Quick and Joyful Kili

This Decem­ber hol­i­day sea­son, MM Guide Ben Mal­i­ty spent Christ­mas climb­ing Kil­i­man­jaro with a strong fam­i­ly from Swe­den! Their friends had climbed with Moun­tain Mad­ness the pre­vi­ous Decem­ber when Mark Gun­log­son’s fam­i­ly went to Tan­za­nia and had noth­ing but won­der­ful things to say about their expe­ri­ence. So nat­u­ral­ly, they were con­vinced that this was the best way for a fam­i­ly of 5 to spend their hol­i­days. And all 5, ages 14 to 50, reached the roof of Africa on Decem­ber 24^th! 

Head­ing into the park. Ben Mal­i­ty photo

The team got the full Moun­tain Mad­ness treat­ment, with overnight accom­mo­da­tions in the beau­ti­ful Itikoni Pri­vate Camp and a refresh­ing acclima­ti­za­tion hike to the stun­ning water­falls to help recov­er from their travels. 

Ben Mal­i­ty photo

The whole fam­i­ly was so strong, includ­ing litlte Mark who was 14 years old, and they did spec­tac­u­lar­ly on the West­ern Breach (seen below). The fam­i­ly, porters and guides dis­cov­ered Yahtzee was the com­mon favorite game, and it became a dai­ly past­time in the tent after meals. 

West­ern Breach. Ben Mal­i­ty photo

Ben Mal­i­ty photo

The moun­tain was bring­ing some par­tic­u­lar­ly cold weath­er at this time, so the it was a good thing the team was feel­ing great and mov­ing quick­ly. They were able to sum­mit a day ahead of sched­ule! After lunch and the clas­sic pho­tos of the stun­ning crater and what’s left of the glac­i­er, the team reached the sum­mit and head­ed down to Bara­fu camp. 

Sum­mit! Ben Mal­i­ty photo

An ear­ly wake-up was accom­pa­nied with a beau­ti­ful sun­rise on the moun­tain and the team head­ed down the mountain. 

Sun­rise over Kil­i­man­jaro. Ben Mal­i­ty photo

Arrival at Mwe­ka Gate meant cel­e­bra­tions for all and a deli­cious Christ­mas meal, com­plete with a turkey and two bot­tles of cham­pagne! Con­grat­u­la­tions again to Har­ald, Adri­enne, Leonie, Nico­lai and Mark!

Ben Mal­i­ty photo