After spending the night at Barranco camp, we had the almost 1,000 foot tall Barranco wall to look forward to. If we could manage that, we’d spend the next night at Karranga valley, another camp that some people skip in favor of getting right to Barfu camp, which is the base camp most people use for their summit attempts. We’d hit Barfu a day later, again favoring a leisurely approach and acclimation over speed. But, first, Barranco wall.
When they say “wall,” they pretty much mean “wall.” This is an almost vertical cliff face that has a whole lot of switchbacks cut in it. But it was morning, and we were only at 13,000 feet, so we were raring to go for it. Unfortunately, so was everyone else who had camped at Barranco overnight. We really didn’t know how good we had had it those first few days when we were the only ones on the trail. From Barranco on out, we would be just another couple of people in an endless stream making their way towards the summit.
The wall itself was another example of the sheer scale of the mountain. The path went on, and on, and on. Every time it seemed like we had to be near the top, a switchback would reveal another hundred vertical feet to go. And, of course, we were constantly being passed by porters for other camps, so it was an exercise in patience and the now-familiar pole pole. While most of the wall was an endless series of switchbacks, there were occasional bits that required the use of all fours to clamber up to the next section.
Once we got to the top of the wall… it was time to go right back down the other side, which was thankfully more of a gradual descent into a canyon. And from there… right back up, to the Karranga valley camp. This whole area was fairly crowded and noisy, with porters and clients shouting to one another and a few porters loudly playing radios as they walked (!). On the whole, it was much less naturey and relaxing than our previous few days had been, though it was still a great deal of work.
Like Barranco, the Karranga valley camp was also fairly crowded. I think there were fewer people than at Barranco, but it was also a smaller camp so it felt just as dense. This was also the first place where we saw specific outhouses marked “Tourists’ Toilet” and “Porters’ Toilet,” a distinction that felt somewhat uncomfortable for someone like me with American sensibilities, given that all of the porters were black and the vast majority of tourists were white. However, given the state of the tourists’ outhouses, I came to suspect that the distinction likely served to keep the porters’ ones cleaner. Still, an odd development.
When Friday morning rolled around, it was hard to believe that this was our seventh day on the mountain. Luke and I were both starting to look like Grizzly Adams, and I think the only reason we weren’t reeling from our own scent is that it was so cold that nothing — not even the tourists’ outhouses — could really smell at all. On the bright side, we were pretty decently into the groove of hiking, eating, and sleeping. This would be our last day before the summit, and would be just a quick 3-4 hour hike to Barfu camp. Since our summit attempt would begin around midnight, this would be a short day.
But first we had to get to Barfu, which was no easy task. There were still a lot of people on the trail, and the path was another one of Kilimanjaro’s reminders of scale. Simply endless climbs followed by endless descents followed by endless climbs. While it was only a few hours, it was at increasingly high altitude and after a week on hiking, so it proved to be fairly exhausting.
We did finally make it to Barfu, though. Like Karranga valley, Barfu had tourist-only outhouses. These, however, were somewhat more picturesque, not to say frightening. Perched on the edge of a cliff, they had pretty spectacular views. But, of course, they were perched on the edge of a cliff.
Barfu’s 15,000 foot altitude was surprisingly challenging, considering that we had spent the night at a similar height at Lava Tower. Both Luke and I were ready to just rest for the afternoon, which fortunately was the plan. There was no need for side hikes now; we simply ate lunch and then rested for the afternoon, waking only to eat dinner and then get back to sleep for our 11pm wake up call. At midnight we would leave for the summit.
Tagged as:
hiking,
kilimanjaro
