It’s here! Our December Team Climb to the Roof of Africa has arrived, and we have an INCREDIBLE team gathering in Tanzania.

We are excited to share that on our 2025 Kilimanjaro team, we have not one but TWO families climbing together: a mother-daughter team from Australia and a father-son team from the USA. As we mentioned in our 2025 Year-End Updates, this past year, we saw a massive uptick in families and friends climbing together. These shared experiences are more than just a trek or a climb; they are defining chapters in a family’s story and provide an opportunity for reconnection, shared goal-setting, and, increasingly rare, the ability to disconnect from the noise that surrounds our daily lives.

In addition to these four climbers, we have two other climbers who are featured in our 2025 Year-End Updates, including Eva Steinwald and Chrystie Watson.

Eva Steinwald will continue her 7 Summits x 70 journey on Kilimanjaro this winter, after successfully ticking off Everest in 2025 with our team (and for a short time holding the record as the oldest American woman to summit Everest). It’s her goal to summit all Seven Summits by the age of 70, and with Denali, Aconcagua, and Everest already under her belt, she’s well on her way.

Chrystie Watson will continue her sustainability research on Kilimanjaro, a partnership with CTSS and Charles Darwin University. Our partnership will not only inform how we can improve our own practices but also how we can promote greater social, economic, and environmental stewardship across the mountaineering industry.

We have three additional climbers joining this powerhouse group, including our very own staff photographer, Griffin Kerwin, who was with our teams on Everest this past season.

All of these climbers will be guided by Dr. Brenton Systermans (we warned you this was a star-studded team), who is a seasoned expedition doctor and CTSS guide. Dr. Brent, as we like to call him, spent 2 seasons volunteering at the Himalayan Rescue Association’s famous high-altitude clinic, including the Everest ER and the Pheriche Clinic, and he’s guided across the world, including in Australia, Nepal, China, Tanzania, and Europe. When Dr. Brent isn’t guiding for us, he works with high-performance winter athletes at the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia. The team will no doubt be in great hands with Dr. Brent leading the expedition. 

Stay tuned for more from Tanzania and the Roof of Africa as our team makes their way to the Machame Gates in the coming days.

Photo from the CTSS Archives: