RBarta: Kilimanjaro Mar 2007

[rbarta]

I summited Kilimanjaro in March 2007, Machame route.  Met 3 poles (Marek, Mark and Peter) who are going to climb Elbrus summer 2008 and Acon Jan 2009 with me (I wanted to do them 2007/2008, but they asked me if I would wait for them).  I am going to do Rainier in September since that is a long time to wait and to give me glacier experience.  I have a blog on the Kilimanjaro adventure and some fantastic pictures at http://home.comcast.net/~robert.barta/Kilimanjaro/Kilimanjaro.html

[Roger]

Well done Rbarta and great site/pics of your trip up Kili, all the best for your future climbs

Roger in Sydney

[7summits]

Hi Rbarta,

welcome at the forum. Congrats at your summit and thanks for the link to the photos. Some very nice ones there, it shows the tracks well.

Keep us posted on the other trips and let me know if you want 7summits.com to organize them 

Harry

(ps: I moved the topic to this Summitlog board)

[MoT]

Amazing pictures! Really enjoyed your account of the trip. Brings back some good memories of my own summit. I see you plan Elbrus next. Only advice i'd add is to consider trying both summits of elbrus - very doable. I only missed out last year because i had to help with a rescue of a climber.

Also some companies try and convince you to take a snowcat up to Pashtukova Rocks on summit day - it's much more satisfying to climb up from the Barrels, and only 3 hours longer. Hard work but at a slow steady pace it can be done - just don't take the 7 day programme if you're going to do this, rather take the 12 day one.

Well done again,

Tom

[MikeW]

Hi!

Very nice trip report. I took the exact same route on Kili and it makes me want to go back sooner than later. Good luck on Elbrus and Aconcagua. BTW, Aconcagua is way tougher than Kili, so train hard.

MikeW

[m.c. reinhardt]

Hi rbarta

Congratulations! Very nice pix. I will be attempting Kili at the end of June but I will be doing the Umbwe route. It will be a challenge for me. Rainier is a great mountain. I did a training climb to C-Muir 3 weeks ago. The views are stupendous! Btw, I recommend you check out 7summits.com for some of your future climbs...I did for Kili!

MC 

[rbarta]

Thanks for all the great comments.  I myself am very proud of the pics I got.  The website was generated easily on an Apple using iWeb.

Harry, thanks for moving the topic to where it will get more attention.  I have already contacted you about both Elbrus/Acon and will probably book the Normal route on Elbrus through you (with my Polish friends) summer 2008 and Acon Jan 2009 (a long time off yet)

MoT, not using the cats myself (don’t know what my Polish buddies will want to do, but I need at least 1 to partner with).  I plan to not even use the chair lift up to the barrels after the tram.  I heard it was a short walk anyway.  Will do the 12 day, want to have backup days for this.

Mike W, I will train hard for Acon!!!  Too bad I didn’t get a chance to get to the inner crater/ash pit on Kili.  May have to go back some day.

mc, good luck in June, have fun.  I will probably do several mountains with (or through) 7summits.

With the break between Rainier (Aug 2007) and Elbrus (June 2008), I may add a short side trip to
Australia to knock off Kosciuszko and visit my New Zealand friends in Nov/Dec 2007.  I'm not sure which is the true 7th, so I'll probably end up doing both anyway (if I get past some other challenges first).  Plus I have to hope that Carstensz will at some point open up the roads and trails so that you don't have to pay a small fortune for a helo in/out.  Of course there is a risk they close the whole mountain too.