Hi Mountain Zone this is Todd. We're at Karanga Camp at 12,800 feet. We traversed along the West Face of Kilimanjaro under the Heim and the Messner Couloir and the glaciers of the western side.

It was a short day today, only about five hours. So we're getting ready for tomorrow when we'll actually have another short day and push up to our high camp tomorrow, and off to the summit the following day.

The climbing today was great. We left the Barranco Camp, which is just an amazing camp which is surrounded by 10- or 12-foot Senecios and Lobelia plants, and we hiked up the steep wall; did some easy rock climbing, 3rd class, and some boulder moves, up about a thousand feet, up to the top of the ridge at the Barranco Wall. And then slowly worked our way around the base of the mountain with views of the glaciers the entire time over to the Karanga Camp and had lunch there. It was a great lunch, cheese sandwiches and soups and mangoes, it was good.

Everyone is doing great; everyone has acclimatized very, very well. All people are healthy and excited about the next two days. All 18 of us are here and ready to go. We're excited. So that's it for now and we'll give you a call later.

— Todd Burleson, Alpine Ascents International Guide and MountainZone.com Correspondent