Off Topic: My Mt. Kilimanjaro Climb and Global Warming?
Off-topic, non-security post.
My recent adventure involved climbing Mt. Meru and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It was awesome. I’m long overdue in blogging the event.
The reason that I and my 4 compadres decided to climb Kili was because of the "fact" that ultimately the glacial packs atop Kilimanjaro would shortly disappear. Recent forecasts suggested that within 10 years they would be completely gone.
So, imagine my surprise when we summited in -25 degrees (F) to come face to face with this 100 foot tall monster @ nearly 20,000 feet. It was truly an awesome spectacle.
I was expecting a small bit of snow and some compacted ice forms. I didn’t expect 80-100 foot glacial ice fields!
Pair that with a current BBC article that suggests that ultimately the glaciers will be around for at least 30-40 years and while I’m not discounting the global warming effect, I am happy to note that these magnificent walls of ice will be here for at least a while longer.
This is great news. I’m glad that it’s not as bad as was originally forecasted because it’s an awesome sight after 8 hours of the summit deathmarch slog; hopefully my kids will be able to join me if I do it again and we can see it together.
/Hoff
Awesome. When did you go? I've been thinking about making that trip since a co-worker got back from there 5 years ago.
We went in February for two weeks. We were supposed to go on safari after the climbs (we summited two mountains) but we were done…needed a beer and a toilet!
Well worth the trip. It was awesome.
/Hoff