Day 7 Snow

It is totally silent again, I like being the only one awake. There are very few other groups with us now and the feeling of isolation and solitude are extreme and are bedfellows with the crisp coldness and fading darkness. Again, I wander to the t.t., well before 6 a.m. and enjoy the quickly fading moon and stars. As I fold myself back into my down-filled mummy sleeping bag, I realize that I am finally comfortable in it. I zip up the hood, find the still warm nalgene bottle, and enjoy a brief snooze before Buiat calls us for morning tea, or brings us water to wash with, never sure which will be first.

As usual we have a wonderful breakfast, it is cream of wheat today and I find I just can not get it down. I think the beginning of appetite loss is appearing, one of the signs of altitude. But my stats are great, oxygen at 90 and pulse in the 70's, not bad for 15,000 feet, whoohooo... Twende! (let's go).

Today we are making our way to Arrow Camp, a short but very steep hike to around 16,000 feet. The day after is going to be the long, hard scramble up the Breach, so today is to be easy and we are planning another acclimatization hike this afternoon. As we make the steep ascent the clouds and mist engulf us and the temperature drops. The last half hour of trekking the landscape is eerie and uneasy, it is hard to see and as we approach the camp there are faint outlines of rocky shapes. The shapes take form as I trudge closer... the rocky flank of the mountain is sprinkled with inukshuks, built by porters over time.

We get to camp early, only 1 1/2 hours of hiking. The porters greet us with song again and we sing back to them, which totally delights them. As they are singing to us again it starts to snow and snows for many hours. No more hiking today.





I am worried about tomorrow, it is an unknown, I have never faced a difficult climb before. While the snow is falling we rest up, sleep, journal, until the sun briefly breaks through and the snow stops.

As I come out of the tent I see a totally different landscape, pristine, white and beautiful. The snow is perfect for building snowmen, or ... having a snowball fight. Which is exactly what D.G. and I do, we start a snowball fight with our guides and even (accidentally of course) get a few porters too. What fun, a snowball fight at 16,000 feet! To top it all off, Simon and I play Frisbee with a lid from a plastic can.

Me and Simon, throwing snowballs at hiding porters:



The view from Arrow Camp is spectacular. The clouds are below us, Mt. Meru pops through the clouds and below the clouds are the plains of Tanzania. Standing at the edge of the camp on the rock wall the view is endless and unbelievably breathtaking. I am insignificant and small.







We have to divide up our belongings and start sharing a duffel bag, oh my goodness, how is that going to be possible? Half of the porters will take our stuff to Millenium Camp half way down the mountain. The rest goes with us to the summit. All I need is my cold weather clothes for two days, and something dry to put on. I plan to sleep in most of it as we are to get up very early tomorrow and start the Western Breach in the dark.

I will be fine, I am healthy, in fairly good shape and not suffering too much from the altitude. I have started taking the diamox today though.

Tomorrow the Breach....