Climb Day 3: December 29 Shira Camp 2 (12,480 ft.) to Lava Tower (15,100 ft.), then Baranco Camp 3 (12,950 ft.)

Machame Route Day 3, Shira Hut to Baranco Camp. 

 

Day 3 takes the climbers from Shira camp and climbs all the way to 15,100 ft.; before descending to Baranco camp. Climbing way up to 15,000 and then dropping back down to 13,000 ft. was emotionally painful; but Kilimanjaro is a big convoluted mountain, and the trails have evolved to follow the natural contours and “paths of least resistance.” Also, I guess that the climb to Lava Camp provided a trial balloon to assure that climbers don’t have any altitude problems once the “real” climbing begins in two more days.  It also allows for a more thorough acclimatization. 

The climb rises out of the moorland to a zone with desert-like plants similar to those found in the great basin of the USA at higher altitudes. One of the really unique pieces of flora is a Joshua-tree like plant called a “giant groundsel” that towered over the otherwise barren terrain. The scientific name eludes me right now, but we all settled on the name “Triffids” to describe their eerie shapes.

Leighanne Next to Giant “Triffid.”

On this day only the plants were desert-like; as the skies opened up and dumped copies amounts of rain, sleet, and even pellet snows. Luckily, due to the fast pace set by out guides we were able to reach the tent shelter just as the “pounding rain” began. We ate an impromptu lunch of soup, bread, rice, and tea. Fortunately, as is the nature of non-monsoonal tropical rainstorms, the heavy rains soon diminished and we set out downhill to Baranco camp.

Lava Tower Milepost at 15,000 ft. Elevation.

 

Our Steely-Eyed  Guide, Eliykim.

The trip down was a foreshadowing of things to come later. As with the up trails, the down trails head straight down the mountain; no switchbacks, no camber adjustments. The down trails run straight downhill, following the contours of the mountain; their paths were right where the water also likes to run. Back in the American West, these trails would more properly be referred to as “washes” or “gullies.” Because of the wash-like properties these trails were incredibly wet, muddy, sloppy, and slippery. The only way to stay upright, was to put your trekking poles at full extent and use them as brakes to support your forward load. I’d practiced this technique quite a bit before the trip, so I mostly made it down to Baranco upright; but, many of the climbers experienced spill, after spill, after spill. Many were coated in mud by the time they reached camp. I was quite sorry for them. 

 

The downhill to Baranco was extremely arduous, requiring many down-steps of greater than a full meter. To add insult to injury, the final 800 meters up to Baranco featured an extremely “switchbacky” steep climb, commonly requiring the use of hands to navigate the ascent. The strain on the quadriceps was enormous. By time I reached the trail bottom my legs were so full of lactic acid that they felt “on fire.” We reached Baranco Camp by late afternoon, three hours before the dinner bell. I fell immediately into my bed and experienced the “sleep of the dead.” 

Baranco Camp Marquee.