All these must first be trampled down
Beneath our feet, if we would gain
In the bright fields of fair renown
The right of eminent domain
The Ladder of St. Augustine – Longfellow
We woke up to a freezing morning, all the more so for me as the zip had broken on my hired sleeping bag during the night. Everything was frosted over this morning, even the condensation inside the tent and we really appreciated our “bed tea” this morning as we drank it from inside our tent looking out at the frosty vista before us.
Here and there around camp there were strange ice crystals which appeared to have sprouted up overnight from just under the surface of the soil. They lifted up the surface layer of soil and then, as the morning warmed up they fell over. They looked very bizarre.
Breakfast again was good, but I still couldn’t eat much as I still felt sick deep down in my stomach, so just tried a bit of porridge, but that seemed to make me feel worse. Maybe my appetite will improve at our next camp which is at a lower altitude.
After breakfast we started off on the long walk down to Karanga Camp (4,000m). It was cold but sunny and for a while I was able to keep up with everyone, but I was still finding it very difficult. Then, about halfway down the Barranco Valley, the mist started to roll in and I started to fall behind everyone again. Jennifer stayed by my side and walked with me through the mist.
Barranco Valley is gorgeous by the way, full of life, especially when compared to other valleys at that altitude. We put on out waterproofs and wound our way down the valley with Francis as our guide.
All the way along the east side of the valley is the Barranco Wall. The cliffs looked imposing at this level, sheer and with large alluvial deltas fanning out from their base, but as the valley floor kept dropping we knew the cliffs would be even higher as we got further down the valley.
As we crossed the river and got to the climbing point we had a rest, which I really needed. I still felt ill and I was constantly out of breath. I kept telling myself that all the time I’m struggling at this level, just means my body is taking time to acclimatise and that by the time the summit comes I will feel more ready for it.
By the time we got to the base of the Barranco Wall we had the whole thing to ourselves, most of the porters and the rest of our team had headed up ages ago, and any other parties would have camped at the bottom of the wall and climbed up earlier that morning. There were a few straggling porters who went past us at the bottom and then Matthew the head guide came along and decided to stay with us.
I have to say the Barranco Wall is definitely one of the highlights of the trip. It takes about an hour to climb and its almost vertical, but there are literally thousands of handholds and ledges on the way up so it feels really easy to climb. If this wall was in the Lake District it would be buried under a mass of bodies climbing it every weekend.
Its easy climbing, more like an easy scramble and only one part (labelled the kissing rock), about halfway up where there is an overhanging rock where you have to step out over a void and use the handholds to keep you tight into the rockface (hence “kissing” the rock). The river below looks like a tiny trickle.
I just stepped across without using the handholds because the footholds were really pronounced, but Jennifer has a thing about heights (so why is she climbing a mountain!!!!) and she was shaking when she had crossed this bit.
We were making good progress but I still had to keep stopping for a breather. Matthew offered to take my pack, but I wanted to do this on my own, so I declined his offer. He smiled and said I was strong like the lion, but I was more weak like the kitten!
I was still feeling ill and about halfway up it was really getting on my nerves. This was a great climb and I wasn’t enjoying it as I should because I felt so ill, so I decided to try to get it over with and forced myself to be sick, hoping it would help. It did a bit, but I still have that sick feeling deep in my stomach.
It took us an hour to get up the wall and at the top we took a small break, during which time we were accompanied by an arctic chat, who seemed very interested in our biscuits.
Then we headed down the next valley which was more of a short dip, at the bottom of the valley we could see the rest of the team heading out of the valley on the opposite ridge, we called them but they couldn’t hear us, although we heard them shouting down to us. I reckon they were less than an hour ahead of us.
It was another beautiful valley, different from the Barranco Valley, with a lot of alluvial silt at the bottom of it, and much smaller. By the time we’d made it up over the top of the next ridge and into the Karanga Valley, the rains had started. We could just see the camp on the opposite ridge, but we had to climb down the cliff face on this side first and then up the other before we made it to camp.
The climb down started off ok, the rock formations were beautiful, almost like climbing down a rock garden, but as the rains got heavier it was like trying to climb down through a water feature, with every path becoming a torrent of water and mud, making it very slippery, but Jennifer & I were doing ok and we were joking with Francis about him choosing the hardest route!
We made it down without mishap and now had to climb up the steep face of the other side of the valley. There were two porters waiting for us and Francis asked one to take my pack, but I wanted to do this on my own, besides it would help with my acclimatisation and if I was going to hand my pack over at any time, it would be better on the summit attempt, I wouldn’t feel the benefit if I was climbing without my pack now.
As expected the climb was steep and the downpour didn’t help, but maybe because it was at a lower altitude or maybe because my body was acclimatising I found that I could keep going without too many breaks and far sooner than I expected we were walking into camp.
The walk had taken us about six hours, which was about half an hour to an hour longer than the others, but it had been a wonderful walk, despite the rain and the difficulty of it, it was the best so far on the trip and we loved it.
We found our tent in the pouring rain and dropped our packs off and went straight to lunch in the mess tent. We arrived to a huge cheer from the others, who must have been taking bets about whether I would make it that day, especially after how I was the previous day. I still couldn’t eat much so just had some soup and hot chocolate to try to keep my strength up, and after lunch Matthew fixed the zip on my sleeping bag which was a bonus, I really just need it to hold out until tomorrow night anyway, then we’ll be heading down again.
The rain started to ease off in the evening, but we really need some sun to dry out our gear before tomorrow night’s summit attempt. At the moment the only way to dry our kit is to wear it for as long as possible in the tent / mess tent and try to use our body heat to dry them out.
Despite the cold and the damp everyone seems happy and cheerful and we are really enjoying our adventure. The walks are amazing as are our fellow travellers, who all seem to have a great sense of humour and are great at keeping each others spirits up.
Even the porters and the guides seem happy and the occasional glimpses of Kibo summit are a bonus.
Jennifer is doing really well and is in her element. She’s had no sign of sickness yet, or even a headache, probably because she has been drinking so well, which has its downsides of frequent trips to the loo, but she doesn’t seem to mind. Most of us seem to have that dry Kili cough now and its more pronounced in the quite of the night when we are in out tents.
Tags: Kilimanjaro
