DANIELA KROULÍKOVÁ HAS BEATEN THREE OUT OF SEVEN SUMMITS OF THE 7 SUMMITS CHALLENGE
25. 06. 2019
Daniela Kroulíková, a member of Kilpi Racing Team has successfully completed 3/7 of the mountain climbers' royal challenge called 7 Summits. After conquering the Caucasian queen Elbrus (5642 m) and the Argentinian giant Aconcagua (6959 m), the highest mountain in the western and southern hemisphere, she also reached the summit of the African mountain range of Kilimajaro - Uhuru (5895 m), the highest point of Tanzania and the whole Africa. Moreover, she managed to achieve this in an incredible time of 5 days. This time, however, her expedition had other goals than just breaking the limits.
Daniela and her expedition team also decided to visit the local orphanages, and conjure up smiles on the faces of the local children who had been deserted by their parents. At least for a moment. The orphanages also served as schools and were generally run and funded by several people who worked there. They therefore welcomed everyone who stopped by and gave them something. “It was pretty sad, they were sleeping on the ground or outdoors, and many of them were physically or mentally handicapped,” the young climber describes her feelings. These were mostly children whom the parents did not want to keep. “I am extremely happy that I was able to conjure up smiles on their faces with baseball caps, Kilpi stickers and cuddly reindeer for at least a moment,” Daniela concludes about the experience.
Then, however, the whole team set out on a journey to the summit of the African massif. The shortest way to Kilimanjaro is 6 days of alpine trekking and climbing. The terrain is extremely diverse, ranging from rainforests, peat bogs and wetlands to semi-desert and rubble fields. The schedule that Daniela's team was planning to follow was like this.
Day 1: from Machame Gate (1800 m above sea level) to Machame Hut Camp (3100 m above sea level)
Distance: 11 km
Time demand: 5-7 hours (Daniela and her team in 5,5 hrs)
Environment: Passage through the rainforest
Day 2: from Machame Hut Camp (3100 m above sea level) to Shira Camp (3840 m above sea level)
Distance: 9 km
Time demand: 4-6 hours (Daniela and her team in 4 hrs)
Environment: Wetlands, moors
Day 3: from Shira Camp (3840 m above sea level) to Lava Tower and Barranco Valley (3860 m above sea level)
Distance: 15 km
Time demand: 5-7 hours (Daniela and her team in 4.5 hrs)
Environment: Semi-desert
Day 4: from Barranco Camp (3860 m above sea level) to Barafu Camp (4700 m above sea level)
Distance: 9 km
Time demand: 6-8 hours (Daniela and her team in 4:45 hrs)
Environment: Alpine Desert
Day 5: from Barafu Camp (4700 m above sea level) to the summit (5895 m n. m.) and then down to (3090 m above sea level)
Distance: 6 km ascent / 13 km descent
Time demand: 5-7 hours ascent / 5-6 hours descent
Environment: Rubble field and ice-covered summit
Day 6: from Mweka Camp (3090 m above sea level) to Machame Gate (1800 m above sea level)
Distance: 10 km
Time demand: 3-4 hours
Environment: Forests
Until the fourth day the team fulfilled the plan at 110%. However, the plans changed a bit on the day we ascended to the summit, i.e. the Summit Day. “About 100 people tried to reach the summit that day. The groups set out at about 11-12 o'clock in the evening to see the sunrise. We set out at 1 AM as the last from the camp. But we were at the summit at 5:45 AM as the first people to reach it! It was a wonderful experience to watch the sunrise over Africa from such a perspective.”
“We feasted our eyes on the view for some time and then we headed down, back to Machame Gate (1800 m above sea level), the point from which we had started the entire expedition. ” “The trek down was amazing. We were walking along a jungle path in the dark with monkeys throwing leaves and sticks at us, so it was quite fun at night. We got back to the gate at 08:00 at night,” explains Daniela what the last, fifth day was like. Her team thus shortened the shortest way to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and back and scored a third notch on her 7 Summits gun.
Hats off!
