KARANGA VALLEY TO BARAFU (HIGH CAMP):
A frosty morning in many ways. No one was doing much talking at breakfast. We ate, got our water bottles filled by Ali the cook, then packed quickly having by then figured out the best ways to organize our gear for speedy departure. We left around 9AM.
The hike to Barafu Hut from the plateau east of Karanga Valley begins quite gradually. Eventually one descends into an intermediate valley where lesser-used trails can be seen leading to points at or near Barafu. Somewhere in between Karanga and Barafu, lower down the mountain, is the Millennium Hut—a recently-constructed rescue-station. I saw some porters from other groups carrying walky-talkies so it’s possible that a rescue effort could be put together somewhat quicker than in the past. We trudged through the intermediate valley and could see a steep ridge on the far side, which we figured was Barafu. Andrea, always tired of my slow pace, sped up the ridge ahead of us with the Ivanovs in pursuit. "Hurry Up and Wait" was a game she played on Kilimanjaro par excellence.
The climb up the ridge Barafu sits on is rather steep and I took my time to stop and drink every so often. Portions of the climb resembled the slippery sections of the upper Breakfast Wall and I practically crawled up some of these. As he cleared the top of the wall, Godi started singing about Mawenzi, one of the three component volcanoes comprising Kili. It came impressively into view as I climbed up a small rise. The time was not yet 1PM, if I recall correctly. Good speed was actually made by all. We started to pass climbers and porters descending to the 2 Mweka huts (more on them later). Most of the climbers looked dazed—there wasn’t much conversation to be had. I ran into one guy trudging down the mountain who I think was the South African I met on the hike down into Barranco Valley. I asked him how his climb to Uhuru was. He said something like: "Absolutely grueling. Every inch seemed like a mile." Moving on, I met 3 or 4 guys from Philadelphia who had that very morning climbed up the Western Breach and then proceeded on to Uhuru Point. An outstanding accomplishment. They looked exhausted, but happy.
Our porters were still setting up the tents when we arrived at our campsite just above the 2 metal uniport huts. Already, brisk winds were making tent assembly difficult for them. People were coming down from the summit for a quick rest in their tents while people like ourselves were just arriving. Others were packing up to descend to the Mweka camps. Our tents were on the edge of a high cliff overlooking the adjacent Southeast Valley and Mawenzi Peak off in the distance beyond that. It resembled a lunar landscape, except for the clouds far below. We assumed that we would use our regular broken tent, but Godi told us to use the former meal tent instead. It was roomier and the zippers were in better condition though the winds were blowing flaps around quite noisily at times. That grew worse as the day progressed. Nik proclaimed the tent a palace compared to what he and Ianko had to deal with in the Bulgarian Army during the go-go years of the Warsaw Pact. Not much interested in Slavic relativism, I started unpacking my sleeping bag and took a brief nap. Lunch was announced, but I had decided to stay in the tent and eat a PowerBar or two. Godi insisted lunch be provided so a nice plate of French fries, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers was brought to my tent. I ate it while fantasizing about ketchup.
Nik, Ianko and Andrea walked around the camp taking photos. After lunch, I got my gear ready for the summit attempt later that night then managed the tent equivalent of a sponge bath—I’m not sure how much I actually accomplished, but I felt cleaner. Later, Nick popped in with a bottle of spring water someone at one of the huts was selling. 2 for $5 was the going rate here. I think the water was an unstated peace offering, but neither of us said anything to that effect. Nik left for further site-seeing and I dug into my Kili guidebooks to read up on altitude sickness. It looked like Ianko, Nik and I all had bouts with it during the previous days. Now the question was, "what lay in store for us above Barafu?".