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We awoke in the shadow of the Barranco wall with a heavy frost covering our camp. We began to organise the team for an early departure in an attempt to reach the top of the wall before the support teams set out from camp and made it more difficult.
Although the wall is imposing and looks to be very steep it isn’t difficult to climb and is an easy scramble. The rock face is near vertical in places but a path zigzags its way up the wall avoiding the sheerest faces although it is exposed in places.
One of the clients, Andy, had a restless night worrying about the
wall and after a long chat we agreed that I would use a confidence rope to help him through 
this part of the challenge. He showed amazing strength of character as he fought a real battle to overcome his fear of heights but after approx 1 hour we reached the top of the wall and a well earned rest.
We also used this stop for team pictures as the views of both the mountain and the African plains are stunning from this point.
This is a long day today and we soon were off to our next objective ,the Karanga Valley, the last water source on the mountain before the summit, where we would stop for lunch and gather water. The climb from the valley is steep and during this ascent Jan’s fitness was pushed to the limit and she opted leave us and to take the lower path down to High Camp on the Mweka route.
After lunch the team continued up to hill towards our camp at Barafu Hut, at 4600m, which would be our final camp for the summit attempt. We arrived late afternoon into a rock strewn, windy and desolate camp perched on the edge of the SE valley but with stunning views towards Mawenzi and the broad expanse of the Saddle.
Our summit attempt would start at 2400hrs, so the group prepared kit, had a quick meal and retired to bed for a few hours sleep in this cold hostile camp before the final push.
Although the wall is imposing and looks to be very steep it isn’t difficult to climb and is an easy scramble. The rock face is near vertical in places but a path zigzags its way up the wall avoiding the sheerest faces although it is exposed in places.
One of the clients, Andy, had a restless night worrying about the
wall and after a long chat we agreed that I would use a confidence rope to help him through 
this part of the challenge. He showed amazing strength of character as he fought a real battle to overcome his fear of heights but after approx 1 hour we reached the top of the wall and a well earned rest.We also used this stop for team pictures as the views of both the mountain and the African plains are stunning from this point.
This is a long day today and we soon were off to our next objective ,the Karanga Valley, the last water source on the mountain before the summit, where we would stop for lunch and gather water. The climb from the valley is steep and during this ascent Jan’s fitness was pushed to the limit and she opted leave us and to take the lower path down to High Camp on the Mweka route.
After lunch the team continued up to hill towards our camp at Barafu Hut, at 4600m, which would be our final camp for the summit attempt. We arrived late afternoon into a rock strewn, windy and desolate camp perched on the edge of the SE valley but with stunning views towards Mawenzi and the broad expanse of the Saddle.
Our summit attempt would start at 2400hrs, so the group prepared kit, had a quick meal and retired to bed for a few hours sleep in this cold hostile camp before the final push.
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