Day 4: Karanga Camp

I woke up at 3:45 am and I've just been lying here. They say that high altitude can prevent you from sleeping well. I figured I would write down some food for thought-

I took my resting heat rate, 82 bpm. That's almost double what it should be. It seems like my body is working a lot harder just being up here. It made me wish that I brought my HR monitor and garmin. I could upload it into training peaks and have Debi yell at me for not staying in my HR ones. Yes Debi, I'm halfway around the world on a mountain in the middle of nowhere thinking about you. I hope you're thinking about me too. 

Growing up I had a childhood friend that always argued the following question- would you rather be hot or cold? She would say hot. I would say cold. Because you can always put on more layers on, but you can only take so many off. At the time this seemed like a valid reason, but boy was she right! As soon as the sun sets here it turns into a freezing hell. I remember researching sleeping bags with my dad for this trip. They recommended a 4 seasons -10 to -20 degree bag. I asked him if he thought the -20 degree bag might be overkill... this answer is NO. Thank god for my bag. The Marmot Col Membrain was the best Christmas present ever. You can easily lose all of the heat you generated in it by going outside in the middle of the night to pee. Not a risk for us, we have large Nalgenes strictly labeled and in a different color for a reason. It's an interesting experience.... let's leave it at that!

Today we tackle the Barranco Wall. It's the most technical section of rock scrambling/climbing on the route. We were told to pack extra light today, which is almost impossible. I hope that everyone is feeling better today and that the acclimatization hike paid off. 

At 6:30 we had a warm breakfast of crepes and veggie omelettes. Everyone was in a much more lively spirit and felt energetic. No one told us that the Barranco Wall was the giant rock face surrounding our camp. It looked quite daunting, but I was excited. I love scrambling! No hiking poles would be used today because we would be using all four limbs and "kissing the rock" as Evans said. We asked if anyone had ever slipped off the wall before and lead guide Joseph just chuckled and looked away. 

If you look closely you can see the little dots of people climbing the Wall already.

The team ready to start day 4!

We have no pictures of climbing the wall because we were a tid bit busy. At times it was pretty sketchy but a ton of fun. It seemed like a big kids playground. Five hours later we made it to karanga camp. Our entire crew was there cheering us in by singing Swahili songs. The porters started dancing. If we weren't to tired I would have loved to jump in, but luckily Arman took one for the team and joined in. Unfortunately he had the camera so none of his moves were caught on tape. 

View from the wall

Top of the wall

I don't yoga, but apparently this is Mountain pose. Seemed fitting!
Cindy, Deb, me, Jamie, Kristina

Singing!

Camp is pretty desolate here. No more fun Dr. Seuss trees or any inkling of colorful flowers. This is the last habitat that will have signs up life. It's known as the alpine desert. Sounds cheerful, doesn't it? The plants that do survive here are incrdible. They open up during the day to let the leaves soak up the sun and moisture from the fog. Then by nightfall they curl up inside themselves to protect against freezing. The dead leaves from these plants do not fall to the ground. However they become incorporated into the outside of the base for additional layers of warmth. Likewise, Arman and I tried to add additional layers of warmth by eating an entire jar of Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter. I feel better already! (minus the giant outbreak of hives on my chest). Due to the clouds surrounding the camp there is zero visibility, but we are told that the peak is looming directly over us. Anxiety is starting to build. Some people are talking with doubt, but I know that Arman and I are going to rock this!

We are learning a lot about Tanzanian culture, at least concerning the mountain. Lead guides rarely can work their way up from porter to guide. Guides are either "grandfathered in"  like Joseph, or saved enough money to go to english school like Evans. He said it was $4000 USD for an entire year at english school. which can be a lifetime of savings. Evans is 37 years old and has a 2 month baby named Roddick. I am curious to know what Roddick will grow up differently. During breaks we realized that the guides were not eating. So everytime we stopped for food, we shared with Evans. He would smile and say Asante sana (thank you very much). This made me feel even worse for the porters. Evans said that most porters cannot save money for school because anything they earn goes for food. Looking around at the porters you could see they only worse donated clothes from previous climbers. Old windbreaker pants, jackets with NFL and NBA team logos, shoes with holes in it, no socks, college t-shirts. The really cool ones had ballcaps with Nike or Adidas on it. We were already deciding what we could donate too. 

Dinners are getting interesting. You tried not to think about how they were serving you meat 4 days into the climb. Tonight we had sweet potato and sweet corn soup. Stirfry of veggies and meat. No idea what kind of meat. When you ask them what animal it is they just say meat. Yum! Everyone is feeling well tonight. If this was the Oregon Trail game we would say "Moral is high." Tomorrow's hike won't be nearly as fun as today's. No rock scrambling, just steep and up. Bring it on!

Lala Salama! (Sweet dreams!)