Day 5: Climb to Baranco Camp

MOUNTAIN ROUTE OVERVIEW

The path today runs through a black lava desert past millions of heavy rocks. From the Shira Plateau, the group will continue to the east up a ridge, passing the junction towards the peak of Kibo. As they continue, their direction changes to the South East towards the Lava Tower, called the “Shark’s Tooth.” Shortly after the tower, they come to the second junction, which brings them up to the Arrow Glacier at an altitude of 16,000ft. During the lunch break they can glimpse the snowline above the Lavatower.

After lunch, they continue down to the Barranco Hut at an altitude of 13,000ft. Slowly the stone desert disappears and along the way they find again the typical giants cross herbs, as well as heath and moorland. From the Barranco Camp they will see the Great Barranco Wall, the Western Breach of Kibo, the window and the south glacier. Here they rest, enjoy dinner, and overnight. Although they end the day at the same elevation as when they started, this day is very important for acclimatization and will help our climbers’ bodies prepare for summit day!

CLIMB STATS

 Begin ~ 12,500 Feet / 3,800 Meters

 End ~ 12,900 Feet / 3,900 Meters

 Elevation Gain / Loss 2,100 Feet  / 1,700 Feet

 Time Average 7-9 Hours

 Distance Hiked 6 Miles / 10 Km

CLIMBER BLOG ENTRY

Today many of us woke up running on little to no sleep. A couple of us had pounding headaches for the entire night. We started slowly towards Lava Tower, a rock formation at 15,000 feet. On our way there a couple of us continued to feel miserable. I was one of the people feeling quite terrible and had some difficulties on the journey there. I would consider this day to be one of the worst of my life. However, at one of our breaks something changed. Either the drugs we were taking kicked in, or God answered our prayers. I chose to believe the latter. Our stoke level went from 0 to 10. We had an extra boost of energy and we pushed all the way to Lava Tower. 15,000 feet, the highest most of us have ever been. Unfortunately, our day was not over. Hikers believe it is best to climb hight, but sleep low. So from Lava Tower we walked down to 13,500 feet where we stayed at Baranco Camp.

Stewart