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DAY 3 - 4 August 2009 - Shira to Lava Tower to Barranco Camp
This was always going to be a tough day as the itinerary showed we would climb 800m to Lava Tower at 4,600m then drop all the way back to 3,900m to sleep. The idea is that this helps acclimatisation and the expectation was that we would suffer to some degree on the approach to the day's high point and probably have the headache of all headaches by the time we reached Barranco Camp at the end of an arduous day. But before we could worry about headaches the day began with an unpleasant surprise when we woke up completely covered in what can best be described as black pepper powder. This was the fine volcanic dust covering the Shira Plateau, which had blown in through the open roof and wall vents when a very strong wind blew up in the night. Vast amounts of the stuff had been deposited everywhere and on everything that had not been sealed inside bags. The only saving grace was that the cameras had, purely by chance, been inside the rucksack and had escaped the worst effects. Even so, they were covered in a fine layer of dust. Suffice to say that was the last time the vents were left open at night!
Day 3 saw us enter the desolate Alpine Desert zone and according to the guidebook we should expect a series of gentle ups and downs to the high point at Lava Tower before a steep descent through the Barranco valley to our next campsite. This all sounded reasonably easy except that Barbara's legs were still causing problems meaning she struggled from the outset. We are pretty sure Fred thought she was suffering from the altitude. Indeed, many people around us were definitely suffering quite badly but we were sure that was not the case for the reasons mentioned in relation to day 2. Even so, it was quite worrying as we simply couldn't explain what was wrong. After about two hours of quite slow going we paused to celebrate achieving a significant personal milestone when we crossed the 4,000m contour, thereby climbing higher than either of us had previously climbed. We stopped for the obvious photo opportunity and to enjoy the view of Kibo in one direction and the white sea of clouds in the other before resuming our trek towards the still far off and not yet visible Lava Tower.
We continued our slow march up the mountain but Barbara was really struggling, stopping every few minutes to rest and hopefully to regain proper feeling in her legs. We were both looking forward to Fred saying, "Look, Lava Tower is coming into view and we will soon be able to stop for lunch". However, when that moment came his words were not as expected.
Clearly Fred was concerned for Barbara's welfare but his concerns, which were almost certainly based on a fear that she was suffering moderate AMS, appeared overly cautious because although Barbara was clearly suffering from something, she was showing no signs of altitude sickness. Ultimately the choice was Barbara's and she said that the only problem was her legs and we should continue as planned. We are not sure Fred was particularly comfortable with this but as Barbara was adamant he acquiesced and we headed off towards the tower. Having stopped for a while to make this decision we realised how cold it was up here and the down jackets were donned before we set off.
Fred's two hours were more like two and a half and were among the longest one can imagine. Apart from dishing out warm words of encouragement all that Fred, Tino and Gary could do was feel Barbara's pain as she hauled herself, tiny step by tiny step, towards Lava Tower. Even though it looks only a few hundred metres to Lava Tower from where the picture to the right was taken it took over an hour to get there. From about this point Barbara did begin showing signs of AMS. In addition to moving forward by no more than a boot-length with each step and stopping to recover every couple of minutes, she was feeling light-headed and needed support from time to time to regain her balance. While some of this was not new, altitude was clearly playing its part and Gary began to wonder whether the decision to continue may have been a little ill-informed. However, on looking around and seeing numerous other trekkers showing symptoms at least as bad as those being exhibited by Barbara, and remembering that the purpose of the day was to push people's acclimatisation, Gary felt reassured that things were within reasonable bounds and as we were nearly at our target altitude and only a few hundred metres from lunch and the long afternoon descent monitoring of the situation would have to suffice.
Lava Tower brought a welcome rest, a chance to recover and lunch. Indeed, it was here that we realised how good our food was. We had heard that Ecotours provides good food and were extremely pleased with our lot but it was interesting that people were going out of their way to comment on how good our lunches looked. After about 15 minutes and having eaten we spent a few minutes absorbing the amazing scenery and enjoying the banter between members of a team who decided to climb the Tower and those watching from below before beginning our descent to Barranco Camp. The path down from Lava Tower starts quite steeply, dropping into a dry valley with magnificent views of Kilimanjaro's southern glaciers to the left. But as we clambered up the other side of this valley we saw just how far we still had to go before we started the real descent into Barranco valley and back into the Heath and Moorland zone. Despite the distance the going was reasonably easy and Barbara's legs quickly began feeling better now that we were going generally down hill.
After about an hour we came across the first Senecios and Lobelias. These quickly covered the landscape, accompanied by everlasting flowers, making a welcome and colourful change from the desolate landscape we had been trekking through for most of the day. The first Senecios were small but they quickly became very large and took on amazing structures, some of which seemed to defy the laws of physics! Gary began showing signs of a migraine. While probably related to the altitude, given comments in guidebooks about getting that headache of all headaches, this is something he suffers from if he eats too late or becomes dehydrated - both of which were probably applicable given the long march up to Lava Tower and the fact that we did not eat until about 14:30. Even though an early dose of Ibuprofen is the best cure, digging it out seemed too much trouble so he just continued in the hope that ignoring it might make it go away. That, of course, never works! As we dropped further into Barranco valley and back into the clouds the temperature dropped rapidly and the mist became more like rain than fog. We considered donning rain gear but Fred said we were not far from camp so it was hardly worth it. However, by the time we reached camp, at five o'clock, we were quite wet and probably a little colder than we should have been high up on such an unforgiving mountain.
Fred was pleasantly surprised by our arrival time given the difficulties encountered on our ascent to Lava Tower and commented that Barbara had shown great strength and willpower. We thought he might be changing his mind about what Barbara had been suffering from but he then went on to "warn" us of the difficulties of the Barranco Wall, which would challenge us the following day. Oh well... Gary's head was now pumping painfully. His general well-being wasn't helped by the fact that it was freezing cold and having got damper than desirable he couldn't warm up, which those who know him well will agree is unusual. He therefore took a pill, pulled on the down coat, gloves and sleeping bag and laid down. After a while the body's temperature normalised and the Ibuprofen took effect and he was back on his feet. Whether all of this was caused by the altitude or exertion/late lunch will remain a mystery. It was just good that the pain was gone! It was really cold in camp and even the Ranger commented how cold it was when he visited us with his request to register the usual and spurious information. Having completed these formalities the ritual of washing, tea etc followed but when dinner arrived neither of us was hungry and struggled to eat much at all. We ate what we could and as it was then dark, decided to turn in for another early night, hoping that we would both feel better next morning. Although not using Diamox we couldn't always get away without a trip to the toilet in the night and this night was no different. When we pulled on our down coats and struggled into our freezing cold boots to negotiate our way to our toilet tent we expected to emerge into the cold, wet, fog. However, the weather had cleared to reveal a cloudless, starry, sky with the near full moon lighting everything around, including the brilliant white glaciers high up on the mountain. The sight was absolutely amazing and we could have soaked it up for ever, had it not been so cold! This was most definitely the coldest night so far and, for the first time, we were glad we had sleeping bags rated to minus 18 Celsius. So, having frequented our "second tent" it was quick, quick, quick back to our warm, down-filled cocoons for what was actually a great night's sleep. You can view all of the pictures from day 3 here.
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