Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Kili Day 4


At lunch we played a game of "What Kind of Meat Is It?" 

Chicken? Pork? Shoe?

When the answer was revealed to be "Fish", it was clear that this was a game with no winners.

The food quality may not be increasing with the passage of time; however, he climb is becoming more interesting as we reach higher elevations. Not so much because of the scenery, but more so because the terrain is now more varied. Stretches of walking are now broken up by tricky manoeuvring around rocks and careful selection of lines to ascend and descend steeper slopes. 

At the same time, the trail is becoming busier. Several routes up the mountain are converging into a final common trail and we are seeing an increasing number of other hikers. And, for the first time, we are seeing them moving in both directions. Seeing the faces of people who have begun their descent after reaching the summit this morning is motivating. We are almost there. 

We are again passing the afternoon under the protection of our tent, escaping the rain and hoping that we might get an early sleep. It feels a bit like a daytime disco in here; base camp is buzzing with the enthusiastic sounds of other hikers who have just returned from the summit and are packing up their gear before continuing their descent.

Our plan is to wake up sometime in the middle of the night in order to begin our final push to the summit; with the goal of being there for sun rise. It's a little odd to sleep in the middle of the afternoon, in the light of day and with the sound of human activity all around...but I'm a pretty good sleeper, so I'm going to give it a go.

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