Today started with beautiful morning at the Shira II Camp. The weather was clear and we had a gorgeous view of our final destination, the peak of Kilimanjaro. Having the peak in sight gave us all motivation for our day. We went through our normal morning routine and started on our longest day of hiking with the highest altitude this far. The hike started out like most of our other hikes, very smoothly and the weather was cooperating beautifully. We had one goal, to get to the top of the Lava Tower at 15,000 feet and descend down to Barranco Camp around 13,100 feet.

As we kept moving, Kili decided to test us with her toughest weather yet. Hail, rain, snow and wind all presented a challenge on our climb. Luckily the team was more than prepared with the right gear and mindset to conquer the trip.

The second test for the team was becoming acclimated with the elevation during this period of the hike. We ascended over 2,000 feet only to descend another 2,000 feet to camp. This truly tested the team’s high altitude capabilities along with all of the education from the guides and porters moving us along the mountain. The guides reminded us to move slow by saying "pole pole" very frequently along the trek. With this guidance we were able to successfully ascend and descend with ease.

With these tests it was a reminder that we must have an open mind and to expect the unexpected. Although this team had only been in contact for a year we worked together seamlessly as if we had been training for a long time. Each and every teammate looks out for each other endlessly and it goes to show that we have become family. We all understand we have this mountain and many other personal mountains to climb. The challenges are only temporary.

One team. One mountain. One summit.