Day 4 Shira

Spectacular but brr…

We watched the sunset throwing the most amazing colours over Kili peak last night at Shira 1. Truly spectacular! And as soon as the sun set, the weather turned from warm to FREEZING. It is very difficult to type on the small Blackberry keys without risking frostbite, gangrene and all that (!). So out of pure self preservation the messages might just become shorter each day…

When we woke up this morning, the tents were frozen over and we were greeted with a spectacular white icy scene. If we weren't so cold, I might even have said that it was like a fairy tale.

Our walk today was the last easy one. We did 7km, gained 370m in height, and again took it very "pole pole". It was nice reaching our camp early afternoon and we had time to relax. We also took the time to inspect the toilets (which has become a very interesting part of our journey) and found these to be in good condition.

Clever Americans!?

You can spot the British and American climbers a mile off. They usually pay $200 extra for someone to carry a "porta potty" for them all the way up, have massively thick mattresses (compared to our 20mm mattresses) and are always pristinely dressed. At this stage I would gladly pay $200 to have a toilet to sit on! I have also realised that one of the reasons they tell you to ensure your quads are strong, is not just for climbing hills. But also for all the squatting you need to do. I will never again take for granted the luxury of a Western toilet!

I am truly fascinated by the radical way the vegetation changes every day. Today, whilst walking over Shira plateau, it was scattered with big boulders, everlasting flowers and blobs of greenery. We have been truly blessed with lovely weather and no rain so far, which is fortunate as my range of clothes is limited. Today was again a very enjoyable and beautiful day.

Luggage here but let’s not take any further chances

Reaching Shira 2, I got some excellent news: my luggage has arrived at the hotel!!! The bad news is that it will take a porter, coming up with a shorter route, 2 days to get to us, so he will only reach us on summit day. Deciding that it is quite pointless for them to send my bag up for one day's use, and also then taking the risk of missing the porter along the way, I told them to rather leave the luggage at the hotel. Oh, the thought of clean clothes awaiting me...

Tomorrow is going to be tough, walking 10km, but going up to 4600m above sea level, so early bed tonight! Even though all four of us are feeling very good at the moment, we will only see tomorrow if and how our bodies have acclimatised and how we will cope with the altitude.