A Call From The Top: IsatPhone 2 Connects Mountain Climber to Mom from Top of Kilimanjaro

 

SatPhoneStore customers are a varied bunch.  We get to work with boaters, adventurers, first responders, remote workers, and many others.  But all of our subcribers have a common thread, they venture out to the edge. This was especially true for IsatPhone 2 user, Tyrell Lloyd, who had the opportunity to achieve a dream of reaching the summit of the Uhuru Peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Here is his story in his own words:

First things first, going up mount Kilimanjaro via the Machame route in April is no joke! You need to be physically fit as well as mentally prepared and bring lots of endurance with you. Having a great team makes all the difference! My mom was very worried about me going up the mountain, so I decided to purchase the Inmarsat satellite phone so that I could call her on a daily basis.

The first day started out with an easy hike up the hill as one enters the jungle area of the mountain. High humidity and very nice warm temperatures ranging between 80F and 110F accompany you while approaching Machame Camp. As we arrived the camp it started to rain and I quickly got into the tent. The perfect time to place my first satellite call. Like a charm, I was able to call my mom from within the tent!

On our second day, we went through the moorland region which is moist and rich in vegetation. Waterfalls, beautiful unique flowers and hidden caves can all be seen while trekking through the wild area up towards Shira camp.

Day three was all about acclimatization and change in elevation. We made our way up to the Lava Tower and which is about 4600m and enjoyed a mesmerizing view down the region. On that day the weather started changing on us and on our way towards Baranco camp, it began to rain and get fogy. We rushed to the camp and enjoyed a warm meal. At that point temperatures dropped from 80F to 32F. Now nearly 3000 meters up the mountain, I placed another call to my mom while also sending some text messages to family and friends.

The next morning, we approached the Baranco wall and began our climbing up the wall. This is in some ways the most thrilling part of the trek as one actually has to hold on to rocks and get up difficult areas while seeing the 1000m falloff right beneath your feet. Although very tiring, I enjoyed this day very much and had a blast in fighting my way through the Alpine Desert. The region turns into rocks and stones and the vegetation changes to a dry and desert arid land. After visiting the Karang camp, we continued our trek to the Barafu camp. This is the final camp site before making an attempt to get to Uhuru peak. 

On our final day, we began to accent the mountain at 11pm starting from Barafu camp and made our way up. It began to snow storm and each snowflake hitting my face seemed like needles puncturing my face.  The ground turned to snow, everything became slippery, going up against the wind was nearly impossible while trying to see the summit or anything for that matter was nearly impossible. This scenario luckily lasted only for about an hour and after that the weather gave us a break. The region began to clear up and a beautiful view immerged as we were able to see Kenya and Tanzania. About five hours later, we reached Uhuru peak before sunrise and enjoyed the magical view from the top of Africa. From the top of Africa, it was time to make one of the most exciting phone calls of my life, so I called my mom. With no connectivity issues, I was able to call and break the news that I successfully climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. After a solid 5 minutes of uninterrupted calling, I took some epic photos and started my journey back down the mountain.

 

This journey was an unforgettable experience in my life with impression lasting a lifetime.