On the summit night, we got up at 11 PM and were on our way to the top before mid-night. We walked and climbed for seven hours in cold and wind… Actually, I didn’t expect that the climb would be so challenging. I wasn’t disappointed to have this challenge — it was a good test for all of us… It was memorable — this type of challenge is not easy to forget.

It was so cold during the whole climb that night. I think the weather was -20C plus wind chill.  My hands and feet were freezing. I didn’t have proper gloves for this kind of weather — I didn’t expect this summit climb would be so cold. Truth is I couldn’t find warmer gloves or warmer clothes in Italy as it was in the middle of the summer before I left…  Actually, our local guide told us that this type of weather occurs once in few months or so. So, we just got “lucky”…

I was so lucky our local guide had an extra pair of wool gloves and gave it to me… I was finally able to feel my fingers.

We reached the first summit point– Stella Point (5685m) and then we trekked to Uhuru Peak (5895m)! It wasn’t easy.

When we reached the summit, we didn’t see the sunrise but blizzard, more cold and wind. However, it was a very satisfying moment — we reached the roof of Africa — 5895m. This is as high as you can get in this continent… And what an amazing journey up to this point!

On the Summit Day – a photo with a local guide…

Group members on the roof of Africa…

Going down through the rain forest…

After spending probably 15 minutes at the summit, we walked back to Barafu camp –about 3 hours. Here we had an hour rest,  collected the rest of our gear, and headed down to Mweka hut (3100m).

Back to the camp…

Next day, after a good breakfast, we left via a  scenic trail back to the Park gate.

Through the mud- will be back to town of Moshi..

I found my ipod on my last day of trekking!…

The expedition is over — on the way to the hotel…

At the hotel — our Kilimanjaro adventure came to the end…

Kilimanjaro was an amazing experience! I will admit I got some sort of mountain fever now… This trip was a real test to my inner (also, outer)  strength but it also gave me confidence to pursue even more challenging mountaineering adventures…

Last view of Kilimanjaro on the way to the airport…