This morning at Barranco, the clouds were lapping at the mountain just a hundred feet below us, but it was crystal clear up above.  We were out of camp just after 8 AM and doing battle with the Great Barranco Wall. Climbing through this section requires hands on some careful holds and feet on some well-chosen ledges in the lava.  We cruised it. We pulled over the top of the wall (at 14,000 ft) in about an hour and forty minutes.

Somehow, Benson, our chef, had beaten us to it and had a picnic table set up with refreshments. We lounged about in the sun and took pictures with Kibo’s impressive south face as the backdrop. Then we traveled on, traversing several shallow valleys.

Finally, we dropped down a steep hillside into the Karanga Valley and then up the just-as-steep opposite side of the valley. This climb took us into Karanga Camp where we ate lunch and rested and told each other tall tales for the afternoon.

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team