Measurements (part 1)

All of you have to apologize us... Sorry for the delay to provide news but the latest days were too occupied with last measurements and traveling back home (which included some lost flight connections and lost bags... business as usual)...

So, this time is just to show some few photos of the measurements done in the Uhuru Peak. I have to tell that the biggest hero was our guide, called Yitzack Mmasi... He stayed 5h controlling the receiver (I only could stay 30m). Therefore, we multiplied for 10 the time that we were expecting to carry GPS observations in the top of the mountain.

Enjoy the pictures... More will come.

Team 1

Here they are... just after the climbing.

They did it

First team successfully reached the top of Kilimanjaro. They are returning today back to Moshi. The other teams are waiting for them. Some Tanzanian media will be here too.
This photo is from the last time team 2 (with the gravimeter) was together with the climbing team, 3200 meters up in the mountain.

Measuring...

Putting GPS receiver and gravimeter in position for measuring on the point we set in the first hut of the Marangu route.

Into the forest

During the first day of climbing we crossed through the mountain forest.

Starting...

October 3, here we are at the Marangu gate, taking a photo of all persons directly involved in this expedition. The climbing started about 13:30, local time.

It will be tomorrow!

After several delays to solve some issues, finally the big day to start the climbing has come. This photo was taken from the top of our hotel, at sunset of the day before, with the top of Kilimanjaro in background. As you can see, André is very confident :-)

Absolut gravity point

After some time without news due to hard work, here we are again updating the news from the KILI2008 Expedition.
This photo is showing our first measures a the absolut gravity point located at Moshi Aerodrome. Joaquim is doing it.

Still in Moshi

Yes... We are still in Moshi... Time is running short but we are still under the window... Once again, a big story with an happy ending... There was still missing a permit from the Kilimanjaro National Park (required about one month ago)... We went to colect it yesterday but it is a national holiday in Tanzania (end of Ramadan and there is a large number of muslims here). By the way, today is also public holiday... Consequences: in a European situation you were really in troubles (where to find the responsible on Christmas day to give you the necessary permit?) But a lot of phone calls and by the end of the day we were obtaining the permit... So, we still could talk with a person responsible for the logistics (at the same time that we were watching Sporting defeating Basel) and everything is now setup to start tomorrow...

So, at 8h30, when the gates will open, 27 persons (8 team members, 5 guides, 13 porters, and 1 cooker) will start the climbing...

Meanwhile, at the same time that I was making someone millionaire (shillings speaking), one team is already in the field collecting gravimetric data... For this, we are having the great support of our Tanzanian colleagues, which already know a lot of beacon points that we can us to connect also with the vertical grid.
And the second team is now crossing the border... So, by evening all the participants we will meet together... In this way, it was not bad to wait one day... The only problem is that we don't have any margin anymore in the mountain and the latest news are: strong winds and -21 celsius at the summit... Who said this is a easy life? (the latest comment is just to be nasty)