Arrow Glacier

Day 40 2/23/99: Arrow Glacier (16,000')

I was half way through my 80 days of vacation and sabbatical, and I was getting closer to the top of Africa.

Again it snowed last night at Sheffield Camp.

Theresa's hiking poles were frozen to the tent. Most of the times we put our hiking poles outside our tent so at night I can find my way back to the right tent. I was fortunate that I never went into the wrong tent--that would have been very embarrassing. :-)

What a cool way to have breakfast! Literally! The ground was dusted with frost.

As the sun rose, the frost melted, except in the shadow. Do you believe that out of my more than 1000 pictures on my digital camera, this is one of my personal favorites?

We started our short but steep hike today at 9a.m. I was impressed that Theresa crossed the little frozen stream without falling.

We reached the Lava Tower in just half an hour. Last night we saw people camping here. Cancel your reservation at the Lava Tower Hut. :-) Don't stay there because it is mostly crushed below huge boulders. Yes, that's Mt Meru on the left in the background. Just 5 minutes later the fog rolled in.

[by Doyle] We were resting and enjoying the nice sunshine.

You have heard of the Snow of Kilimanjaro. Here was a half-frozen stream of melted Kilimanjaro glacial water.

Samia was always ready to assist the stragglers of the day. I was glad that I was no longer one of them. I hoped.

Don't worry. Greg and his sister Lesley were doing just fine. They were just posing a picture with Samia.

Theresa was making her way up to Arrow Glacier camp.

How can I prove to you that we were really climbing on Mt. Kilimanjaro, and we were getting close to 16,000'? Just look at  the bag of cookies that we brought from sea level. Due to the lower atmospheric pressure, it was ready to burst!

Wow, can you see? It was pretty foggy. It was also cold.

After about 3 hours of hiking, we got to camp and had lunch. By now the fresh banana did not look too fresh anymore. I never liked ripened bananas anyway. However, I did tremendously enjoy the mushroom soup, grilled cheese and grilled fresh tomato sandwiches, and this spicy Indian appetizer, which is in the center-right of this picture.

The fog never lifted. I did not know where we were camping. Are you sure that we were at the Arrow Glacier Camp?

Let me tell you that chicken noodle soup tasted so good near the top of Kilimanjaro. It was dinner time, and it was our last opportunity to fuel up for tomorrow's big day on the Western Breach Wall. It was important to "eat, eat, and eat," as Alex said. I ate plenty because Alex warned us that one may loose his appetite at anytime on the mountain. We had an early dinner at 5:30p.m. so we can rest up for tomorrow's big hike.

We now just had a few more days on the mountain. Even though I have not done the most difficult parts of this hike yet, I've started to miss this mountain already! What a great place to hike and camp!

Here is a two-frame panoramic shot of Moshi below the cloud cover on the left-hand side and Mt. Meru to the right. I think Liza and Lois were admiring the clouds below. I took this picutre next morning where there was no fog.

  Here is a two-frame panoramic shot of our camp at Arrow Glacier.

Now it's time for the most challenging and longest hiking day for Theresa and myself in our life!