I’m sitting here at camp IV at an elevation of around 14,160 ft at the base of a peak called Mawenzi. We are just east of Kibo on the saddle between the two peaks.
Today is our rest day before heading up to our last camp at an elevation of 15,700 ft. From there we will have a rest day and a half before heading out for our summit push.
Yesterday we had a challenging day--we made a significant elevation gain from camp III to IV, gaining approx 2,500 ft. The weather was not as favourable as we had hoped for and we climbed in freezing cold rain and wind for about four hours. This added a new element to our climb. It gave people a chance to really get out of their comfort zones and it provided a new challenge to overcome before our final summit push. Everyone’s spirits remained very high and positive; everyone did a great job.
The team is as healthy as can be expected in an expedition-style environment. One of the challenges on an expedition such as this are hygiene issues. Trying to keep ourselves healthy is a full time job. There can be no sharing of utensils, cross contamination, or putting fingers near our mouths; we have to constantly wash our hands with water and potassium, as well as load on the hand sanitizer several times a day. We need to be careful where we set our utensils as well as placing lids down on the table with the bottoms up. But still, stomach aches, nausea and frequent visits to the bathroom get the best of us at one time or another.
Water purification is another very important subject and attention to detail is critical. The most important job at the end of the day of climbing is to ensure that the best possible water source is used when gathering the group’s water. The water has to be purified first with a chemical treatment, then boiled, and then pumped through a water purification filter before being consumed as drinking water or used for washing or cooking.
Some of the physical challenges of climbing in high altitude are headaches, nausea, loss of appetite and inadequate sleep; it’s all just part of the game. We will all be experiencing more discomforts the higher we go.
We will go for a small hike up one of the ridges close to us to gain a little altitude, and then come back down; this process helps us to better adapt to the altitude. The other main objective of the day is to rest, rest, and rest, drink lots of tea, water, and soup, and maybe even get in a bit of sleeping and reading.
The motto for high altitude climbing is to ‘climb high and sleep low’. Doing these little hikes is a great way to stretch the legs and stay true to the motto.
I’m sitting here at camp IV at an elevation of around 14,160 ft at the base of a peak called Mawenzi. We are just east of Kibo on the saddle between the two peaks.