Kilimanjaro Photos

Kilimanjaro definitely exceeded all expectations, It was beautiful, but I guess I didn't really know what to expect before I got there. I thought there wouldn't be much snow, but the glaciers were pretty legitimate, no California 'glaciers' here, but I also thought crampons etc would be necessary, not so much. It was really just a big hike, but pretty different than your average backpacking trip..

Kilimanjaro

So things I noticed:

Luxury:
I am not used to having my bag carried for me and all my meals cooked and brought to me in my tent while I rested.. and I went with a 'budget' operator. Felt a little awkward watching my backpack go up the trail with my stuff in it, but saving 2% of the total cost so I could carry it didn't really seem worth it. (Does every porter in the world smoke cigarettes?) There were about 3-4 people supporting each client on the mountain (guides, porters, etc).

It wasn't really that tough of a hike:
I think the altitude gets a lot of people, but since I was in Ethiopia at 9,000ft for the previous three months it wasn't much of a problem for me. I was at camp most days before 2pm and I think I gained weight with all the good food I was eating. The summit day was tough, but overall it was very enjoyable.

Obama:
My first night on the mountain happened to coincide with the Obama inauguration. I thought I was going to miss the speech, but my cook had a portable radio with him, and I listened to the historic speech huddled in the cold at 7000ft listening to el presidente with some locals 6000 miles from Washington DC who were as rapt as I was.. pretty memorable.