Kilimanjaro & Meru - Page 8

Karanga Camp (4035 m) - Barafu Camp (4673 m)

Today we started to the base camp for the summit, it was only 4 hours hiking, but some altitude difference. Shortly before the camp we had another steep up. We arrived early and tried to keep ourselves busy so that we could sleep for a few hours in the evening. Some groups came from the summit, some looked happy, some just exhausted. The tension was growing. There were already a few more tents here, basecamp, of course. People from all the routes start from here to the summit. There were boulders everywhere, it was not easy to find a place for 4 tents.

The altitude was now palpable, even the walk to the toilet building 100 m away took an eternity. But we were spared pain and nausea. We sat in the sun for the afternoon, charged our headlamp and smartphones with our solar panel and let time do its work. Dinner was at 5.30 pm so that we could rest for a few more hours. There was no chance of sleeping anyway, we were too excited 🙂.

Barafu Camp (4673 m) - Uhuru Peak (5895 m)

We dozed off and actually only waited for the footsteps of the guide and waiter, who came to fetch us for coffee at 11 pm on the dot. Without many words we put on our layers of clothes, tried to visit the toilet again, because on the way it is not comfortable. We held on to the coffee cup and waited for Richard's command. On the mountain, quite a few headlamps were already queuing up. Richard stressed again: walk slowly but steadily, take few short breaks, it's getting colder.

Then we set off, we couldn't see far, just oriented ourselves to Richard in front of us. Eric was always behind us. A steep path, then we climbed over rocks, at about 4800 m we passed a small, empty camp. In the valley, the lights of Moshi were shining, in front of us sheer endless serpentine, stony paths. We passed a few groups here and there, but otherwise we saw little. It was pitch black and beautiful starry sky. But it was too monotonous and exhausting to enjoy.

We stuck strictly to Richard's instructions and only paused once in a while for a sip from the bottle. At some point he said we were almost at Stella Point, but I only saw dark mountain silhouettes in front of me, where should there be an end? But then I heard the first voices laughing and bawling. Stella Point at 5730 metres was reached. I was about to take a breath and take a short break, when Richard asked us to walk to the summit. And he knew why. The last stretch to Uhuru Peak at 5895 metres was somewhat flatter.

It was freezing cold, but the sun was slowly coming out now. We did it, we were super happy. There was only a group of young Greeks in front of us, we waited a while, then we were allowed to take our summit photos. Wonderful. Once again Richard had led us to the summit just in time for sunrise. Because of his perfect planning, we didn't have to freeze for long at the top. The sun was rising and wonderful views of the remaining glaciers opened up. One play of colours was more beautiful than the other, and as it quickly got warmer, we could now enjoy it in peace.

We hardly felt any exertion, but this was brought back to our attention as we ran back. Some of the people coming towards us could walk the last few metres only with support, others we met uphill could no longer be seen downhill. At some point the guides urged us to hurry, we had to descend another 3,000 metres to the last camp. We quickly took the skipped photo at Stella Point, and then our assistant guide Eric put the fast gear.