At around 9.30am we finally reached the summit of Karasimbi (4507m). It was a perfect day and with reasonably good visibility we got some great summit pics with our team.
Josh on the summit with our RDF escort and guide.
Looking into the DRC from Karasimbi
Josh and Bosco flying the Bridgehouse flag
Our summit team
Our RDF escort
Feeling the altitude we made slow progress to the summit. We finally emerged from the thick vegetation to a relatively straight forward final ascent to the summit, which was characterised by a lot of loose rock and fine volanic ash.
The summit does unfortunately have a huge Radio/TV antenna on top, but the views were amazing.
We had fantastic views of Muhabura, which is an extinct volcano on the border between Rwanda and Uganda.
At 4,127 m, Muhabura is the third highest of the eight major mountains of the mountain range, which is a part of the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Muhabura lies partly in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda and partly in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Uganda.
Josh on the way to the summit
Great view of Muhabura
Josh and Bosco just below summit of Karasimbi (Radio/TV tower in the background)
We decided to have a proper breakfast and Michele our cook made us a great omelette with some toast and a cup of coffee (hot chocolate for Josh).
At around 6am we started our ascent towards the summit, which was about an hour later than planned. However, the weather looked perfect and we had plenty of time to get back down the mountain.
The ascent proved to be very steep and at times the trail went through very thick jungle. From around 4000m we started to feel the altitude and decided to pace our selves accordingly.
Mount Muhabura as seen from Karisimbi
View on summit day
View of summit from Karisimbi camp
Vegetation on Karisimbi
Josh navigating the thick terrain on Karisimbi
View of Bisoke volcano
Vegetation on Karisimbi
Bosco our park guide and one of our porters
Update to follow.
Rwanda Volcanoes Expedition 2013 