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K9
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going in a few weeks and very excited...
anyone elde been up, and if so how was it?
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I'm envious now and will be looking for a full report.
(Dreaming of climbing some big bumps when I'm worth more to my kids dead than alive.)
I've not met Sweetest Thing...
If anyone sees him/her point him/her in this direction!
Will provide a full report if I get back in one piece...
I haven't been up Kilimanjaro but I have been to that part of the world a couple of times. It is a really amazing place.
Apparently the climb itself is relatively easy, it is the altitude that makes it tough.
yes - I'm a little worried about the whole altitude thing! It's 6000m climbed fairly slowly. I've been to 4400m or so before without trouble, but it's unpredictable. Only 70% or so make it all the way to the true summit and there are usually 2 or 3 deaths per year due to altitude related problems..
(I read all that AFTER I'd booked the trip)
That's so exciting... I like hill walking but have never been on anything that would have actually involved climbing!! We have Pen Y Fan here but its a molehill in comparison.
Hey!
I went up nearly two years ago and it was just fantastic!
It's not a technical climb and you just need a good standard of fitness to get to the top but - as someone said - it's the altitude that can get you. As long as you are with a reputable company which builds in sufficient acclimatisation during the climb, and you drink lots of water, take it slowly (you have little choice, as your guides set the pace and will tell you "Pole, pole" if you are going too fast!) then you have a good chance of getting to the top.
Which company are you going with? If you want to email me, I'll tell you more and give you some tips about surviving the trip (esp the toilet facilities, which give new meaning to the word "basic";-)).
I really envy you - if I got the chance to fly out to Tanzania tomorrow and do it again, I would jump at the chance!
Good luck.
Thanks Sweetest Thing!
Going with Exodus so should be OK on the reputable front, and there seems to be plenty of acclimatisation involved, taking 5 days to get to the top and less than 2 to get down.
The whole toilet and washing side of things also did not occur to me until after i'd booked!! I'm sure any tips would be very welcome (EEK). I will e-mail you...are there things which cannot be said in public??!
Who did you go with?
Been up Mount Kenya ('only' 4985m to the highest walkable peak) - did it with a group of people i met out there - all a bit shambolic, self-guided, carrying our own stuff (including lagely unused tents!) etc - but we walked for one day through bamboo forests up a road which gets to the park gate, where we camped. We could have got a vehicle to get us there and walked from the gate, but it gave us an extra day acclimatising. The weather was crap one day so we stayed in a hut at 3000m for that day. I am sure both of those decisions (one made largely through stinginess, the other made for us by the weather) kept us out of trouble with the altitude. My mates did Kili too, and they said it's just an easy walking hill as far as the terrain is concerned, it's just the altitiude. Somebody in their group was probably the fittest of all of them at sea level but he was the one that had to turn back. You have to know the signs and be prepared to go down.
Good luck, I'm very jealous.
K9, Exodus are excellent - we went with Adventure Alternative, but it was a close decision and in the end we went with AA because we had spoken to their MD a few times and had built up a relationship with them. I know several people who've gone up with Exodus and they all had a great trip.
My top tips: take plenty of babywipes. More than you think you will need. Washing facilities are limited to a bowl of hot water morning and evening, and while men can strip off and wash to a certain extent, it's much harder for women - babywipes essential!
Take some Tiger Balm to put round your nostrils when you go to use the toilet facilities at camp. You need something to mark the smell, believe me! And you will get an upset stomach, so be prepared to dive behind bushes at a few seconds' notice. You will lose all sense of dignity
Plenty of loo roll, wrap your camera and phone in socks before putting them in your day bag - preserves the battery life and stops the mechanism freezing on the overnight ascent, when the temperature will be - 15 plus wind chill and no protection. You can get a phone signal all the way up the mountain as long as you align yourself to Moshi.
Loads more to say - email me with what you want to know! It is the most fantastic trip. Brilliant, brilliant fun and a real sense of achievement when you get there.
Thanks Pottingshed! Did you enjoy Mount Kenya?
I'm quite prepared to turn back if I get altitude sickness. (i'm sure I'll not be given any choice)...it's all part of the experience I guess and not something i'll have much control over.
Pottingshed - not going to see animals afterwards, but going diving in Zanzibar
Thanks SwTh - yikes to the 'toilets'. Have already bought wipes, but will buy more. I guess i'll be fairly stinky by the time we get down. I guess hairwashing is out then?!!
Toilet roll - hadn't thought but will buy.
How much of your kit did you actually carry yourself?
Did you have enough clothes on the ascent day to keep warm?
Which route did you go up? We are doing rongai which involves camping. Did you stay in the huts?
tiger balm is supposed to be good for insect bites too...
I'll definitely take it.
Good news about the mobile phone situation...my family will be glad to know i'm still alive
Hi
Hairwashing - pah! I wore hats all the time - sunhat to begin with, then a beanie, then a rather fetching hat with ear flaps and little dangly bits
When you get back to the hotel afterwards, you will stand under the shower for about 30 minutes, washing the grime out!
You go through several different "climates" as you ascend, so make sure you take clothes to suit them - at the bottom, it's rainforest/tropical, so warm and balmy but with heavy rain for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Then it gets progressively colder and drier, so you move from shorts, to cropped trousers, to thermal underwear and proper climbing trousers! The porters carry everything - it's amazing watching them stride past in the oddest assortment of footwear, balancing tents, tables and chairs, camping gaz stoves etc on their heads. You just need to carry your day's supply of water and snacks, also anything you might need during the day's climbing: camera, extra jumper, toilet roll, babywipes, that kind of thing. I used a Camelbak which meant I didn't have to take my backpack off to have a drink. The guides/cooks sort out your water every night and fill your Camelpak bladder/water bottles with purified water.
On the night of your ascent, you really travel light. You only carry about a half a litre of water and the guides carry the water supply. You should only need your camera/phone/trail mix or Kendal Mint Cake in your backpack, with maybe extra gloves or scarf. On our final ascent, two of our party started showing very mild signs of altitude sickness, and after we stopped and they had something to eat and drink and a little rest, the guides took their backpacks from them and even not having that slight weight to carry made a real difference, so don't underestimate the impact of increasingly thin air!
On the ascent, I wore - long sleeved thermal top and thermal longjohns, thick climbing trousers, two thin insulated tops and a fleece, a polar buff, my rather fetching hat
, thick insulated gloves and 1000 mile socks, not big thick climbing socks. The only part of me that was cold was my hands, but I always have cold hands. The guides warmed them up for me whenever we stopped and I put on an extra pair of gloves.
We went up the Machame route and didn't stay in the huts - we were in tents the whole time. Make sure you have a really good quality roll mat, an insulated one, not just a cheap one. And a four seasons sleeping bag because it will get very cold at night as you get further up.
The coffee they serve you is rubbish, the porridge is disgusting - we had it on day one and refused it after that! But the food is amazing given the conditions: fresh vegetable soup every day, plenty pasta and rice, they bring fresh food up the mountain as you climb so you get lovely fresh mango and bananas.
The guides love to talk to you and use it as a chance to practise and improve their English, which helps them get better jobs. The cooks want to learn so they can become guides, so you'll find all your support staff really friendly. The porters have very little English but they appreciate smiles and thanks. And if you are a woman, they will call you "Mama", which means wife/woman/mother/sister etc. I found it really funny - I was with a group of four men, and they all started calling me Mama as well
Oh, and take a good quality head torch!!
Mt Kenya was wonderful - a real highlight - surreal beauty, especially where there is no vegetation but giant lobelia and grounsel (like a 'Star Trek' set) - a real achievement to get there - and spent with people who were more or less strangers before the start (we picked people up on the way up too!) but we bonded well, all got there, and looked after each other.
Zanzibar is another place i have heard wonderful things about
...and this is the one time when you will actually want to eat Kendal Mint Cake - it gives you a real energy boost.
When you come down off the mountain, the local village children come to meet you and ask you for anything you will give them: sweets, your hat, scarf, anything at all. We gave them some Kendal Mint Cake, amongst other things, and found it left at the side of the path!!!
We took over lots of cheap pens and drawing paper and when you go into Moshi, the children will come up and say hello, really politely, and are positively ecstatic if you hand them a few cheap biro pens and some paper.
And if you take some old T shirts etc to wear on the climb, the porters and guides really appreciate you handing them over to them at the end of the climb. You will see that they are all wearing T shirts/tops from races or pop concerts from years ago, that climbers have given them. They have to pay for education from the age of about 13, so they like to save their money to spend on school fees, rather than buy clothes.
It is a humbling experience as well, believe me.
PS, coming down from the summit, you have to "ski" down scree. It is really tricky, and lots of people have to get helped by a porter.
<proudly points out that all the men in her group needed help but she didn't>
Thanks again!
Now I can't concentrate for getting excited about it all!
Got a good head torch.
I should be OK for clothes I think - I've got thermal undies, various layers of fleeces and tops, a 'duvet' jacket and padded trousers, waterproof jacket and trousers that fit over the top of all that if needed, lots of thick and thin socks, thin gloves and thick gloves for over the top, beanies etc
I've got a pretty good sleeping bag and mat. They weren't cheap. I was tempted to sleep in it last night but had to rein myself in!!
I was fearing the worst with the food, but it sounds pretty good. It sounds like i should take snacks of my own too though.
Shame about the coffee - so fairtrade kilimanjaro coffee is perhaps not that 'authentic' then?
there was a bit of scree too - lots of fun
Sounds really great pottingshed! the vertical bog - sounds quick, if messy.
yes, I even have some kendal mint cake lying quietly in the cupboard from my last trip to the lake district. I quite like it!!
I've got heaps of old T-shirts i can think of taking (and leaving), and I'd not even thought to bring presents for the village children - thanks
I think they export the best coffee (certainly you will see the coffee plantations all around) but they serve some dodgy coffee/chicory type mix. The tea was better, but we ended up just having hot water with honey.
We took trial mix, nuts, jelly babies, that kind of thing. The food they give you is very good - you get packed lunches with fruit, a cake, sandwich, boiled egg etc. Then a cooked meal at the camp. Too much food, actually - we rarely finished it.
Take a pack of cards with you - it gets dark quickly because you're so near the Equator and there is nothing to do in the evenings except make your own entertainment. We used to meet in one tent (Mr ST and mine - the "married quarters" it was known as ) and we used to play rummy, whist, scabby Queen, cheat etc. It was really good fun, actually. And we played lots of word games. The five of us knew each other before we went out, so we didn't have to get to know each other, unlike a lot of other groups, where there's lots of opportunity to ask questions about each other.
There is something really wonderful about the trip, just you and a big mountain and the chance to think, talk, get to know the people and the place around you.
Very, very special. I'd love to hear afterwards how you found it. I have fabulous memories of it.