Kilimanjaro - My Journey to the Roof of Africa

Kilimanjaro (Day 4):

Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

I was actually too hot at night so I had to take off a layer. I spent almost 12 hours in bed. I got up at 6:20 and quickly packed my backpack. I ate breakfast inside the tent because it was too cold to eat outside. It seems that I get ready to leave five minutes earlier every day so today we left at 8:10am.

We had a much shorter hike to do today but it still involved a lot of climbing. We started by tackling the Barranco Wall right after breakfast (that's why it's also called the Breakfast Wall). It was actually not that bad. Occasionally, we had to use our hands to pull ourselves up the rocks. I had my trekking poles and camera in the backpack so I didn't take many pictures on this climb. It took us 1 hour 20 minutes to climb up to the top of the wall at 4,219 meters (13,842 feet). It wasn't that bad at all. We took a short break on the top of the wall. Brian, Natalie, and Andie was up there already while Andrew and Mio arrived later. We took some amazing pictures up there and then we continued our trek.

Today was a roller coaster ride: up and down, up and down. At the end, we had a very steep climb down to the Karanga Valley and an equally steep climb up on the other side of the valley to our campsite. Karanga Camp is at 4,034 meters (13,235 feet). I had a wonderful hot lunch here that I ate outside the tent. This was the first time I ate all the soup and everything on my plate. By the way, we completed the 5.1 kilometers today in 3.75 hours.

Brian, Natalie, and Andie decided to push on to Barafu Camp and climb to the summit tonight. Andie is still sick and rather miserable so she just wants to get the climb over with. Andrew is very upset about their decision.

I'm spending the afternoon with Andrew and Mio in their dining tent. At least, I can sit here more comfortably than in my tent and I also have company. Peter, my porter, wasn't feeling well earlier. He had a headache from the altitude so Faustin asked me for headache medication. I gave him two Tylenol capsules and he feels better now. I think his headache is gone.

I ate dinner with Andrew and Mio in their dining tent. It was so much more comfortable to eat that way. It was also easier for the crew to set up dinner for us. I think that their cook left with the other three people of the group and now Ambrus is cooking for everybody else.

I went to bed at seven but it took me a while to fall asleep.