HDP_6208

Audio Blog

April 4, 2001 Day 4 Shira Plateau, 3840 m.

The morning started bright and sunny as we packed up camp and headed out for the long 7 hour trek.  The purpose of today's trek was aclimatization.  Instead of taking the direct route to our next camp, we climbed to Lava Tower at a height of 4630 m and then descend to Barranco Camp at an elevation of 3860m to spend the night.  By pushing our bodies to a higher altitude during the day and then sleeping lower at night we give our bodies time to adjust to these higher altitudes.

As we travelled from the Shira Plateau towards our morning goal, the Lava Tower, the weather changed from sun to mist, to hail and finally to rain for the duration of the trek. The terrain was surreal.  Gigantic plants towered above us as we travelled by waterfalls, traversed streams and negotiated extreme rock drops.  Dangerous and beautiful.  Everyone did very well today despite the challenging length of the trek, the weather and the terrain.  The day ended in great spirits; a hot meal and compliments from our leader Shawn about how well we worked as a team.  Kudo's to everyone!

Special thanks to Heather and Garry for all the great photos!

Donations can still be made throughout the climb at the link below:

http://www.dreammountains.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=29

All The Best from Kilimanjaro!

Dream Team Kilimanjaro