Day by day diary

Day 3 - 30th June 2000 - Shira Hut (3800m) to Barranco Hut (3955m) via Lava Tower (4610m)

As is becoming routine we have tea at 0700 and breakfast at 0730. The sun rises behind Kibo's crater casting a cone shaped shadow that sweeps towards us across the clouds. Overnight a frost has made the early morning temperature dip below zero although the warming effect when the sun hits us is as welcome as it is immediate. We start todays trek at 0830 walking directly towards Kibo up a broad rocky ridge. We feel strong and seem to be aclimatising well. The slowly changing views just keep getting better as we get noticeably closer to the snow covered summit. The barren looking Shira plateau stretches out to our left and the icy glaciers reflect the early morning sunshine straight ahead. The vegetation has now died right back as we climb into the desert zone over 4000m. The weather is perfect all day with no cloud except the expanse below us at about 3200m. We can see the clouds over Kenya across the plateau.

A steady climb takes us to the foot of Lava Tower, a 50m high lump of rock sticking up from the rolling ridges around the summit cone. A short scramble to the top of the tower gets the heart rate pumping but the views make the effort worthwhile. The top of the tower, at 4610m, is our highest point of the day and from the top the clear mountain air makes Kibo look so close. We scramble back down for lunch before setting off again.

From the tower it is generally downhill to the Barranco Hut campsite with some steep descents into the valley. We travel ever closer to the Western Breach wall with its huge cliffs topped with glaciers. The many photos we've seen could not prepare us for the huge cliffs and ice that tower above us. We are now on the Southern Circuit Path as we descend we pass forests of giant groundsel and lobelia that give the feeling we have entering the land of the giants. The huge, intimidating Barranco Wall that we must scale tomorrow morning comes into view as we see our campsite for the first time far below. Kicking up clouds of dust as we slip and slide down the steep slopes into the valley. Our tent is already set up and tea and popcorn awaits us when we arrive. We both have our first bad headaches that developed around the time we reached the high point at the Lava Tower. A couple of paracetamol and a rest seems to sort out the worst of it.

Today's walk included a total ascent of 854m, descent of 695m and took 6h 25min. Apart from the headaches we are feeling good and optimistic of our chances for the summit. Barranco is the most spectacular campsite so far with the western breach towering above, the sheer looking valley wall and the sea of clouds stretching across the mouth of the valley below. We take many pictures to make sure we capture the best bits at the best time as the colours change towards sunset. The sun disappears from view early due to the steep sides of the valley and temperatures drop quickly. Dinner is soup followed by pasta with meat sauce and vegetables. As the breach wall turns golden and then eventually, almost instantly, drops into shadow we sort out the tent for the night. We turn in at about 2100 after admiring the stars in the clear night skies again.