Mulanje Massif

Chapter 2

Because of the heavy rains the Friday I climbed up Mulanje, all my clothes, sleeping bag, shoes were soaked. So we spent pretty much the rest of the evening drying our clothes. We tried to put them as close to the fire as possible. Not a very good idea. While I was making oatmeal, my friend had put our shoes close to the flames to dry them for the next day, and I guess a spark flew out and caught my shoe, because when I turned around, my shoes were on fire! A real, honest to God, big fire. I grabbed them and started banging them on the cement floor. That was a little scary. What was more scary was the state my shoes were in. Still wearable, but the rubber had burned off and when I put them on, they stuck to my socks. Good thing I brought duct tape, so once I had taped those bad boys up, they were all good to go.

Another thing that burned was the tea kettle handle. It was made of plastic, and we were watching the water boil, when all of a sudden we see the handle turn white, and it just disintegrates right before our eyes. It was not a good day.