I joined Mountain Madness for a course on Alpine Mountaineering. We were very lucky to have the Tanzanian brothers joining us on this trip. They
are Mountain guides at the highest peak of Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Starting off with an afternoon at Washington Pass, practicing our snow-ice travel skills and self-arrest. After getting our hands all wet, we rest
at a drive-in camp for the night, before our climb up Silverstar Creek the following day.
Going up along Silverstar Creek, we explored different kind of terrain, from thick forrests, to swamps, to snow covered rock fields. We reached our
base camp below Silverstar Peak on the basin. From here, we had a very view of how we came here for.
Though weather wasn't acting in our favour, we started off our summit at 6:30am the following day. After travlling on the snow covered slopes for about
4 hours, we started scrambling on the final section and reached the summit (8860 ft) at noon.
As temperature was rising, we were concered about the avalanche risk on one of the open faces that we climbed, we descent as quick as possible. After we
reached the safe zone, we started having some fun, .... sliding down the slopes ...
I started to get mad ....
View from Washington Pass.
Lunch break in Washington Pass.
This is gonna be fun.
First, .... pose and take a good look on the slope.
Travel Steps on glacier ...
Lonely SIGG bottle.
Just off the highway ... this slope was our practice ground.
Jon's GQ's cover pose !!
Self arrest practice .... (13.2 MB).
Bonavature.
Oh my god, .. a spaceship just landed behind the praks, .. the martians are coming!.
My signature shadow.
What is that ?
We rocked, ... this's the way of camping. Mustard, Hot sauce, Peanut butter and Jelly.
Can't camp without a fire.
Demonstration of cleaning your own plate.
Looks like 2 yellow turtles ...
next morning ... packing and getting ready.
Do we know where we are heading ?
5 Handsome YOUNG men .... agree ?
Spanking new plastic boots .... is it really a good idea on this trip?
These two young men called themselves brothers.
Going up this slope, covered by snow ... is very fun.
Augusta said, "Snow is fine, but not on these rocks.".
Look far at the ridge line, the leftmost is our destination, Silver Star Peak.
I just like this shot so much, ... like a dry lake in a desert.
Ouch ...
Haha, ... it's your turn.
Boys, .. we are almost there, just 2 more of these snow slopes!
Firstly, ... let's get pass there trees without falling into any tree wells.
We are still on the same slope ...unfortunately.
It was a forever long slope ....
Gotta snap this picture for everyone to witness our climb.
No Pain no Gain ... we are almost there.
The brothers again !.
We're gonna climb tomorrow behind us.
My evil shadow is holding an axe.
No we don't have to hike it this slope .... just the place for us to practice.
A moment of blue sky.
What the hell you're doing down there in the hole ?
OK, . it is a water hole.
Our homebuilder is setting our kitchen floor plan.
Our tiny kitchen in action.
Bonaventure ... the man.
Following morning ... leaving camp at 6:30am.
Climbing on more snow covered slopes ....
Taka a picture before we roped in.
Yeah ...take a picture of me please.
We were travelling as a team from now on...
Climbing higher and higher ..
Up on the ridge before the final summit ...
See the footprints, yes, we came up from down there.
Taking a short break ....
and ... enjoying a nice view with the clouds clearing up.
Jason was digging a snowpit to assess the stability beforewe pushed up higher.
Oh no ...we are all tangled up .... .
In case you think you get lost, ... here were our footprints.
Final 100 ft climb
... with my ice axe ...
Waiting for Jason to setup the belay....
This was the final stop before the summit.
Yes, .. 8800 ft ...
Yeah! We are at the peak ....
Looking down how we got up here ....
What goes in must come out ! ...Please use your imagination here.
Going down was actually quite dangerous .... as the avalanche risj became higher.
We were descending on the last open face, spread out formation.
but ... not so fast, gotta take some pics before I went down.
Looking up the path we get down on spread out formation.
Let's run down the hill.
... Me again ...
Yes .. these time we had 6 Handsome YOUNG men.
I m gonna slide down on my butt from here.
Bonaventure's solo (8.8 MB file).
Treeline is not much a treeline here ...
Relaxing after the summit and enjoying the sun.
Blue sky ... can't have enough of it.
Drying everything in the sun at camp, with Silver Star Peak in the background.
Dry feet, ... yummy
My wet boots are also enjoying some tanning ...
Last moment of clear blue sky with Silver Star Peak
This is the next morning ... at 6:30am
Jumping over the moat ..
These slopes are very crispy ...and quite dangerous.
Augusta standing on a crispy, probably 35° slope.
Down on the bottom of the valley, ... almost home.
Yes .. back to where we started ... Silver Star Creek
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;){kind=link}