Brad called at 8am this morning (that's 6pm Africa time) to report.  Yesterday everyone made it down safe and sound from the summit and camped at 12,000' as planned.  This morning the team hiked out 6 hours to the trail head and drove back to the hotel, and as I write this everyone is showering and cleaning up after the long trip.

Tomorrow is the team's final day in Africa.  Attractions will be shopping and hanging out in Moshi, or just Rest and Relaxation around the hotel's incredible pool.  Everyone flies out tomorrow around 10:30pm.  While everyone is excited about the trip, they are also excited to get home!

9:09pm:

Thirty seconds ago I got a muffled call from Brad on the mountain.  The signal was poor but I was able to hear him say, "We're just coming down, and everyone summited!"  More when we reestablish communication...

Update at 9:50pm: 

Brad was able to get a signal and finish the message.  The whole team summited around 6:30AM local time.  Now they're just under 19,000 feet, and are working their way down.  They expect to make 12,000 feet by tonight.

We have just arrived to high camp, at an elevation of just over 15,600ft.  It took us about 4 hours to hike here from the Mawenzi Tarn camp and our plan is to eat, drink, sleep and wake up EARLY for our attempt on the summit.  We will try to go to bed early as we plan on waking up around 11PM and beginning our climb to the top of Kilimanjaro around 12 Midnight.  From high camp we climb a steep trail of loose rock to Gilman's Point - 18,700ft..  The climb to Gimlan's Point is the hardest part of the day and should take us about 5-6 hours.  From Gilman's, the climb becomes a gently rolling traverse along crater rim of the mountain; and after another one or two hours of hiking we should reach the true summit.  Climbing through the night by headlamp, we hope to reach the summit shortly after sunrise and then begin our hike back down the mountain.

Photo:  Our view from High Camp, looking across the Kibo Saddle to Mawenzi Peak.

Photos:  Our views from Mawenzi Tarn.

Feburary 6th finds us camping at Mawenzi Tarn.  This is an awesome camp, with everyone feeling the altitude - around 14,400ft above sea level - which is roughly the same elevation as the summit of Mt. Rainier.  We are camped in a small bowl with a steep drop off to our north and the dramatic Northwest face of Mawenzi directly next to us on the south side of camp.  From this camp, we will cross the Kibo Saddle en route to high camp.  The saddled is often a windy, dusty place and it's always nice once we arrive to the shelter of our tents, and warmth of our sleeping bags at high camp.