The Up's and Down's of Mt. Kilimanjaro - Part 6

10 February 2016, Wednesday

Day 3

Shira Plateau – Barranco Camp

7hrs20min, about 10km

Start: 3840m (12 600ft), End: 3950m (12 960ft)

Highest point: 4600m (15 000ft) – Lava Tower

06:30-ish

Freezing. Didn’t sleep well at all. And we aren’t even near the summit where the temperature will drop below freezing. I see myself sleeping inside my duffelbag with all of my clothes on top of me…

Leaving camp

Other climbers

The clouds racing us up

17:10-ish

I am in my tent, half in my snow pants to try and keep my feet warm. The Barranco Wall towers over us, but we can’t see it because cloud has rolled in. When we arrived about an hour ago, the sun was shining and there was no wind. I was walking around in a t-shirt.

Today was tough both mentally and physically. From camp-to-camp, I timed 7hrs23mins, of which about 5 hours were up, and 2-and-a-bit hours down. Climb high, sleep low. That’s the name of the game, apparently.

I wasn’t feeling great this morning, probably from the lack of sleep. And I didn’t eat enough at breakfast.

So within 30 minutes of setting out, I already had the wrong mindset. The ascent was nothing like yesterday; the route can kind of be compared to a gnarly mountain bike trail, only going up instead of down.

 

It hasn't even been an hour since we started, and I need to rest!

At some point during the climb I switched to auto-pilot, and the going got easier. Foot, pole, breathe. Look ahead, see the mountain we still had to climb, look behind and see how far we had come.

I don’t remember when or why, but through my auto-pilot state, I thought of the Lord of the Rings. Yeah, the altitude was starting to have an effect on me. But, I remembered the scene with Gandalf shouting “You shall not pass!”and then jumped to the Hobbits and the distances they travelled, and the adventures they went on. Bare foot nogals. I think I was questioning why I set out on this adventure, and that Lord of the Rings memory reminded me why…

It’s an adventure. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself. And I liked to walk.

So there I was, pushing myself to walk up the side of a 19 000-foot mountain.

I don’t even fly that high! But it turns out that crows do; they followed us all the way, an ominous whoosh of black wings and squawking.

 

The crows, at Lava Tower!

We ate a packed lunch at Lava Tower, which was at 4600m. I was cold, tired, hungry, sore, cold. But the food lifted my mood somewhat. As did the knowledge that we only had one more short ascent before heading downhill to the camp.

 

Approaching Lava Tower

It had started to drizzle and the wind was icy cold. My gloves were freezing when I pulled them on, and for 30 minutes after until my hand warmed up sufficiently. From now on I’ll keep my gloves in my jacket to pre-heat them.

The short ascent was beautiful and we got a good look at Lava Tower before starting our descent to the camp at 3000-something meters.

The descent was almost worse than going up…

Final ascent before our long descent

A little stream at the bottom of the valley

Looking back at Lava Tower

Looking back at Lava Tower after about 40 minutes

Clambering over rocks, my knees weren’t happy, and a headache had started to set in. I stayed well back from the rest of the group, Pole Pole, and tried to enjoy the view. The last thing I wanted was to sprain my ankle.

We stopped at a large tree, quite beautiful, and the rest of the group took photos. Did I want to pose for a photo with the tree? No, I was over it; I was going to go find a tree to pee behind for the umpteenth time that day… I think the waist strap of my backpack was pushing on my bladder…

 

Dried up river bed

Naturally, my chosen spot (which turned out to be a rock instead of a tree), was just off the main path, which I didn’t realise until as my luck would have it, a porter passed. Sod it. I don’t care anymore. I mooned a stranger at 4000m (or there abouts... does the exact altitude matter?!). I’m sure they are used to it. Hazards of the job.

The cool tree everyone posed with while I went and accidentally mooned someone

I hated to ask “How much further?”, but I couldn’t stand it. I was tired!

30 minutes.

Isn’t that what you said an hour ago?

The terrain we had to negotiate

Looking back up at the path we had been following down (rocks on the left)

Very cool trees just before the camp

We missioned on and eventually rounded the corner and saw our campsite.

Relief! Just a few hundred meters to go!

We trudged to the registration office and I turned and saw the peak. Uhuru Peak. The Goal. This is what I was working for!

The mountain says hello

Tomorrow we tackle Barranco Wall; a towering mass of formidable-looking rock. But for now, I am Home.

Taking a break before dinner. You can see some of my gear hanging on my shoe-lace washing line. I hoped and hoped it would be dry (or at least drier) in the morning.
It wasn't.