!

xoxo

Terri