WERA National Endurance Series racer and Roadracing World contributing editor Melissa Berkoff has reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa at 19,300 feet.

She reports:

“We had perfect weather for the entire climb, with cold nights but sunny days and no rain, right up until we hit Stella Point about 20 minutes from the summit. The clouds blew in, the wind picked up, and suddenly we found ourselves in an arctic landscape. In this photo I am covered with frost, my Camelback hose has frozen so I can no longer get water from it, I can’t feel my feet, and I’m tired from waking up at 1:45 a.m. and trudging 4000 vertical feet up varying kinds of rocky terrain. I had to take my mittens off to get out my camera and the AOD shirt and then hurriedly put them back on so the picture was kind of rushed, but I got it! It was a crazy trip, but I was with a good crew and we all made it.

“One of the women in my group started suffering from some altitude-related effects and had to be rushed down ahead of the rest of us. Yesterday I saw some other guides rushing another climber down from the summit, and I saw a glassy-eyed climber just a stone’s throw from high camp on the descent who looked like he was on his last legs, and they had to evacuate someone from high camp due to pulmonary edema.

“Some parts of the climb were very steep on loose rock, some parts were hand and foot rock scrambles with lots of exposure and some water and ice hazards, some parts were on slippery muddy rocks and steps through the jungle. We walked through a changing landscape of jungle to high forest to lava rock fields to lush high tropical gardens back to a moonscape and then into an arctic freeze, but it was all beautiful. We were supposed to have a rest day at about 12,000 feet for extra acclimatization but we skipped it and got up and down a day early.”

From Africa Berkoff will be traveling to Italy to meet up with Roadracing World Wild Card Editor Sam Fleming for a writing assignment at the Mugello Grand Prix.