Summit Murder Mystery Series

  by Kevin S. Held Bob Wheeler, right, and his son, Jack Wheeler, at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) WEBSTER GROVES, MO (KTVI) – The Guinness Book of World Records certified an 85-year-old Webster Groves man as the oldest person to summit Mount Kilimanjaro, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday . Bob Wheeler reached the top of the 19,340-foot mountain on October 2, 2014 , along with his son, Jack. Kilimanjaro, located in Tanzania, is the highest peak on the African continent and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. It took him five days to make the trek, according to the Guinness World Records website . Wheeler has also climbed Mt. Fuji in Japan and Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina. He published a book on mountain climbing in 2010. Wheeler is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point and a retired lieutenant colonel. For more information about the Summit Murder ...

  Dana al- Anzy, a Georgetown University in Qatar ( GU-Q ) student has become the first Qatari woman to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the world’s tallest free standing mountain. The Culture and Politics sophomore was part of a 12-person team of young Qataris and expats, including 3 guides, working to raise money for the “Elevate to Educate” expedition to build and renovate schools in Gaza through Reach out to Asia (Rota). The team was organised by Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah al- Thani, who last year became the first Qatari to climb Mount Everest. “Dana's climb demonstrates one of Georgetown's core values: "women and men for others". Her selfless climb to raise funds for Rota's Elevate to Educate exemplifies commitment to improving our shared world. The entire GU-Q community is proud of Dana’s achieveme...

Moshi tour guides, porters speak out Tourists and their guides during one of the trips to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro   Kilimanjaro climbing is a tough task. For one to trek this snow peaked highest mountain in Africa he has to be physically fit and forbearing. But it is soothing when one manages to climb the mountain up to it’s highest point-the Uhuru Peak (5,895 meters above the sea level),” says Boka wa Boka (not his real name) a tour guide working with one of the Moshi-based Tourism and mountain hiking tour companies. Speaking at different times with the writer of this article on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisal by tour operators some of Mt. Kilimanjaro tour guides and porters said that, in spite of the difficulty of their work, most tourguides and porters are underpaid. This is regardless of the routes they use to reach the peak, explaining “all mount Kilimanjaro routes are hard, but other routes are most hardier that ot...

  The group at the summit, from                                                          Walker Dean Moore's Facebook page.   Walker Moore carrying the cross on  day 5 of the climb, from his Facebook page.   ARUSHA, Tanzania - A Tulsa minister climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, carrying a 12 foot tall wooden cross, reached the summit Saturday.  Walker Moore is the founder of Awe Star ministries and has traveled all over the world. A lot of his work is in Panama, so the wood for the cross came from there. Then he had people in villages there sign it. "We're just going to take it to the top and I'm just going to s...

200 paragliders to fly off Mt. Kilimanjaro and fundraise $1M for East Africa charities Some events only happen once in a lifetime. While we’ve seen hundreds if not thousands Kilimanjaro charity climbs, we’ve certainly never seen 200 paragliders jump from the peak of Africa’s 19,341 foot summit in the name of charity. It will be a world-record breaking event. Three years of preparation will culminate in the largest Kilimajaro fundraising event of its kind with the 200 paragliders and support team set to start their climb up Mt Kilimanjaro on January 27 th , 2013. The project is appropriately dubbed ‘Wings of Kilimanjaro’. Paragliding pilots and passengers from around the world will aim to reach the summit and then jump off the mountain paragliding down. Normally, this type of activity is banned by the Tanzanian Government – but determination has made it possible and the team received a one-time special permission. ...

Great article in the Arizona Republic today about Laura Barnes and her upcoming Kilimanjaro climb. In Swahili, hakuna matata translates to "no worries." Laura Barnes of Gilbert uses these words immortalized by the Disney movie "The Lion King" to assuage the fears of her 11-year-old son Henry about her upcoming charity trek of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the African country of Tanzania. "Kilimanjaro? Hakuna matata," Barnes says jauntily to Henry, who's troubled that the name of the mountain starts with the consonant "kil."  Hakuna matata was far from what Barnes' parents felt 40 years ago when their daughter was diagnosed with a hole in her heart. Barnes was 4 then and living in the village of Hartford in northwest England. "I cannot even begin to imagine the fear and the terror they were going through," she said. "But they didn't show it to me." When she turned 10, Barnes had open-heart surgery at Ro...