Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

July 11, 2009 – Marjorie Arrives at High Camp

This is Marjorie checking in for July 10th and 11th.

Friday, July 10: It was hiking day 5 and our destination was Karanga valley camp at 13,900ft. A special note: There was ice in my water bottle this morning (very funny).

So today, we hiked through the beautiful Barranco valley and climbed the Barranco wall. It started raining and we were hiking in the clouds. After lunch we hiked the pass between Karanga valley to the Karanga valley camp. It was a very good day although challenging .We had an excellent dinner, warm tea for the night, and early to bed for a good rest.

Left: Before arriving at the base of Barranco Wall, we see this valley view

Right: We climbed the famous Barranco Wall to get to Karanga Valley

Saturday, July 11: Today we hiked from Karanga valley camp to Kosovo camp at 14,000ft. It was much colder and the tent was frozen from the rain yesterday. I’m definitely feeling the cold, but it’s not unmanageable. I’m still exhilarated from the challenge of yesterday. “Today will be a piece of cake” to quote Julius (very funny). We arrived at camp around 2pm. It was a challenge, but we made it without incident and it was a good hike. I will be getting a lot of rest because tomorrow morning we will summit instead of Monday. After we summit we will descend and sleep in the crater. I can’t believe that it’s really happening tomorrow. I’m really excited!

Check in later, bye!

We are high on Kili now, our view from Karanga camp

You can see that the top of Kili is very close from Karanga Camp