The summit night on Kilimanjaro usually starts around midnight. The group wakes up, has some tea and biscuits, gets their warmest gear on, and then starts the hardest part of the trek – more than 4,000 ft, mostly in the dark. Quite often, the prior night starts with the group going to bed around 7 or 8 and trying to get a few hours of rest. For many, adrenaline and “the unknown”  can make it difficult to fall asleep. Once you do start the night portion of the trek, it is usually a slow grind for six to seven hours before you get to Stella Point, stopping every 45 minutes for maybe 5 minutes. It’s also unique in the sense that people are not use to hiking in the dark with it being so cold – and if it’s windy, it’s can be even more difficult. Most people just look at the people walking in front of them, with their headlamps down. The beauty of the climb is once the sun comes up, you realize that it can be done, and then you get to see yourself towering above the landscape below. Watch one of our trekkers head off into the dark.