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Published: October 25th 2014
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A misty and chilly morning, with the challenge of getting one step closer to the summit. Today our goal was to make it up the Barranco Wall. A beautiful scramble that will bring us to our next camp. After this camp, we hike to base! Incredible.
Not too much to say about this, except this is where I really felt the teamwork, and got to get to know some of the guides more. I also felt the altitude more. We waited until some of the other teams went up the wall, and then it was our turn. The best way to describe the wall is intimidating from afar, but doable once you get closer. Standing from Barranco Camp, you could see these tiny ant figures from afar, and could watch the other teams slowly but surely make their way up. This is where some of my mental strength came into play. "You made it this far Reiser, don't let a wall block you!"
Once our team started the trek, I realized it wasn't so bad at all. I was warm again (much better than what I experienced last night), and had the team behind me. The only irritating thing
about this hike today was that the darn altitude pills kept making me have to go to the bathroom! Looking back, if that was my biggest problem, then I think I'm doing fine! The scramble starts over some rocks, on a narrow trail. You basically have to use your hands to get to the next stop, and the main focus is on balance. It would be really easy to fall, though the good thing is, it would be a short fall. There was no real danger of falling to the bottom of the camp. However, you definitely didn't want to hurt yourself even with a small fall, as the summit was getting closer and closer. Looking back at today, I remember the amount of group work it took to get to the top. The nerd in me remembers teaching Small Group Communication last summer, in which I teach the students that not all group work has to have a bad association. I taught them skills to communicate in groups, take on different roles, and look after one another. Now, here I was with the group in front of me and behind me, with guides grabbing my hands to help, taking
my poles to assist me, and everyone checking in with each other--"Hey, you good? You ok?" The altitude made this tougher than it needed to be, but it also gave me a great sense of pride and accomplishment, that I was scrambling up a trial on Mount Kilimanjaro at 13,000 ft!!
After we made our way up the wall (everyone was incredibly successful), more and more you could notice the lack of vegetation. Just when I thought it was over, we made our way back DOWN (climb high, sleep low) and I noticed some signs of life again in the plants. Beautiful plants, that almost looked like cacti. Going down, you could look UP again and see where camp was. Little heads up top where you would be camping out for the night. It was definitely a shorter day. Though, going down then up proved to be a bit of a challenge for me. It was slippery from the rain, and somewhat frustrating, as your poles weren't always there to back you up when you were slipping. Eric followed my dad and I down, and thank goodness! We got to know him in this process (as we were slipping
and sliding). He told me more about his siblings, what I do, what he wants to do with his guiding career, and discussed his overall passion for the mountain. It was mind blowing to me that someone's JOB is the very thing that I've been training for since January. My life challenge was his life's work. Now that's some perspective.
Getting to the top was a relief--more popcorn and tea. RMI spoiled us again. Just like every afternoon. We had dinner and continued to get to know one another, laugh, and come up with ideas about how to pass time at each camp. But the most jaw dropping part of this journey was that we could officially see the path we would take to get to Uhuru, the summit. It was breathtaking. Nothing I've ever seen before in my life, nor will this blog even come close to describing it accurately. At night it was majestic, like a painting. It did't look real. Glistening snow and glaciers. You could even see snow coming down from afar (our guide pointed it out-good eye). Of course we couldn't see Uhuru itself, but this was the path. I woke up about 2am to relieve my bladder (there is a point to this) and I remember stopping as I walked out of the tent to see view. It was silent outside. Not a peep was heard. Just the mountain. The stars. The moon. The summit.
The next hike will lead us to base camp now. I was getting more nervous by the day, but there was not a doubt in my mind that I was going to push myself to my absolute limit. We've all got this.
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