Keg Spirit Foundation Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

August 12, 2010 – Karanga Valley Camp, 13,200ft/4023m, Separation Day, Not.

Today could have been the day that separated the men from the boys. But it wasn’t. After nine grueling hours on Kilimanjaro, all ten of us are still in the game!

I’ll spare you the details of our morning routine, except to say that Wally’s morning briefing was a little more somber than usual – and it wasn’t because it was so cold outside! He told us to expect a long, difficult day with a lot of ups and downs. He wasn’t kidding.

We set off at about 8:30 a.m. to climb about 300 feet out of Lava Tower Camp, which is not particularly notable but then began to descend, and descend, and descend. By the time we were finished descending we had gone from 15,300 feet to just under 13,000 feet, which is 2,300 feet of altitude further below Uhuru Point than we had been. And our knees and backs felt every foot down the steep, rocky trail. As we were descending, the weather was deteriorating. The bright, sunny day that had started to warm up turned cool and misty – for about ten minutes. Then it got cold and started to rain. And then the wind picked up.

About that time, we reached the end of our first descent of the day in the very lovely Barranco Valley. Unfortunately, on the other side of the river is the very aptly named Barranco Wall, a somewhat imposing rock base rising 1,000 feet almost straight up from where we found ourselves. Any doubt about what came next was quickly erased when Berg Adventures climbing helmets were distributed – in a lovely shade of lavender, I might add! After scaling “The Wall” for what seemed like an eternity, we again descended to our lunch camp in a frigid driving rain. If you are wondering why we climbed a wall only to go downhill for lunch, join the club!

At lunch, Wally told us it would likely keep blowing wind and rain for the rest of the day and that we should be sure to fuel up as there was another three hours of up and down to go before we reached our camp for the night. Oh joy! As it turned out, the weather improved and we finally arrived at Karanga Valley Camp nine hours after we left Lava Tower. As tough a day as it was, the warm welcome we received upon our arrival turned our grimaces into genuine smiles. The Berg Adventures crew were singing with abandon. We had all made it through the longest day’s work of our climb, having ascended and descended several thousand feet. That having been said, we net lost almost 1,800 feet which we need to regain in the next couple of days, which is somewhat mitigated by the warmer temperatures and thicker air we are now enjoying at Karanga as compared to Lava Tower.

We had a quick excellent dinner (including a Tusker Beer as a reward from Wally for our day of progress) and are now in bed very comfortably contemplating the way we will feel tomorrow night in the freezing and oxygen deficient air at over 16,000 feet.

Stay tuned!

– By David Aisenstat