All the preparation is finished. We’re healthy and comfy (relatively) at high camp. It wasn’t even such a tough job to get here. We woke to perfect weather at Karanga Camp. The sun hit while we were sipping coffee and gazing down on the now-familiar sea of clouds far below. Kibo was cloud-free and out in all its glory above us. Without a puff of wind, it was easy to put the final touches on our packs after breakfast and to get ready for walking at 9 AM. Our fifty man support staff didn’t want us to walk away all grim and work focused though... they quickly assembled and began clapping and singing -and inevitably dancing and laughing, until we joined in and got our morning stretch session done the fun way. We then set out behind Philibet’s capable leadership. It was easy ground compared to the walls we’ve climbed in recent days. Just a steady and slow altitude gain through progressively less desert vegetation. We had the whole move done in three hours and pulled into 15,000 ft Barafu (Swahili for “ice”) Camp at noon. The team alternated between resting and eating, drinking and packing for the afternoon. The normal lassitude and our fair share of intermittent headaches afflicted us as we whiled away the afternoon, but all in all we’re feeling strong and excited... ready for an “alpine start” and a big day of going to new heights and seeing new sights. Tosha is going to serve up a 5:30 dinner and after it, we’ll try not to stare overly long at the sunset and amazing colors... we’ll zip ourselves into the tents for some crucial rest before the alarms go off at 11:30 PM and the climb to the top of Africa begins. Stay Tuned. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map