Highest altitude LAN party on land
Who
Hatim Zohair Kaka, Hamza Saifuddin Ebrahimji, Khuzeima Husein Pothiwalla, Burhanuddin Murtaza Makai, Huzeifa Kusai Hassanali
What
5,894 metre(s)
Where
Tanzania (Mount Kilimanjaro)
When
Age Restriction: Applications for this record title will only be accepted if the applicant is 16 years of age or over.

The highest altitude LAN party on land is 5,894 m (19,337 ft), achieved by Huzeifa Kusai Hassanali, Burhanuddin Murtaza Makai, Khuzeima Husein Pothiwalla, Hamza Saifuddin Ebrahimji and Hatim Zohair Kaka (all Kenya), at Uhuru Peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, on 1 January 2022.


The group go by the name 'Strike Team Alpha'. They have always been hiking enthusiasts and often climb together. Huzaifa had previously climbed Mt Kilimanjaro to Uhuru Peak twice; while Hamza has climbed Mt Kenya. In preparation for this record attempt, the group climbed Mr Satima which has an altitude of 4,001 m (13,126 ft), as well as Elephant Hill to 3,685 m (12,089 ft) with their laptops and hosted a test LAN party.

The group first started LAN parties in 2012 and played Counter Strike as it was the only game they could all access. It has been a favourite ever since and so was the natural choice of game for the official record attempt. Although they usually play the newer Counter Strike Global Offensive, they felt it was only fitting to play the game that started it all during the attempt, so loaded up CS 1.6. There was also the added benefit that CS 1.6 was less CPU intensive so required less battery power.

Preparation for the attempt began in June 2021, with one hour of physical training per day eventually increasing to up to 8+ hours. The team also hosted a number of practice LAN parties in cold rooms and meat lockers to replicate the cold temperatures at the altitude they hoped to reach. As a result of their dedicated preparation and planning, everything went entirely to plan on the day of the attempt.

While most climbers will reach Uhuru Peak and take 15-30 minutes of rest before returning to base camp, the group had to stay there for 4+ hours setting up tents (to help endure the cold), equipment, hosting the LAN party and gathering their evidence for the record. They then had to hike 12 hours back to base camp while tired and hungry, with added breathing difficulties on top of that.

At the peak, the group pitched their tents slightly away from the Uhuru board so as to not disturb anyone or ruin any photos. Several hikers enquired what the tents were for and were amazed to find out all the effort that had gone into the event!

For those that do not know, a LAN party is a gathering of people with computers or compatible game consoles among whom a LAN (Local Area Network) connection is made which enables them to play multiplayer video games together using a router or a switch. For equipment, the team carried their own laptops and spare batteries which had been charged at Horombo camp, as well as a UPS to allow them to switch the batteries without turning the laptops off and a router which was also powered by the UPS.

On achieving the record, Strike Team Alpha said it is a "big achievement to us all as individuals, a group and the community as a whole. Online gaming is a very small community in Kenya, and with the world record we are hoping to show the country we set a world record while playing games and promote the growth of the local gaming community. Our entire community (The Dawoodi Bohra Community) in Kenya has been following our progress since Oct 2021 and can't wait until we are officially Guinness World Records title holders. But most importantly, we just want to take the certificate to His Holiness Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS and show it to him and say to him that with his blessings, we managed to do something not everyone manages to do - break a world record!"