Berg

Hear Wally's Call from Africa

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Got a quote for you—Fred just said a moment ago, "That's what mountaineering is all about," and seeing them through or getting through them or something like that. We just went through what I call "the long, dark night of a climber's consciousness." I think on that first little trip—a little surreal, certainly took a lot of effort and believing in yourself, but we're slowly pulling into Stella Point.

Jeff was the first person to show up, Holt and Fred were right behind him; the newlyweds were walking in, and Wally Cox was right behind them. The rest of the group is below with more of the Chagga guides. I'll report on how people show up, as they do show up.

It's very misty and foggy up here. We've got rime frost on all the rocks and on clothing. We've walked up into quite a beautiful, but quite a savage environment here. I'm sure a lot of bottles are going to be frozen, and we're going to have some cold people by the time we reach Uhuru.

8:54 p.m. PDT
Mountain Zone, it's Wally and I'm calling you back from Stella Point, about 10 minutes 'till seven now.

We're still, we're always shooting to get up here in six hours. Had a few more folks roll in—Bill rolled in, Bill didn't like that scree too much, but he stuck with it today. I asked him...[Unintelligible]...he's looking pretty good right now and I can tell he's going to do fine going across the Uhuru. Also, we got...[Unintelligible]...and Ben...[Unintelligible]...[transmission fails].

9:00 p.m. PDT
Yeah, we've got Ben and Jutta from Phoenix up here. Two of our three representatives from the Phoenix, the...[Unintelligible]...mountain club. I'm looking down and I see Tobias, and I can see Sally and Peggie[Patti], and I'm sure Rich is down there with Peggie[Patti]. And we've also got Dave White, who, last time I saw, he said, "I may be slow, but I'm going to make it."

These people are all extremely determined and they're doing very well. Once again, we don't have very enjoyable weather right now. Beautiful—for me being a world mountaineer, I think partly—but, no sunshine views today. But, I think we've got a good shot of getting many of this part of the group over to Uhuru today—summit of Africa. Everyone else is with African guides moving at individual paces and we'll give you a report from Uhuru—I hope within an hour.

9:19 p.m. PDT
Mountain Zone, Stella Point, once again. I've got one more quick update for you, here, at 7:15. Tobias and the...[Unintelligible]...took off so they wouldn't get cold standing here. I'm watching Dave White walk very strongly...[Unintelligible]...Lance got here a few minutes ago...[Unintelligible]...in the middle there, Sally is with him and the guide John is accompanying them. I'm...[transmission fails].

—Alpine Ascents Guide Wally Berg, MountainZone.com Correspondent