DAY 6: January 1, 2013

We are awakened around 6:30 AM by the morning reveille from Emmanuel, as he crawls into the tent with our bed tea.  Don and I wish each other a Happy New Year.  Once again, I get this surreal feeling.  It’s the first day of 2013 and we are starting the year off in a tent on a desolate mountain trail in East Africa!  As I crawl out to wash up before breakfast, I am greeted by the sight of Mt. Kilimanjaro right in front of my eyes.  It looks even closer than it did yesterday in Barranco – it’s like a big hill rising up in the foreground.  Once again, it almost seems like we should be able to run up to the top in a couple of hours.  I can see the snow on the sides and I can see the peak – it doesn't look anything like the flat-topped volcano I have seen in dozens of pictures.  Don joins me as we stare at the mountain.  Both of us get our cameras out and take several very nice pictures before the inevitable clouds roll in.

New Year's Day view of Mt. Kilimanjaro (Camp Karanga)

 
I ask Don if he had gotten up at midnight to watch the New Year celebrations – obviously, I was sound asleep and I've missed whatever action there was.  Don confesses that he too hadn't stepped out of the tent, but he also can’t really recall hearing anything particular.  We do hear a couple of firecrackers going off early in the morning, but it looks like there really wasn't really that much of a celebration last night!  We eat breakfast, pack up our stuff, and a little after 9:30 we leave for Barafu.

Ready to leave for base camp at Barafu

The rain has started again, but it’s a steady, light drizzle rather than anything heavy.  The main thing that strikes me is that about half an hour in, all vegetation disappears, save for a few stray clumps of grass.  We climb steadily as we walk, but until the very last stretch it’s pretty gradual.  The final twenty minutes are fairly brutal as we make our way up a bunch of rocks to get to Barafu.  As we get to the top a little before 1 PM, I see a somewhat unnerving sight. There’s a young fellow – probably in his twenties – who looks to be in bad shape.  He’s a big, strapping guy, but he’s got a glazed, far-away look in his eyes.  He’s being supported on either side by a couple of Tanzanians with official looking badges on their arms, and his own arms dangle limply over their shoulders as he gazes into the distance.  The two fellows to his side are half-carrying half- dragging him down the hill we just climbed.  Looks like this is one person who certainly won’t be going any higher. As I spy the camp site, there’s another, older woman who is violently sick and throwing up.  I shiver slightly – we’re talking real business now! 

Barafu is as cold and forbidding a place as you can imagine.  No sign of any sort of vegetation – just rocks everywhere.  There’s a steep drop-off to one side and a steep rise to the other that is shrouded in the mist and low-hanging clouds; Abdallah tells me that’s where we’re headed next.  This camp is even more crowded than Barranco but much more spread out, with tents all over the place, because other than the Rongai and Marangu trails, all the others use Barafu as the staging area / base camp for the final climb to the summit. There are tents above us and tents below us and tents all around us as well.  Our own site is not optimal as it’s a bit away from the trail but it’s not terrible either. I am curious about how we find specific spots within a camp site and Julio tells me that the team has an “advance” scout whose job it is to get to the next camp site early and claim first dibs on the more desirable spots – Lucas apparently plays this role for us!  We are in a somewhat cramped location with tents all around us, but at least we’re all together, and the mess tent is right next door to our sleeping tent.  Julio warns us that this is one of the more unsafe camp sites.  People are tired, and it’s very crowded, and climbers leave their bags behind when they head to the summit, thus providing lots of opportunities for anyone looking to steal stuff.  Julio has posted a couple of porters who are huddled on a rock slightly above us to watch out and make sure nobody wanders into our tent, but he tells us to also be aware and careful as long as we are here. And even though we’ll be returning here when we are done, he tells us not to leave any money or valuables behind when we head out for the summit.

We finish lunch sometime between 1:30 and 2:00 PM.  Both of us actually manage to eat a reasonable amount – well, I guess that depends on what one would consider to be a reasonable amount. The good news though, is that both Don and I are feeling pretty good.  Julio comes in and says we should go to our tents and lie down.  He says Emmanuel will wake us up around 5:30 for an early dinner, and that at that time he’ll also tell us about what to plan for over the next 24 hours. With a wide smile he says “No woe-rees!  You are both doing great. Just take rest and we will talk at dinner time.” As we head to our tent I notice a couple of the porters enjoying a smoke, and even more horrifyingly, one of the climbers – he looks and sounds German or Swiss – also smoking a cigarette.  I am flabbergasted; these guys are actually filling their lungs with smoke at 15,000+ feet?  You have got to be kidding me!

It is cold and raining steadily as Don and I get into our tent.  As we zip ourselves into our sleeping bags we discuss what we should do about changing into what we need to wear for the final climb.  Frankly, both of us are mildly irritated that Julio won’t tell us exactly what we need to do.  But I guess he wants us to rest and get ready.  So that’s what we do – it’s not hard at all to fall asleep.  Around 5:30 PM we are awakened by Emmanuel.  We stagger out to the mess tent and see that it’s still raining steadily, although not really heavily.  Dinner comprises the usual hot soup, and then it’s pasta with some sort of sauce tonight.  Neither Don nor I have much interest in food.  For one, it seems like we just had lunch, and for another, we’re just too tense anticipating the upcoming Big Climb to the summit!  We eat what we can and wait for Julio. 

He comes in around 6:00 PM or a little thereafter.  The first thing he tells us is that we are doing great and if we rest well, we should have no “probe-lames” making it to the top.  Well – that’s nice!  He tells us to get dressed in as much warm clothing as we need to before going to sleep, and to also use hand warmers inside our gloves/mittens and toe warmers inside our boots before leaving.  The good news is that he doesn't think that it’s going to be exceptionally cold.  “But it’s better to wear more than wear less,” he says. “You can always remove layers that you don’t need.  And Abdallah and I will have nothing on us so if it’s necessary we can help with carrying anything you want.”  Well, that’s not really new – one of the two has carried my bulky Canon SLR pretty much the whole way, as well as my rain gear on occasion, and Abdallah has insisted on carrying Don’s day pack too on a couple of occasions.  Both were porters at one time and I guess carrying stuff on their backs doesn't seem to bother either one a great deal.

More importantly, Julio says we should try and get as much sleep/rest as we can over the next few hours.  “Abdallah and I will wake you up around 11:30 PM and we should plan to leave by midnight he says.”  He estimates that it will take us about seven hours to get to the summit.  As for tomorrow, he says it will depend on how we feel.   If we are in good shape we could rest for two or three hours at Barafu after we come down and then go all the way to the Mweka Camp, which is about four to five hours down.  But if we are too tired, we will not wait too long (“otherwise you will never get up to leave”) and probably leave Barafu pretty soon and head to Millennium Camp, which is only a little under two hours down.  Either way, he tells us not to worry – the bigger job is to get some rest before we start on our summit climb.

When we return to our tent, Don and I start to get ready.  We both check our headlamps to make sure they’re in good shape and I put in fresh batteries.  I lay out my gloves, down mittens, and neck gaiters, and also pull out the chemical toe warmers and hand warmers I have brought along.  And of course, the down jacket I have brought just for summit day.  In my mind, I go over what I will be wearing when we set off and start donning things one by one.  Above the waist, a fresh undershirt, a polypropylene polo-neck top and my Merino wool thermal.  Then a polyprop hoodie, and a fleece jacket, and finally, the down jacket.  I put on everything except for the last two items.  Below, I pull on a fresh pair of undershorts, the tights I had been wearing today, my Merino wool thermals and a pair of fleece pants.  Before we leave, I plan to pull on my water/wind proof rain-pants as a last layer.  I debate whether I should wear an extra pair of socks but decide against it – the liners and the one wool pair with toe warmers in between should be enough I reckon.  Like me, Don too is putting on layer after layer, and he’s using almost everything he has that is dry.  It’s almost 8 PM by the time we’re dressed and ready to crash, but it’s hard to sleep. We crawl into our sleeping bags and doze fitfully, but neither one really gets any real sleep. 

Around 11:30 we are rousted by Emmanuel.  There’s one last light meal in the mess-tent before we leave, but neither Don nor I have much interest – we’re more worried about ensuring that we have everything we might need before setting off.  I mentally go over the checklist as we sip our ginger tea.  When we’re ready to leave I take off my boots and stick in the toe warmers, and also stick in the hand warmers between my liner gloves and the down mittens I am wearing on top of them.  Frankly, all this seems like a bit of overkill since it’s really not all that cold – I have been in far colder temperatures back home (although admittedly not at over 15,000 feet).  But I've been told that this is what we should do, so I follow orders.  My daypack is lighter than normal.  I've decided to leave my fancy SLR and telephoto lens behind in favor of a small point-and-shoot that I have brought along, and all I have are two bottles of water, my (fairly useless) rain jacket, and a Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel that I want to take a picture with when we get to the top.  However, the daypack still seems to weigh a ton!  As we set off, I notice that it’s around 12:15 AM on January 2, 2013.