From the Itinerary of 3 September, 2019: A short steep climb up the famed Barranco Wall leads us to an undulating trail on the south-eastern flank of Kibo, with superb vistas of the southern icefields. The terrain changes to volcanic scree, with pockets of lush vegetation in sheltered hollows, and a powerful sense of mountain wilderness. Our next camp is at Karanga (4000m) a short distance away. The valley floor has the last water point on the approach to Barafu and we camp on the higher sides of the valley with views towards the glaciers of the southern icefields. Approx 4-5 hours walking covering 3 miles.
This was probably my most difficult day, not because of the altitude which we could definitely feel, but because we had to scramble up this wall and I hadn't trained for it. We camped just at the base of the wall, so the walk to the start of the climb was only about .5 miles. The weather was wonderful.
The porters were zipping up carrying amazing amounts of weight. There were
narrow climbing areas and a lot of people - recipe for disaster. Hard to get a perspective from these photos. The first one you can kind of see the route up and the second is the view looking down.
Our guides were amazing and, literally, held our hands the entire way. No one fell or hurt themselves. Thank goodness Everest Base Camp doesn't have this sort of thing. Here are my immediate thoughts when I crested the wall:) (excuse the profanity)
Just a note about the crowds - As we get closer to the top I have the feeling of more people and there are a lot of them. We had 400 at our campsite last night.
Once we finished the main part of the climb and got to the top, the views were great and we had a small celebration and group picture. These shots of my jumping at the top reflect how difficult it was to jump at the high altitude:)
It was from here that the world started to tilt as we continued up the side towards the summit. Like cows walking on a hill, our hiking is not on a level, but on a slope. We are now above the clouds and the summit peaks out.
Today was also my most amazing day, or should I say evening. We were now at about 13,000 feet, or 2 miles up, from the valley floor and above the clouds. The stars were amazing, and, looking down, you could see the lights from the ground - as though you were looking through a plane's window. Unfortunately the photos don't do any justice. Best and most difficult day of the trip so far.
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