Had a great sleep - came to the mess tent for breakfast.....no one was there yet, but there in the middle of the table was Nives' knee brace - bless her heart....I'm so proud of her. She had knee surgery less than a year ago and here she is climbing a friggin' mountain. All I can say is WOW! Not only that, despite all of the challenges in trying to stay reasonably clean and tidy with limited facilities and water, she manages to wear lipstick EVERY SINGLE DAY.
NIVES - LIPSTICK & KNEE BRACE!!!
I have a very long "to-do" list when I reach the summit, which will be challenging given that I will be functioning with 50% less oxygen......
- Take a picture with the AOS Banner
- Take an "embrace the world" picture for Wade
- Leave a rock from Manigotogan
- Leave a rock from Bayfield
- Leave rocks for John & Marilyn
- Leave a plaque in memory of my Dad
- Leave a plague in memory of my brother
- Pick five beautiful stones
- Take a picture with an "Our Canada" magazine
Speaking of stones, the rocks on Kilimanjaro are 99% grey...so, if there is a red or yellow rock, it really stands out. I picked a few and when I got them back to the tent, they weren't as brilliant - but gems all the same.
It was very windy and cold today. The trek was tough - it was all uphill to the rocky, craggy slopes of Barafu camp. Barafu means "ice" in Swahili and it is extremely windy and cold at this altitude. The clouds move in and out revealing the summit - it looks so close.
OUR GUIDES FRANCIS AND LIBBY SHARING A TENT AT BARAFU CAMP
After reaching Barafu, I rested for couple of hours in my tent.....I was antsy and couldn't nap. I did my stretches and deep heated a variety of body parts (knees, neck, IT band). I have a headache and have been taking Tylenol as well. By evening I was feeling better. We had another hearty high carb meal of speghetti and meat sauce. Everyone is apprehensive about tomorrow.
We had a "summit meeting" with Francis and Libby. We are to take only what we will need for the day and the summit push. We will each be assigned a porter who will "shadow" us and carry our packs with four litres of water. For extra energy, we were given a large packet of glucose to add to one litre of water. We have a wake up call for 4:00 AM, breakfast and medical check up at 4:30 and leave by 5:30. We need to dress warm - long underwear, fleece jacket, down jacket, down mittens, heavy weight socks, toques.
Returned to my tent about 7:30 - everything is blanketed with snow.
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