Visit to East Africa
- Hike to Barranco Wall -
Journal:
"September 9, 1998 - Trek to Barranco - At 6am I wake John (Brislin) and Dave (Pumps). John slept fairly well (waking only twice), but Dave woke up about every half hour. Breakfast is the same as yesterday, and we start our packing. Éle approaches me and wants me to pack a day pack and allow a porter to carry my bag - big burst of ego here. But I politely decline - I have carried this pack at higher altitudes than we will reach today, Éle is just being cautious, he wants us all to reach the summit. I have a slight headache from the lack of sleep and take four aspirin to stop it and prevent one during the hike. The clouds have cleared and we can see the summit of Kibo vividly against the blue and red sky - had we started from sea level, we would just be half way to the top. We begin our hike and see that we have changes terrains again - we are now in an alpine prairie where trees cannot grow, but bushes and shrubs abound. The slope is a pleasant ascent and I am having an easy time of it - aspirin are truly as miracle. After two hours we have reached 4400 m. (13,000 feet) and get an excellent view of Lava Tower. Lava Tower is just what you would expect, a huge edifice of solid lave rock extending 1000 feet frmo its base. The sides are vertical as much of the supporting rock has broken away. The landscape surrounding the tower appears Martian - reddish-brown porous rock rising from a dusty, sparse soil. As we pas the tower we begin to descend into a valley that had been cut out by glaciers thousands of years ago. We lunch at the bottom by a small stream and take pictures of the Lava Wall - a sheer face a half mile across. Chris tells us of the indoor climbing wall he runs while Dianne hides behind a rock to put on long underwear. Éle tells us we only have an hour and a half more to go today - up the ridge and into the valley on the other side. At 2:30 we reach Barranco Hut, 3940 m. (~12,500 feet) - we had ascended to 4400m. only to end up 200m. higher than our last camp! This is part of the acclimization process that should help us reach the summit. Tea is served at 4:00 and dinner at 5:30. Tomorrow we split with the Aussies and do our last trek before the summit attempt. Kibo rises sharp and clear above us - red of the setting sun on the glaciers."
