The boys have arrived in Africa!  They had a safe trip on the plane and landed in Kilimanjaro Wednesday afternoon.   So far the trip has been a great success!  They were able to tour the safari in which they saw remarkable animals drinking and living in their natural habitats.  The boys sound great!  Brad has called once a day to check in and give us some quick feedback on the trip.  He has already witnessed a beautiful sunrise from where they were staying and has commented on the true beauty that surrounds them.  The boys will begin their climb on the mountain tomorrow, 1:00 AM our time!  They are anxious and anticipating an unbelievable adventure.  We will keep you posted as we hear from them.  They are uncertain of their cell phone coverage on the mountain but will check in each day if available.  Thanks again for all your prayers, thoughts, and dedication to their climb!

-Dawn Hart (Brad's wife)

Here we go!

it's now july 24th. i leave tomorrow to meet with brian and brad in the pittsburgh area for a couple days before we're off to africa. it almost doesn't seem real that the time has come. i have been busy getting everything squared away here at the ranch to the point that i may not feel like it's actually happening until i get on the plane tomorrow!

wether it feels like it's happening or not...we're ready! all three of us. physically we're all peaking at a good time, with few late set-backs in training. brian and brad have had more opportunities to work together at night hikes and brad is confident in both the system and his ability to climb on summit day. everything's purchased, bought, planned, sent for and recieved, broke in, and packed up. we're ready!

i want to thank everyone once again for your support of the 3 of us on this once in a life-time excursion. we could not have made it even this far without it. and thank you to the many people who have called and e-mailed these last couple days to wish us luck on the virtual eve of our departure. we're going to try to get information out to have our progress followed on the blog daily. if you don't see anything...we weren't able to communicate from the mountain and we'll be in touch as soon as we return. at any rate, we'll be sure to wave in a northwestern direction from the mountain!!!

Colorado Trip

hello to all! first off, one more "thank you" to everyone who has shown so much support for us on this endevour. it's now july 6th, only 22 days 'til we depart pittsburgh for africa. hard to believe we can now count the time in mere days!

preparations have been coming together for us (flights, shots, paperwork, fundraising, route options, and gathering gear are all behind us for the most part) and we are now concentrating on our physical training until we leave. brad, brian and i met in denver on the morning of june 25th and trained together in the altitude of the colorado mountains for a few days. it was a terrific trip! we were able to get out and hike in some foul weather to test some of our gear, work up some steep terrain, have a couple long days at altitude, negotiate some intense boulder fields, do some more night hiking, and most importantly work together as a team learning each others strengths and weaknesses. training at high altitude was great. of course it's a good workout. but it gave us the chance to have brad and brian, who live alot closer to sea level than i, to feel what affects the altitude would have on their bodies. both of them did really well with minimal side effects, and relatively quick acclimatization as breathing was noticably easier every day we were there. high in the mountains the scenery was beautiful, but once again the most spectacular thing i saw was the determination brad had to get through a particularly difficult stretch of boulders at about 13,000 feet! with large and small boulders jumbled together at angles that create gaps and holes in the rock that provides less than adequate footing on sometimes pivoting and sliding granite, it's a challenge for a fit climber who can SEE! after a long day to this point, brad worked his way through this section with no trouble. i guess slow and steady (and alot of intense concentration) does win the race! the trip was not without disappointment though. our night work left us all feeling abit unprepared. it was a more difficult situation than we had trained on to this point, but it pointed out to us some areas we need to adjust and work toward significant improvement.

in all, the trip to the colorado rockies was a great success. brian, brad and i feel much more prepared because of the trip and are now focusing on the 19,340 ft summit of kilimanjaro!