Day 4: Barranco to Karanga Camp (September 23, 2016)

Oh, Lordy. The dreaded day had arrived, exactly one year ago today.  I would finally have to face what was arguably my biggest fear of the climb: The Great Barranco Wall. It is an 850-foot wall that requires using both hands and both feet to scale several sections. It has steep drop offs, making it scary for those with fear of heights. I was not a fan, and the anticipation had been building since April when I found out I would be climbing Kilimanjaro.

I totally over-researched and obsessed over this Class 3 Scramble before I left, using such Google search terms as “Deaths Barranco Wall,” “Falling off Barranco Wall,” “Inexperienced moron climbers climbing Barranco Wall and how stupid is that?…”. (You get the idea.). Most people who reported on it on the interwebs said it was okay, but some put the fear of God into me with their descriptions. The worst part was looking at people’s pictures. It looked steep and dangerous (which it is). I have a healthy fear of heights, as I’ve mentioned previously.  It made my palms sweat just looking at it online!

The morning of Day 4, I slinked out of my sleeping bag, dressed, and headed to the mess tent with my heart beating in my throat. I didn’t have much of an appetite.  I told everyone who would listen how scared I was, especially Jeff, our expedition leader. He assured me I would be fine.  Then I took a few photos of the Wall (looks beautiful, eh?):

And here’s a short video. Do you hear the trepidation in my voice?  Badger sizes up Barranco

But Jeff’s earlier reassurances were followed by a stern speech to the group about keeping backpacks carefully secured and fastened down to avoid any “incidents” on the ascent. Good Lord. My throat dropped down into my stomach. Geez, why the hell couldn’t we have used the Rongai Route and avoided Barranco altogether??! Better question: why am I here?!?

Jeff had us wait until the wall cleared of climbers, as it tends to create bottlenecks and delays earlier in the day given that it is a junction for several of the mountain routes.  This turned out to be a great call, as it allowed us to have dominion over the very narrow path up the wall during our climb.  Around mid-morning, for better or worse, we headed towards the Wall, with Jeff and RG3 close beside me. (Apparently Jeff took my fear to heart, as normally we didn’t climb together.)

Let me just jump to the conclusion: it wasn’t bad at all! There were some hairy spots, but our guides carefully directed foot and handholds, and before I knew it, I was standing on top of the FREAKING Barranco Wall!!! Except for one spot towards the top that made me fairly nervous, it was actually fun. People, don’t fear the Barranco Wall. Respect it, for Heaven’s sake, but don’t fear it. I would do it again!  And I will someday.

Here are photos, followed by a short video, of the trek up the wall (I’m in the light blue shirt with light hat):

A big “thanks” goes out to fellow climber and photographer extraordinaire, Marion Rohe Kaufer, as I believe most of these are photos she took on the Wall. See Marion Photography in Tucson, Arizona!

Video:  Barranco Short Clip

My sheer elation at having completed what I feared the most caused me to break out into an impromptu strip tease. (No, no animals were harmed in the making of this video, except for maybe the Honey Badger.). Sadly, we only captured a mere six seconds (and three photos) of what Jeff Evans said was one of the “top five most epic moments…”. Ha!  Video here:  Badger strip tease

Onward to Peanut Camp

Little did I know that the worst part of today’s climb was what followed Barranco: a difficult trek from Barranco to Karanga Camp. Karanga means “peanut” in Kiswahili. We first descended a long, long steep downward section into a deep ravine, and then I had to climb clear back up the other side. Did I mention it was steep? When Karanga Camp came into view, I nearly wept with joy.  Though harsh, this camp was beautiful, with a view from my tent down to the clouds below, and Kilimanjaro looming behind me:

Tired and still longing for more oxygen, I stumbled to my tent and received a nice surprise in my vestibule: the first water and soap for a spit bath:

This was also the last time I saw water in this quantity for bathing. I did my best to wash off the grime and stench, ate dinner, and laid down to try to sleep at our 13,220′ elevation. It was getting more and more difficult to sleep, not to mention that peeing was becoming an issue. With the volume of fluids I was consuming, it was like that commercial: “Gotta go gotta go gotta go right now.” Lots. So you just kind of “went” wherever. After dinner, I miscalculated just a tad and watched in panic while a stream of my urine surged like the Yellow River right towards my tent, but praise the Lord, it stopped just short of it. Phew.

Before signing off, there was another important event at Karanga:  a helicopter rescue. My video doesn’t do it justice:  it was loud, kicked up a ton of dust, and scared me. After all, someone was hurt bad enough that they needed to fly a chopper in at 13,200′, so yikes!…  Helicopter Rescue at Karanga

I fell into a fitful sleep, as usual. As I drifted off, I felt elated to have Barranco behind me, but now my brain started to obsess about the real big kahuna, taunting me from above. My bid for the summit had come that much closer. Still over 6,000′ to go.  Gulp.

-Badger OUT