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Kilimanjaro Ski Expedition 2003
Team Members: Pietro Simonetti, Katie, Mike Stadler, Scott Woolums, Cindy Stephens.
The Cause: A benifit climb to help support the Colorado Cancer Organization www.co-cancer-foundation.org
See the Reports Below!
The Official Website: A link to Pietros web site with more information on our goals and the sponsors that have helped to make it happen. www.updownkili.com Our Sponsors:
November 4th, Around to the
Remote Northern Circuit!
After some hard afternoon rains were up at 12,800 ft. at the Fisher Camp. A
fantastic day yesterday walking across the Shira Plateau. Always an interesting
place. A very good view of Kilimanjaro in the morning. Up and around to the
north side of Kilimanjaro tomorrow. The route we are planning this trip is to go
around to the North Side from the Lemesho route approach, then up the Rongai
route to the summit, and down the Mweka Route. This combination is truly very
unique with the Northern Circuit only visited if at all each year only once or
twice! Without question, this is the most pristine and remote route on
Kilimanjaro
with by far the fewest number of people. For many years the Marangu Route saw
the largest numbers of people (and probably still does by a little bit), but now
almost everyone is doing the Machame and Shira routes which are no longer the
crowd free routes of 5 years ago. In fact we have seen upwards of over 100
people at some of the camps on the Machame route and in the Barranco Valley and
Barafu Huts. Extremely overcrowded now! So we have started a new program to
visit the absolutely untravelled Northern Circuit on Kilimanjaro. A good trail,
good water (if you know where to look), and lots of animals coming up from the
Amboseli National Park of Kenya! The very best combination, and normally
no more days (7 to 8) for the route. Tomorrow we trek up to the Moru Hut, then
around to a camp we call Spring Camp as it has he only water source for a long
ways. See several Elan from lower down wandering up high today. Giraffe and Cape
Buffalo are also likely here, as with Simba (Lion). Scott Woolums Reporting.
November 2nd, Arusha Park and
Kilimanjaro!
Everything's packed and and were off in The Land Rovers to first,
Arusha Park where we do a day Safari on our way over to the start of the
Kilimanjaro Climb. Arusha Park is very beautiful sitting right between Mt. Meru
(over 16,000 ft.) and Kilimanjaro. We spot a lot of game on the way. Giraffe,
Cape Buffalo, Baboon, Dik Dik,
Warthogs, Colobus Monkeys and Flamingos. We reach the entrance to Kilimanjaro
Park and Camp. Ready to start tomorrow morning. A beautiful small village here
at the gate, lots of great photos and stories today. Scott Woolums Reporting.
Nov 1st, in Arusha, Tanzania!
Enjoying an easy day getting everything ready. Beautiful weather with a great
forecast on the horizon. Fairly clear today with a great view of Mt. Meru (see
photo) from town. We plan to get started
tomorrow morning to head up to Kilimanjaro with a safari on the way in the truly
wonderful Arusha National Park. Everyone is enjoying a slow day here by the
pool. Tomorrow, the Kilimanjaro adventure begins! Watch for updates here
everyday! Report by Scott Woolums.
October 31st, Booo! All in Arusha
Now!
The team is all here now from half way around the world, all
the effort, dreams and energy have come together for this moment. Pietros group
went for a short hike today up through a small village on the edge of Arusha.
Cindy and I arrived this afternoon from the death defying overland bus voyage
from Nairobi, Kenya. Were still in one piece! Conditions look good on the
mountain now, met with the guides that will be along on our trip. Exaud,
Benjamin and William. These guys are stellar in helping put together the on
mountain logistics, cooking and porter organization for this. I have worked on
many trips now with this group on Kilimanjaro and they are some of the best
guides working. Looking forward to another great trip with them! Now we have to
check all the electronics out tomorrow, buy food, pack the equipment and
basically get everything together for starting
November
2nd on our journey. Tonight we are enjoying live music and dinner at the outdoor
Mezza Luna
Café near our hotel. We stay at the Impala Hotel here which really is quite
nice. A great pool, close to downtown, and excellent food. More tomorrow, thanx
for checkin out the web site! Report by Scott Woolums
Tough Conditions at our Arusha Base Camp!
Kilimanjaro 2003, The Adventure Begins!
Well everything is ready now for our Kilimanjaro Expedition. Pietro
has worked hard putting together a lot of support for a really great cause. See
his website at www.updownkili.com for more details
on our climb for Cancer Research. We are working closely forwarding our live
updates you see here to Pietros website so everyone can follow the trip up
Kilimanjaro and out across the plains of Africa on Safari! Pietro and team have
left today for their first stop in Europe, then onto Arusha, Tanzania on October
29th. We will be meeting them in Arusha on the 31st, and plan to head up towards
Kilimanjaro on the 2nd of November to start the climb! We have an excellent team
of guides and porters that
have been working with us for many years in Arusha. They are already getting
everything set to go for our arrival. Looking forward to a great trip! Stay
tuned here for the latest news as we climb to the "Roof of Africa"!
