Moreno reaches Mt. Rwenzori summit - UWA

By John Thawite

American model Marlina Moreno has climbed up to the Margherita peak, the highest point of Rwenzori Mountain, Uganda Wildlife Authority said Wednesday evening.

Margherita peak stands at 5,108m (16,761ft) above sea level and takes an average of eight days to climb.

 “We are sure she has reached the peak because by 1:00p.m, she was only a short distance away from the peak. We are only waiting for a confirmation,” the Rwenzori Mountains National Park senior warden, Kizza said.

UWA tourism and business services director, Raymond Engene, said yesterday evening that the model and her team had touched the snowline, describing the last lap as the toughest part before the peak, which is on the Mount Stanley Plateau.

However, one of the people on the team could not make it to the peak.

An emergency team had to been dispatched at dawn to rescue him after he developed breathing problems at Elena camp, the last leg to the top of the mountain, according to Stanley Kanzenze, the chairperson of the Rwenzori Mountaineering Services, (RMS), which provides guiding services to tourists in the mountain’s central circuit.

Moreno trekked up the mountain in company of a 45-member team. But only about 12 members made it to the highest peak.

Tourism, Maria Mutagamba, flagged off the trek on January 17 at Mihunga, the main entry into the Rwenzori.

The central circuit includes the camps of Nyabitaba, John Maate, Bujuku, Elena, Kitandara, Guy Yeomann camps, which are about 10 hours apart.


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