I received a few more msgs from Dustin on the weekend. When he sent them they had just gotten up and the sun was shining and the summit was visible, but for only about 15 mins and then it clouded over. They had climbed to 3500m to the saddle hut today, then on to little Meru then back to the saddle huts. He told me it was a very very steep climb, they used their poles a lot to climb and it was very very slow going.

3:45 pm- Summit of little Meru at 3801m. They were in the clouds with white clouds all around them and they had brief glimpses of the land and villages below. Dustin said he was hoping to be able to spot Kilimanjaro but wasn't able to. Dustin also called me late last night to let me know that they had just woken up to begin their descent down the mountain and in to the village. They only had 900m left to go and then they were going to spend the day in the villages relaxing and doing laundry. He also left out a little detail about freezing rain hitting them on route to the summit, something the porters hadn't ever quite experienced. It made the route very treacherous and made it even more slow going on the down. They made it! Dustin said it was the hardest thing he's ever done and it was a constant struggle to keep one foot in front of the other. When I asked him how this climb would compare to Kili, he said the terrain is different and thought that this would be the hardest of the two climbs.

All is well in Africa. I am so very proud of you boys.
Stace.