Blind Summit 2011 Tim and Jacob Gibbins

Trek up KilimanjaroFeb 2011

Who/What/Where/Why

Tim and Jacob Gibbins

Treking up the worlds highest freestanding

mountain

Kilimanjaro,Tanzania,Africa

To raise money for the charity RP which supports

the disease which is makingmy dad go blind

/

As with most big adventures it started on a plane

Sunrise somewhere over Africa

Day one

Started off walking up through thick rain forest

...In Other words Dont go

...In Other words Dont go

My dad looking pretty hot and tired alreadyand this is only a few hours in

full of antisipation for what the week aheadwill bring

The Porters are the real heroes of thisstory

carrying loads like this for twelve hours aday for a week or more

This was home for the week

Canvas and a sleeping bag

These two people were our mountainguides

on the left is Valarien

and on the right Nelson

If it wasnt for these two people im sure we would have found the trip a LOT harder

and some of the people in our groupwouldnt have made it

Happy and upbeat all the time no matterthe weather

The weather up on the mountain wasamazing

It would go from baking hot sun to mist and cloud in a matter of seconds and then

go back to sun just as fast as it had left

My dad doing what he went out there todo

Walk

With the DIY sweat band I made him out oftwo socks

Shot of Nelson doing what he seemed tobe doing all the time

Smiling

Above the forest we came out on to more open moorland which had these huge

rocks all the way through it

Yet more mist moving it over the hills

Three photos from sunset one evening All Taken from the same place

When the light and place line up this wellyou have to take more than one photo

The best place I have ever watched thesun set

about thirteen thousand feet above themountains of Africa

One of the few photos with both me and my dad

Taken by Nelson the happiest guide in theland

Thats my dad second in line and me withthe red bag on smiling

My dad and fellow trekker taking amoments rest to look at what lies ahead

One of the Porters taking a little break from the walking to climb a boulder as the rest

of the group carries plodding along thepath

My dad following Nelson on the path to thetop

Treking higher and higher up the mountain

The vastness of the place was one of themost surprising things

Nothing for days of walking in any direction

The clouds rolling in over camp at night

The mist that swallowed our camp oneevening

The must have group photo with themountain in the background

Nothing to stunning photographicly wise but for me and my dad will bring back

amazing memories for the rest of our lives

Camp under the peak

Not a bad camp site in terms of veiwsreally

Me and Nelson both at the top of theBaranco wall

A steep scrambling section of the walk

He took the one of me

and I took the one of him

He said he thinks I should go out there and start a photography buisness on the

mountain covering peoples trips

The man might just have an idea there haha

A funny photo of my dad

Just resting sat on a rock with the peakbehind him

I dont know quite why I framed it like thisbut I like it

One of the many views we had whilewalking

You think just over that next hill will becamp for the night

A chance to rest

You get to the top and you see this

Long Hard days

Walking along the small ribbon of order in aworld of sublime chaos

Leader Nelson my dad then Leader from the UK Dom behind walking on through

the striking landscape

Another one of the two in charge with mydad walking and walking

O and a bit more walking

A few shots of the oneand onlyNelson

The group climbing higher and higherabove the clouds

Being this high above the world for threeor four days is quite amazing

it felt a bit strange going down at the end of the trip and having the clouds above me

again

Two of the porters heading down the longand winding road to the next camp

The group walking on through the moon like landscape of the high slopes of the

mountain

My dad and the rest of the group on the last short steep climb up in to the final camp of the trip before the long nights

climb to the summit

On the right the path winding its way back off in to the distance towards Mt Meru On the left one of the Porters taking a

break to look at our camp in the clouds

Our camp in the clouds

All the camps we stayed in had names

First was Big tree

Then Shira Two

Baranca

Karanga

Barafu

Millenium

The camp in the photos to the right is the final camp before we made the summit

attempt

Barafu at some five thousand meters

A few photos from the last camp theevening before the summit

Mt Mawenzi, as seen from the high slopes,of Kili

One of the porters climbing the steep upper slopes of the mountain with a huge

bag of gear on his head

Another shot of a porter carrying a huge load on his head

see the path in the distance

he has walked five times that in one day

As we climbed higher up the mountain wesaw more and more snow and ice

The inner crater on the summit

The outer edge of the summit crater

climbing up and over this thing was hardwork

Some of the fellow climbers on thesummit approach

minus twenty degrees and fifty mile anhour winds

Nelson

Even in those conditions he cant help but grin

The world from twenty thousant feet

And im not in a plane

The tip of one of the glaciers on the summit looking out on to Mt Meru

And this was the best place I have everwatched the sun rise

Here I am on top

The reason my dad isnt with me is as hewas already a bit lower down

He was so exhausted he didnt want to hang about up there any longer than he

had to

Photo kindly taken by Valerian

You can see his shaddow by the peopleon the left

The summit day was a long one

Up at mid night

Summit at around sun rise

Then spend all day walking down

This is sunset at around Three ThousandMeters that evening

This was the breaki lunch and dinner table

the meeting room

the doctors surgery

These tents where what you looked for onthe horizon each day

Much of our last day on the mountain was spent walking back down through the

forest

The last evening we where in camp all the porters and people had a big sing and

dance to celebrate getting to the top

Amzing and special moments

Thanks for looking

This photo book is free to view online

But all we ask is that you consider makinga donaton

Please visit our just giving page anddonate

The trip was totaly self-funded so that means All money given goes straight to

reaserch in to RP

Anyway, these are the highlights of our trip up the worlds highest freestanding

mountain in image form

Father and son bonding at its best

And all the time raising money for a charity that truly and immediatley affects my

family