Update from Tanzania

I finally heard from my world-traveling-wife this morning - here's her account of the ascent of Kilimanjaro:

Thought I'd give you a Kili update. We had a good group of 12, aged 68 to
30, with me being the youngest. Two Americans, two Aussies, two New
Zealanders and five British guys.

First few days were fine, we had a great guide crew, food was excellent.
The summit day-well, it sucked. We started at 15,500 feet and had
temperatures around -200C (60F) with winds 30-50mph sustained, gusts of up
to 80mph. We were climbing in scree for 6 hours, and did I mention that it
was dark and we started at midnight?

If it weren't for the guides, none of us would have made it. It was the
most miserable I've ever been physically + mentally and if it weren't for
Passien and Stratton saying "Anything is possible", "look how high we've
come", "I know you're strong", "let me carry your pack" I wouldn't have
made it to the top. But I did make it, all the way to Uhuru, the roof of
Africa. I still can't believe that in those terribly awful conditions,
that I made it.

Of 12 climbers, 9 in our group made it to Uhuru and 2 more to the crater
rim at Gilman's Point. A successful climb. It took us 8 hours to Uhuru (6
hours to Gilman's before sunrise) and then we came down 3 hours and had
lunch, and then hiked an additional 3 hours to our camp.14 hours. I've
never been so exhausted!


On to Uganda-primates await.