Kilimanjaro: Barranco camp to Karanga (4)

I had a good night rest at the Barranco camp.

When the guide woke me up and handed me a large cup of tea I already knew that today would be a good day. The warm cup warmed up my hands.
All tents were covered in ice this morning. This night the temperature went down to -7 degrees. I'm happy that my sleeping bag is tough enough for these conditions. (My sleeping bag is filled with goose down and has a comfort rating of -13, Limit -21, extreme -42)

When I crawled out of the tent there were almost no clouds around the summit.
We are now walking at the side of the mountain and we must reach the base camp on the other side. From there a path will lead the way through the snow and glaciers towards the Uhuru peak. But that’s still two days walking away.

So first things first. When looking left from the summit I could spot the Barranco wall. A steep climb of 300m that requires some technique and agility. There isn't a fixed trail at the Barranco wall. You just try to get higher by looking for the easiest way up. It's very steep and you have to use your hands to pull yourself up or to secure yourself when you walk on the edge of a cliff. It didn't take long before the camp underneath us started to get smaller. Sometimes I took a small break to enjoy the view and to snap a quick picture. This is really a beautiful location.

The lava rocks gave me surprisingly a lot of grip because of their rough surface. This part of the journey is my favorite one so far. I had so much energy that I quickly left my group behind and started to make my own trail. “See you guys at the top!”
The guides started to call me spiderman for the rest of the day :)
I made it to the top in 45 minutes, an half hour quicker than the rest of the group.

After this section we had to cross three valleys where we always needed to ascend and descend around 250m. Some people slipped on their way down in the second valley. It's a very steep slope and the small gravel isn't providing you with grip.
From the second last top you could already spot the camp. And you could also see the road towards it. Not super motivating I must say. Again 200m down on a steep trail and 250m up on a slope with big rocks. At a height around 4000m this is an exhausting activity.

After diner I let someone check my hart rate and the oxygen saturation in my blood. The values were very good. 88% for oxygen (considering the height this is very good) and a hart rate of 68bpm. 

That means I'm fit enough to go to the base camp tomorrow also called Karanga Camp. Tomorrow evening we will be at a height of 4600m.

Headlamp out and time to close the sleeping bag, it’s starting to freeze again.