Kilimanjaro Day 5

 Day 5 was the shortest day.  Some tours combine day 4 and day 5 into one long day.  This would be about 4 miles with elevation increase from 13,000 ft to 15.000 and the base camp- Barafu.  There is no water along the way, so the porters need to bring all we need from Karnaga to Barafu. We left vegetation behind into a barren landscape.  The hike was a steady gain.  Very dusty at this point in the journey.  Nerves were high of course knowing we were hours away from summit night. 

 At this altitude the weather seemed to change frequently.  Added a little anxiety for tonight.  You only get one shot and have to hope for the best.  Through the day I think we heard helicopters 4 times.  I live near a hospital, so I tend to tune out the sound of helicopters overhead.  However in this case it was a reminder I might have an expensive problem that night.  Maybe all 4 weren't rescues- but that was quite a few.  I had travel insurance, and I've used it more than I care to acknowledge, but I really was hoping having to use it for rescue and everything else that could go wrong.

Barafu is on an angle- some campsites were higher than others  I was hoping for as high as possible- to short even slightly the hike later.  As we passed sites going up I was encouraged. I saw tents that looked like ours (Altezza had three sites), but I pretended that ours might be higher.  Unfortunately we were just climbing to sign in and take pics.  Oh well.  We descended back farther than I would like.  We had our lunch.  Our guide then explained the plan for tonight.  We would get rest, wake by 10, hopefully eat what we can and ideally leave by 11.  

After lunch I got everything ready for later.  By 3 we were down.  I wasn't totally expecting to be able to sleep, but it came very easy despite the brightness of the day.  Eye shades and ear plugs came in handy.  As did sleeping pills. The information from the tour company strongly recommended against them, along with alcohol and other drugs, for obvious reasons.  Impairment can lead to injuries.  Low atmospheric pressure, low O2 sats and decreased respiratory drive is not a great combo.  I've used them in the past safely, I tried them early in the trip.  I would highly recommend using them.  However earlier in the trip a fellow climber shared their supply with some members of the group.  We all seemed to do ok.  I can not emphasize how much I recommend you do not do what we did.