January 19, 2009

The morning was clear and sunny with hardly a cloud in sight. The afternoon brought a few clouds, perhaps just enough to give the girls a bit of rest from the sun.  Our guess from below is that the views of Kili were great all the way up until sunset, when it was only peaking above the clouds. As dusk approaches the clouds over Meru are lifting as well. With a bit of luck the team will have a nice and clear night for their summit bid. They are spending the night at Saddle Hut.

Their climb today was again, very steep. The guides have assessed the speed of the team and feel it will be best to start for the summit around 2am. Their hope is to get the team to the summit together by sunrise, and then back down to the highest set of huts (Saddle Hut 3,570 m/11,712 ft) for breakfast, before descending to the lowest set of huts (Miriakamba  2,514 m/8,250 ft) for the night. The summit stands tall at 4,565 m/14,977 ft!

The team will be climbing for St Jude and using the energy from the kids to get them to the summit.  We have a bit of a surprise in store for the team when they come down Wednesday…the 12 students from St Jude will drive to the gate with the Summits crew to meet the 3 Peaks team as they finish their second peak!

Though we have yet to hear a direct report from them, we know they are in good hands and wish them the best on their 2am start!

Updates will be added as we get in touch with guides.  Please also note electricity in Arusha has been off an on all night – so their may be some delays!