Blog: johnloguk

Climbing Kilimanjaro

This isn't an advert for any particular company, that would be wrong, but as more and more people look towards "Kili" as a "holiday" destination maybe my experiences and tips will help?

My wife and I climbed Kili on our honeymoon, yes I know, what was wrong with a nice beach holiday somewhere hot and exotic? But it was a brilliant trip, a great achievement, and not exactly full of hardship either. As the highest point in Africa, and one of the Seven Summits (the highest points on the 7 continents), Kili is increasingly popular. In fact every few weeks some minor celeb or holiday programme presenter is seen on TV in a life or death struggle to the summit. The hardship angle is always over-hyped in these programmes and it drives me mad, it needn't be like that.

My first tip to make the ascent of Kilimanjaro more enjoyable is to climb Mount Kenya first to get some level of acclimatisation. Mount Kenya is a few thousand feet lower, but actually is by far the more interesting mountain in every other way. Kili is one big isolated lump of a volcano, and it's ascent can be a bit of a trudge, but Mount Kenya has several central rocky peaks and is surrounded by spectacular incised valleys on all sides. The highest double summit peaks of Mount Kenya are strictly the realm of serious rock climbers, so most people are satisfied with Point Lenana, which itself requires a glacier walk and rocky scramble, but nothing that most fit people can't cope with. The best way to climb Mount Kenya is to include a circular trip around the mountain as well as Point Lenana. It is a spectacular route, hugely varied, and it will get you fit and acclimatised for Kili the following week.

By the time we got to Kili we were feeling very physically fit, but the real benefit of doing Kenya first came much later on the summit push, when acclimatisation to the altitude is critical. Whichever route you choose to climb Kili, the final summit bid will start before midnight by head torches. This is partly to give enough time to get up and back down to safety by the end of the following day, but really it is to be on the summit snow while it is still hard and compact. Soft snow is terrible to either climb or descend on, and is to be avoided. The summit push must be taken slowly, the altitude is extreme, over 19,000', rushing only brings pain and probable defeat! Climbing Mount Kenya the previous week helps acclimatise to the altitude on Kili, and we found that we were by far the fittest party on the mountain. There was a group of very fit looking 20 something American college kids climbing alongside us, but they all floundered on the summit push. They weren't acclimatised and didn't take their time properly. They kept rushing off ahead of us on the zig-zags up the steep scree, but every few minutes we would slowly overtake them as they lay gasping like fish out of water at the side of the trail. Eventually they gave up and didn't make the summit, whereas we overtook all the other groups with our steady pace and had the top to ourselves for ages before anyone else arrived. A glorious sunrise, watching the shadow of Kili extending over the African plains.

Make sure you have enough energy left for the descent, because that is almost as physically hard as the climb, especially on the knees!

I won't waste time talking about equipment, that is all available on the internet, but it goes without saying that you should research your trip before you set off. It sounds obvious, but we kept seeing people totally ill equiped for the mountain, which beggars belief really. If you plan it right, and are fairly fit, Kilimanjaro is not the life or death struggle that some people claim. I don't climb mountains to get knackered and frostbitten, it needn't be that way.

After 2 weeks climbing Kenya's highest peaks we then "relaxed" on safari, and the ironic thing is that a safari can be as exhausting as the climbing. All the early starts to catch the wildlife, and miles being buffeted and covered in dust in the back of a mini-bus or landrover can come as a shock. But the safari experience is also stunning so don't let me put you off!

by johnloguk on 12:49 on 26th May 2007