Corporatemonk

CONTINUED FROM (PART TWO ) – It was a day that would not turn out as expected…..

Shane and I had a restful sleep that first night….but with the day that was in store for us, we were going to need it. Around 6am, we rose and began our trek to Barranco Huts, a staggering 13,074 feet above sea level. It was still dark, and the air had a crisp chill about it. At this altitude, very little wildlife survives on the mountain, so nature was eerily quiet as we took our first steps into the darkness.

The Umbwe Route is not a common route for climbers given the steepness and limited time for altitude preparation. Compared to some of the other more common routes, the Umbwe Route rises far more quickly towards the summit. Our spirits were high after a good night’s rest, and the excitement of moving higher towards the summit push came over us.

As we pushed higher, daylight finally arrived revealing the sheer enormity of this magnificent mountain. Kili is one of the largest dormant volcanoes in the world and the highest peak in Africa. Its summit stands out like a magnet to climbers.

The jungle was getting noticeably thinner with the increasing altitude. Soon the vegetation disappeared and we scrambled over rock and dust.

Our climbing pace was fast and the track that wound up the side of the mountain was still steep. Our accent was so fast we hit Barranco Huts by about 11am.

Park Rangers occupy Barranco Huts to sign climbers through to the next camps. We needed to make a critical decision: head to the Lava Towers Camp site and make a push for the Summit from Arrow Glacier via the Western Breach, or push across to Karanga to make our summit attempt via Barafu Huts.

An avalanche had recently killed several climbers on the Western Breach, so we decided to push on to Karanga which was another 6-8 hours of climbing. With Karanga at the same altitude as Baranco Hut, the risk of altitude sickness would also be considerably less. The path to Karanga traverses around the side of the mountain. We had only been climbing for a day and a half, so as long as we remained below 13,200 feet, we had a good chance of avoiding severe altitude sickness.

We lunched at Barranco then pushed on towards Karanga. We were still feeling fresh, but we knew this next leg would test us our fitness. We pushed higher from Barranco Huts towards an altitude of 14,150 feet – at this altitude you could start to feel the effects of the higher altitude given our rapid accent. Breathing was getting harder and our heads were feeling light.

It now looked like we were walking on the moon, the vegetation had disappeared and the landscape was made up of dark volcanic crushed rock. The traverse through the cliffs high on the mountain was a little hairy. Our heads were light and our 25kg packs were tipping us off-balance on some of the outcrops.

We made it through the cliffs unscathed and started to descend. The descent was a welcome relief to our heads – we started to feel strong again. It was now a matter of just completing the traversed walk – another 3 hours hiking to Karanga.

We could now see Karanga in the distance, but what was between us and a good night’s sleep and a meal was a massive canyon. It was extremely deep and very steep but we had to cross it to get to the other campsite. We were both totally exhausted, but we knew this was the only obstacle we had left for the day. It was time to dig deep into the energy reserves and get it over with.

We put our heads down, dug deep and powered on. It was a massive canyon and we thought we would never get to the top, but we finally made it. We set up camp and settled in for the night to reflect on what was a huge day.

From Karanga, we could see the summit behind us. We both sat there and stared at the peak. As the sun set, it was an amazing and beautiful sight. Again, butterflies and a sense of excitement came over us knowing that our summit attempt was within days.

This day was a demanding push, but tomorrow was a fairly easy climb to Barafu Huts, an altitude of 15,360 feet. There we would set up camp, rest for the day and go for the summit at 12.30am in the morning.

That was how the next day was meant to play out, but it did not go quite to plan. It would turn out to be one of our greatest challenges of the climb with plenty of drama.

TO BE CONTINUED….. (Make sure you subscribe by email or RSS feed to receive the rest of the series)

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