November 2 2001 - Uhuru Peak/Harambo Camp (11,000')

I didn't get a lot of sleep, partly because of the excitement and partly because a fierce electrical storm brewed up. Instead of raining on us, though, it dumped about 4 inches of snow. I was very surprised because I'd never seen an electrical snowstorm, and I until now I thought it wasn't possible. But when I got up at midnight, everything was white! I was worried that Simon would cancel the hike to the summit because of the foul weather, but he didn't. So we ate a snack, gathered our gear, and started walking around 12:30 am. It was hard to maintain a good internal temperature, without sweating or getting cold. Alice couldn't stay warm, so she turned around. Terry was moving slowly, so soon we left him behind and then it was just Mark, Freddy, and me.

The full moon was bright enough that we didn't have to use our headlamps much until it set behind the slope that we were climbing. As luck would have it, though, just a few minutes later the sun started to color the sky behind us, over nearby Mawenzi Peak. The temperature started to rise finally (which was awesome because it was ten below zero just before sunrise) and the skies turned brilliant colors of orange, pink, and red. We were moving slowly by that point, but the warmth and light gave us the push we needed to get to Stella Point, which offered our first view of the crater at the top of the mountain. The highest point on the rim of the crater is Uhuru Peak, still 45 minutes away, so we paused to drink some tea that Freddy had brought in a Thermos. I wasn't expecting a warm beverage that high up! The hike along the crater offered great views of several nearby ice fields & glaciers. Soon we were at Uhuru, at 19,345 feet! I was tired, but I never did get any altitude symptoms like headache or nausea. We took a few photos and talked with some others up there (various Europeans), and then went back down. We bumped into Terry and Simon back at Stella Point (as it turned out that was a far as he got before turning around). The descent wasn't nearly as difficult, and soon we were back at Barafu Camp. Alice was already down here at Harambo camp where we're staying tonight, so we waited for Terry and then continued on.