Mount Kilimanjaro Expedition 2012

Day 4: Baranco Camp to Karanga Camp

Anatomy...

Climbing the Baranco Wall has bothered me for many months. So much so that I included an insane amount of stair climbing as part of my preparations for this expedition. And now, finally, I am going to find out first-hand wether all those stair exercises are going to help. I have a slight ache in my back this morning. Sleeping on the ground becomes quite a painful endeavor after a while.

It has snowed, and the inside of our tent-cover is frozen. It is very cold, and we put on more fleece jackets. Which we had to take off less than half an hour later. Climbing the Baranco Wall severely increases your body temperature.

While I am on the topic of anatomy... Freddie measures our heart rates and oxygen levels every morning to ensure that we are acclimatizing properly. Our oxygen levels never dropped below 90%, which is a very good thing. Yeah for months of cardio exercises! :)

One thing that did change dramatically was my heart rate. At home, my resting heart rate is a average 72, but up here, my poor heart is beating away at around 135 bpm at rest. Everything you do from here on up tires you out. Rolling your sleeping bag up leaves you out of breath. Putting on your shoes require rest afterwards. And now we have to climb a daunting 300m rock wall! Oi vey the things we do for fun.

Spider pig...

The time has come for us to conquer the Wall. For some reason I am singing Pink Floyd in my head. Seeing the row of people already climbing the Wall is pretty intimidating, and you realize just how high you are actually going to be climbing. Because we were still going strong, Freddie decided to let us wait a bit before commencing the climb in order to give us some space. It is no fun hanging over a cliff waiting for somebody in front of you to move. So, we were the last group to tackle the Wall.

Going last was a brilliant plan on Freddie's part. We practically had the Wall to ourselves, and was therefore able to enjoy the scenery and take our time. Going up the Baranco Wall is not a technical climb at all, but rather know as 'rock scrambling'. This basically means that you need to use your hands to pull yourself up at some parts. I quickly ditched my gloves in order to have better grip on the rocks.

The dreaded Kissing Rock loomed in front of us. This section scares the living daylights out of a lot of people. But it is really not that bad. It boils down to taking a single step around a section that unfortunately has your bum hanging out over a straight drop for a second or two. The guides will take your hand and pull you around Kissing Rock if you find yourself unable to move, so this part really need not scare you that much.

I have never done anything like this Wall in my life. And it was pretty mind boggling to look back and see the camp where we started, nowjust a small dot in the distance. So, hold on tight, and less than 2 hours later you will be at the top. But trust me, the two hours goes past very fast.

What goes down must come up...

From here the trail is fairly flat for a while, and eventually you will notice a gradual drop in altitude. Yes, you are going down a valley again. But, what goes down must come up, and the climb out of Karanga Valley is a killer. Except for the descent from the summit, the descent into Karanga Valley is the worst. By far.

The bottom of Karanga Valley is also the Last Waterspot, and the poor porters has to collect enough water to satisfy everybody, and not only for this camp, but for Barafu Camp (base camp) as well.

Although the climb out of Karanga Valley takes only about 30mins, it really drains your energy. Because the air is so thin up here, everything is harder than normal. Sure, it is relatively quick climb, but it is very, very steep.

When you eventually make it to Karanga Camp, the world tilts. Literally. Karanga is built on a downhill, and everything is skew. Even your tent is skew, and you will need to push your feet against the wall of your tent to keep yourself from sliding down the whole time. Climbing out of your tent causes you to lose balance as your brain attempts to re-adjust the world in your head. Karanga 1 - Balance 0.