Day 5: Barafu Camp

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. The morning sun was glorious! 

Good morning!

View of Mt. Meru from Karanga Camp

Eric, Jamie and David set off an hour early to have more time to pole pole pace. The lack of oxygen was starting to effect Jamie's breathing and David was suffering some pretty ugly nausea. The rest of us were allowed to sleep in today today since the hike was shorter to prepare for tomorrow's summit! 

Today's climb seemed like we were on another planet. We walked over lava rocks and dust for most of the day. This is what Mars must be like. No signs of life or water, just rocks. We spent 3.5 uneventful hours just climbing up. It wasn't until we stopped to catch our breath that we looked around and saw the views. We were soaring above the clouds. It was beautiful. 

Breathe

Our 4 guides- Damion, Evans, Joseph, Phillipe

Evans said that in the wet season this would all be covered with snow. Thank goodness it's the dry season! Not to worry, we will have our fair share of arctic conditions tomorrow. We finally made it to Barafu Camp at 15,400 feet. This camp was nothing like the others. There was hardly a flat space to pitch a tent, so we were all over the place. Our tent was probably pitched at 30 degrees, which wasn't a problem because we weren't going to be able to sleep anyways!

Now it was time for us to rest. It's too cold and windy to even leave the tents. And it just started to hail. We are cuddled in our tent listening to it pound down all around us. I suppose these would be considered less-than-desirable conditions. But there's always the calm after the storm right? Let's think positive thoughts! We will have our summit briefing at dinner. All I know now is that we are going to start our ascent to the Roof of Africa tonight!

All four guides came into the mess tent for our summit briefing. We were going to be woken up at 11:30 pm. Dress and pack and meet in the mess tent by midnight. The plan was to start no later than 12:30 am. We were going to be given hot water in our nalgenes to put in our packs because any camelback would freeze. We were also told to put our camera inside socks with hand warmers if we wanted any chance of them working properly at the summit. Apparently they can freeze too. We were told that the climb would not be technical and have no scrambling. The terrain would be similar to today, just rocks, but extremely steep. The goal was to reach Stella Point within 6 hours. Some people might have to stop here. Others can try and continue to Uhuru Peak, which is another 1-2 hours. 

It's now 8 pm, we get up in a few hours although sleep is impossible. Not going to lie, it's effing miserable here. Anxiety would be filling me if every second of my thoughts wasn't filled with how freaking cold I am. 

The name of the game is pole pole.... let's do this!