round the world in sixty days

Previously in part 2: we’d made it to Karanga camp (13,200 ft) around noon and brashly decided to forfeit a day of rest and a full night’s sleep and march on to base camp, Barafu. We would make our summit push that night, thus shortening our trek from 7 to 6 days. As we rose out of cloudy Karanga, Kibo peak started to peak through, looking like a floating mountainous island above the rock monuments people had built along the trail. After the initial climb, the walk was fairly low grade, and we were feeling good about our decision The trail crosses a plateau and then ascends fairly steeply to base camp which is so high the park doesn’t allow you to spend the night there (15,330 ft) – it is only for resting before making a summit attempt. Before.. After.We arrived at base camp around 4pm, pretty beat after 8 hours of ascent. So we put our feet up and enjoyed a view of Mawenzi, Kilimanjaro’s other peak. The locals say that Kibo (the summit peak we would be climbing) is the wife, Mawenzi is the husband, and Mawenzi is all jagged and scarred from Kibo’s bite marks.Rest was shortlived and the effects of altitude more present. Even taking off our boots or zipping a sleeping bag left us breathless. Dinner was served at 5pm, though our appetites waned with the altitude. Bed was at 6pm which allowed a few hours rest before our midnight wake-up call for the summit. Neither of us slept well – Kibo lurked above.