day 4

After breakfast Tim and I joined the queue of climbers waiting to ascend the Baranco Wall. It’s a massive lava wall 300m high that towers above us. It’s not a particularly complex climb but there’s only one way up – and it’s slow.

For the first time on the expedition I’m feeling confident but Tim’s a little uncomfortable and there’s a rumbling in his stomach that he’s not happy about. 100m up the wall his worst fears are confirmed – he’s got to go to the loo fast. What does a man do? He can’t go up – he can’t go down. He manages to crouch behind a rock perched on a ledge of the rock face. Dignity be damned. He’s got a bad case of diarrhea and there’s not a lot he can do about it. Other climbers are understanding of his dilemma and try to respect his privacy – they’re mostly grateful it hasn’t happened to them. He pops an Imodium pill and crawls upward in pain, eventually reaching the top of the wall after four difficult hours.

We take a water break and rest for a while before preparing to continue our journey. Tim’s feeling a lot better but now I’m feeling a little uncomfortable. Sure enough, half an hour later I’m beset by the same stomach cramps and diarrhea. Fortunately there are a few more boulders for me to cower behind but Tim’s indignity during the morning repeats itself on me during the afternoon. It rains all afternoon and progress during the day is painfully slow. We eventually arrive at Barafu Camp around 4pm. So much for a short day. We want to have an early night tonight because the plan is to leave for our summit bid at 11pm.