The Story, Part 3

On we go. I had been feeling pretty good thus far in the adventure. Again, here are excerpts from the journal:

Day 4 on the Mountain

I don't know the name of this camp but I've decided to call it Camp Blech. I got cocky, I really did. I thought "hey, we're 4 days in to this thing and I feel fantastic... we went to 16,000 feet at Lava Tower yesterday and I felt superb... the rest will be cake." WRONG.

On our way up Barranco Wall early in the morning and still feeling great.

I'll start from the beginning. We got up early feeling great (Dad's headache was mostly gone) to take on the Barranco Wall, an extremely steep and dangerous looking climb. I had heard it was one of the more difficult sections of the hike. In reality, it wasn't too bad. It was steep and we had to be careful during some parts but all in all, a pleasurable experience.

Dad at the "Kissing Rock" halfway up Barranco. It got it's name because you have maneuver yourself in such a way that your face goes right up against the rock. Kissing it means safety, not kissing it means falling.

 

I think this is where the cockiness set in. Since I had heard it was really difficult and didn't it find it to be so, I began to think that I was better than the Mountain... and she has since whipped my butt back in to submission. Respect the Mountain, Lizzie, or she will make you respect her. Anyway, we got to the top of the Barranco and experienced some truly unbelievable views. We could see all across Tanzania and in to other parts of Africa and we were completely above the clouds at this point. It looked like a floor of white cotton as we gazed out over Africa. 

Most of the way up Barranco Wall, taking a quick breather. 

I had a ton of energy, I was excited, and felt supremely happy as we took a long break at the top. I figured that the hardest part of the day was over. We snapped a few photos  and the loaded up to continue. 

Probably my favorite photo from the trip.

See? Told you I was getting cocky. Thats Kili in the background. Doesn't look like there is that far to go, does it?

After we caught our breath, we hiked down into a low valley and then started back up again. We went pretty high and I thought we'd stay high but saw a cliff that we were supposed to descend. The downclimbing was rough- it was pretty precarious and I slipped a few times on gravel. I wasn't loving it. We got to the bottom of this cliff and saw a small stream of glacial runoff and another huge cliff. I realized that we were going back up. The good part was on our way up, we saw this guy, who was guiding another group. He was wearing a BYU hat. That gave me a much-needed laugh.  

We took a quick break and then started back up and I realized just how tired my body was after what I had subjected it to the last several days. Every muscle was protesting. Dad's migraine came back and I had a headache starting as well. At the top of this huge cliff, we stopped for lunch. It was warm when we arrived but as we sat and started in on the meal, a thick cloud settled over the cliff and the wind got going. Pretty soon it was drizzling and freezing cold. We didn't eat much, our appetite was all but gone. We decided to keep going up. We had about 3 hours left of pretty steep uphill to camp. I could feel the air getting thinner and thinner; it was nothing like the saturated rain forest air I breathed in so happily days before. This seemed thin and course and I felt the dissatisfaction in my lungs. I began breathing harder and harder and moving slower and slower as we started yet another ascent. 


It kind of felt like there were weights attached to my arms and legs. I was feeling decent until that last hour. The trail got dramatically steeper and we were beyond 16,000 feet at this point. Although the climb we were attempting wasn't as technical or difficult as the Barranco, the air was so much thinner that I simply couldn't catch my breath. I put Harry Potter book 7 on my iPod to take my mind off things but I was pretty miserable. By the time we got to camp, which is situated on a cliff, exposed, and extremely windy and cold) I wasn't feeling so hot. I had a massive headache and felt a little nauseous. It's gotten worse since we arrived. I'm sitting in the tent and can't seem to get warm, no matter what I try. Frank and Sifuel want me to eat something but the thought of food is making me sick. They want me to drink too. I finally took a Diamox. It is supposed to help with the altitude but Sifuel didn't want me to take it unless I really need it. Most people take it from the very beginning. The problem is it makes you pee every 15 minutes or so. It helped with the nausea and the headache a little. 


Sifuel says that we will get up tomorrow at 4:00 AM to see if we're feeling any better (Dad's migraine is pretty bad) and if we are, we're going to try to summit. Technically we have another day here at camp to acclimatize but Sifuel explained that it would be better to try to summit and fail and then have the opportunity to come back and try the next day. If we just sit here at camp tomorrow and rest, we'll have one shot at the summit and if we don't make it then we have to turn back around. I would rather take any chance we can get. If we try tomorrow morning, I don't think it'll go super well but I think we still have to try. Dad is running out of his headache medicine (he has three pills left) and it looks like the altitude makes his migraines worse and worse. Neither of us feel like eating. We won't last long without health and energy... we don't have time to sit around at camp, not when we're camping so high. We need to get up this stupid mountain and we need to get up soon. Regardless of how I feel tomorrow morning, we need to summit tomorrow or I don't know if we'll summit at all. I don't think I'll stop praying tonight. 


More to come!!