Day six. Friday 18/10/2013
This will be my last entry until after summit. Not such a restful night last night but I still slept ok. I spent some time pushing myself up from the bottom of the tent as it became apparent I was on a gentle downward slope. And then that bloody sleeping bag kept trying to strangle me. Every time I rolled over, the damned thing rolled around too with the hood intent on smothering me. I laugh when I think back to my cursing the damned thing on more than one occasion! We woke to ice hanging off the tents and a temperature of around -3 degrees.
We started off hard - all upwards from 3980 to 4250 metres. Maybe doesn't sound a lot but oxygen is a lot less. We were in cloud for most of the way. Stepping up on rocks really takes a toll on my hamstrings and gluteus! I curse not having the super strong legs I had before my knee replacement. The great thing is that my knees are just fine. Our main guide Bruce told me to use two poles. I had tried two poles at the beginning but found it cumbersome so stuck with just one. I explained this to him and he then 'instructed' me to use two poles. I bow to this guy's knowledge and obey. Thank God! Still some fatigue but a huge difference. So, two poles it is.
Much uphill, zig zag, zag zig. Numerous ridges and finally after four hours we hit Barafu Base Camp. This is our last camp before our climb tonight for the summit. We are at 4600 metres and I have no symptoms of altitude sickness and only normal deep breathing as we ascend, for more oxygen. This soon levels out and becomes normal until further altitude is gained. Barafu camp is also the first stopping point on the way down after climbing to the top so it is very much a transit base camp. So we go from 4600 to 5895 metres (Uhuru Peak) tonight and thru until morning which will take around 8 hours, then turn around and descend back to Barafu which takes around 3 hours. We stop for brunch then on down for a further 4 hours or so to our final night camp. So this is it!! Time to sleep for a couple of hours now.