Monday, Day 2, afternoon.
Onwards and upwards we march. Sometimes silent but for the most part chatting, until somewhere near the Shira Plateau and Camp the rain begins. Rain isn’t pleasant at the best of times, but at 3845m (12,600ft) is cold and penetrating. I get a serious dose of the shivers despite leggings and waterproofs. The porters, being so much faster than us, have already erected the mess tent and so we cram in, all 22 of us dripping and cold to consume vast quantities of sweet tea and Milo.
After a while, the rain stops and the evening clears off. Something that becomes apparent is that the reason for the rain is that we had been walking through clouds. But now we are above them. This simple fact makes a huge impression on me and I react by taking about 57 almost identical pictures of clouds and sunset. You have to be a hardcore cloud fan to appreciate more than, uh, about two, so here is a selection of six just for kicks.
The surroundings at New Shira Camp are straight out of Lord of the Rings, the scarier bits. To say the scenery is dramatic is to do it an injustice, but it is a bleak, inhospitable place. Clouds rush up the valleys below and wrap themselves wraith-like around our plateau. Back in my tent, I discover a small rock under where my right hip would be when sleeping, this necessitates sly excavation and being prone on wet ground. This isn’t a pleasant experience.
The sun goes down very quickly at these latitudes and as it sets, the temperature duly follows. We cram back in to the mess tent for another massive intake of carbs, discover that it’s Scott’s birthday (about which he has kept very quiet) and appropriately we notice a massive electrical storm happening off to the east, the far side of the mountain. This is truly spectacular, an amazing sight to behold but something we’re all secretly hoping doesn’t come any closer. To be out on the Shira Plateau at night is a fine thing in itself, but to be stuck out there with an approaching electrical storm is a different matter entirely considering the only cover available is a cave a few hundred metres off which has been used for scatological purposes.
The storm fades off into the distance and we are spared the cave.
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