“Summit night on Kilimanjaro is tough. It’s a long haul up, a climb of over 1,400 metres to the summit. Walking through the night in the dark and the cold can be challenging but once the sun begins to rise over Mawenzi in the distance and you see your first objective, Stella Point, determination kicks in and the taste of success becomes tangible and real.” 

Summit day begins the night before. You start with an early dinner and go to sleep early. You will wake up around midnight to prepare for the summit attempt. After a light snack, your ascent will begin. The summit day is a tough, 11 to 16 hour day of hiking. 

This difficult feat is what makes climbing Kilimanjaro a monumental achievement. The guides—based on how the group has climbed so far—time their trekking party to reach Stella Point near sunrise. That means you will be hiking in the cold, and possibly windy, darkness for at least 6 hours.

Scaling Kilimanjaro at night might seem strange from the first sight, however, there are some sound reasons to do so. Reason number one is elevation: the higher you get, the harder it is to sleep because low levels of oxygen make it difficult to breathe. So why waste time lying awake in bed? Secondly, it’s highly essential to spend the least possible amount of time at high altitudes.

Next, as we have already mentioned, there’s a lot to cover on that day. No matter which camp functions as the base camp for your summit ascent, you need to do a long climb and then make a long descent. You might wonder why it’s important to make such a long descent, and we’ve got the answer. There are hikers a day behind you who’ll camp where you stay just before you reach the peak, so you won’t be able to come back to this place after scaling the peak. Instead, you’ll have to go down to a lower camp.

Finally, setting off for the summit at midnight will reward you with the most incredible sunrise in your life. Seeing the sun come up from the tallest mountain of Africa is absolutely incredible, without any doubt.

There are several factors that make the summit night the most grueling part of the whole Kilimanjaro adventure.

1. 1. #1. It’s the coldest part of the trek, often with icy wind.
   2. #2. Climbing in the dark can be stressful.
   3. #3. You set off after a two-hour, restless sleep.
   4. #4. The summit night is the steepest part of the trek.
   5. #5. It’s hard to breathe at such a high altitude. In addition, you might experience 
   6. #6. symptoms of altitude sickness — headache, nausea and dizziness.

To better understand how the summit night goes, here is the schedule the team at Follow Alice stick to.

• #1. 11 pm: Hikers get up, have a hot drink, dress and pack their stuff.
• #2. Midnight: Hikers hit the trek up to the summit of the iconic Kilimanjaro.
• #3. At sunrise: The group stops at Stella Point to delight .
• #4. Around half an hour later: Climbers reach Uhuru Peak.
• #5. 15 min later: They start the descent.
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• Obviously, you need to approach the summit night as seriously as you can. Proper preparation will help you make those last steps to conquer the Roof of Africa.