Our assault of the Barranco Wall was relentless and the team finally conquered its mighty face with no loss of limb or life. The same can't be said for the poor, hapless porter who lost his load a third of the way up, which meant beating a hasty retreat down to the valley floor to retrieve it. Luckily, said porter was below us and not above, which might have been a whole other story. The climbing up that part of our climb today was fun and exciting, but we were all humbled as we watched the porters scaling the same terrain with forty pound loads balanced on their heads or shoulders, and arriving to camp two plus hours before us. The rest of the route undulated into and out of valleys, always under the shadow of the steep flanks of the upper mountain. We ended up only a little higher than our previous camp, so everyone's feeling strong and we're all becoming well acclimatized. After arriving to camp and 'washing up' another incredible lunch was served: schnitzel with warm German potato salad, followed by apple pancakes and banana fritters. Wow!!! While in our dining tent the clouds finally unleashed a little rain. We've been so fortunate with the weather so far, that this little precipitation has not dampened anyone's spirits. And now, after thirty minutes of wetness, it has abated. We're all comfortably sheltered in either our personal tents or the mess tent playing cards, so not really affected by the vagaries of the weather. Quite nice. Until tomorrow, we'll try to suffer on. Wish us luck. RMI Guide Brent Okita

On The Map