Any tips for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro?

[fridayschild]

I have won a raffle at work to climb Kilimanjaro for our charity this year - very excited! Any tips on how to make it to the top? Or, erm, make the thousands of pounds I now need to raise to get up there?

Just love that you've posted this on MN ... are you taking the children?

I have NO tips other than...

... No! no tips sorry

I'm very , I would LOVE to do that.

You'll need to be very fit. [states the obvious emoticon]

hey, BS, on another thread we're just debating precisely where it is, could you enlighten us please?

Well done YOU!

see its okay others have done it

so aside from choclate and congrats

get right gear
two months trainign hiking
be honest if your feel liek shit during climb

2 of our friends did it. Very fit 35 year old men, both used to sporty holidays (diving/rafting etc...)

They loved it but they did find it challenging

They really struggled at the top and did not push themselves to the finish because felt ill by lack of oxygen (we saw footage and they looked drunk)

The way back is every bit as challenging as the way up especially if it has been raining (mud)

I guess the bottom line is you will have a ball but DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS UNPREPARED OR EVEN JUST MILDLY PREPARED.
They went hiking every other weekend (Wales, scotland,alps) for months and did a strict jogging/running routine twice a week for a couple of monthS before.

Oh, and they advise the best thing you can pack apart from energy bars are.....baby wipes ( no shower for days)

mmm, will have to catch up on t'other thread soonish. I believe it is in Tanzania, on border of Kenya.

You must seriously train or you will suffer from altitude sickness. You must walk and do fitness/conditioning training. Contact a climbing club and ask them for advice. You will need proper clothes for the climb - layers of thin insulation. Good luck.

Yes Tanzania, border with Kenya.

Actually general fitness is not an issue for me at the moment, so fingers crossed I don't injure myself training. And all the stuff I've read suggests fitness levels don't correlate to altitude sickness that closely. Weekend climbing trips are going to be tricky, but I have plans for lots of squats and similar dull exercises until then.

Baby wipes are a top tip, thanks!

and the DCs? Not this time! DS2 wants to be carried EVERYWHERE, for heavens' sake, so there is no way I am carrying him up a mountain.... But MNetters know everything, didn't you know?

Apparently you need to do lots of hill walking to train. According to Jack Osbourne on the Chris Moyles show this morning

Our very fit friend, did get very ill near the top, luckily a Dr was in their group and gave him some medication, he was sherpa-ed off the mountain, which took SIX hours with him very very poorly, met a road, and was taken to hospital.

very scary, and this was a fit man who was very prepared. It's one of those inhospitable places, that you never quite know what it's going to throw at you.

I've climbed it - not very fit either!!! Take it slow so you get a chance to acclimatize. On the day before you do the final ascent, we climbed higher, then descended again to give your bodies a chance to acclimatize - very fit people who go to fast often get hit - unlike us lazier souls who take our time! (SO my one piece of advice would be if you can create an extra day before you get to the top)
Take VERY WARM clothes, its freezing at the top. (gloves, socks etc) some energy food ... i couldnt eat the last two days as felt sick and needed these for the energy ...
its great fun, lovely to get to the top, if you can, and i still remember the moment, tired, exhausted but elated that i MADE IT!!! although one person trying to be funny told me i wasnt on the top yet until i climbed a boulder!!! I started shouting (due to extreme tirdedness) - took a while to click he was joking!!!!
I did take some stuff from a homeopath and was told i was one of the first to do this, must have worked!!!!
Good luck it will be a wonderful memory ... as an extra you could think of flying to zanzibar, or getting the boat from dar es salaam to zanzibar, it was a great place to soak up the rays and relax and eat post the climb (lost a fair bit of weight during the climb .....)
If you want some more info you can email me on haze _ bothma @ yahoo. com (no spaces)

No tips, but just wanted to wish you luck.

I did it about 10 years ago - you need good kit (good sleeping bag for v cold weather, thermal layers which are breathable, really good boots, excellent petzel - plus spare batteries and bulbs - for the early morning starts). Also recommend a thermarest so you get a good nights sleep.Also, take energy food - lucozade tablets are good if you dont feel much like sleeping afterwards. TBH, you wont care about not showering/bathing while doing the climb - though the shower you have when you first get down is the best one ever. Agree with Kruger - Zanzibar is a great place to relax post climb.

Thanks - but what is a petzel?

DS1 burst into tears when I told him I was going mountain climbing so I think there will be no post-climb relaxation in Zanzibar for me, sadly.

Take up smoking.

Go to kitchen, get a pinch of salt, read advice...

A friend did it - she is fit but also smokes and was the only one in her group, which included two Norwegian climbers, to make it. The guides all smoked too and told her her lungs must have been used to struggling for oxygen so were fine with thin air at altitude. She had a fag the top, and a glass of wine which made her extremely dizzy. Hope she brought her rubbish home with her.

Petzel is a hands free torch- you pop it on your head. V handy for the trek to the top before the sun is fully out.

Thanks - we have one a head torch somewhere at home, but I would not have thought about a spare bulb.

LOL at the smoking. D'you think fighting for air in the London pollution with be a good enough proxy?!

I did it 12 years ago, so to add to other advice... General fitness is fine. You don't actually want to be too fit as it might make you climb too quickly and that is what often causes altitude sickness. Lots of very fit blokes don't make it for this reason. The policy is - take it slowly. But I would practise some hill walking before you go, ie going up pretty steep hills.

Are you doing it with a porter and guide (I think you have to have the latter.)?? Also do you know which route you are doing? I did the standard route which the locals call the cocacola route. If you do this one, you might like to stay an extra day half way up the mountain and walk over to Mawenzi, the other peak on Kili. This will help you acclimatize. It does cost extra but well worth it.

Definitely take poles for the way down as by then the ash has melted and it is quite heavy going.

If you are taking a porter, take a day bag for your lunch etc. And avoid eating meat that is cooked for you on the mountain. I avoided it, others did not and got quite ill. I also took extra bottled water - you can buy it on the mountain, but it is very expensive.

I took Diamox as altitude sickness prevention. I know it is much harder to get it prescribed these days though.

A silk inner sheet for your sleeping bag is a nice luxury to take along.

I loved it, so enjoy.

ps

I also took lots of energy bars etc and a small jar of mamite, which was a God sned.

I have done it too! Take clothes for hot sun, wet weather and extreme cold - particularly hat, gloves, nose-warmer, etc for the midnight ascent to the top.

Fitness no key to altitude sickness - we were with 2 mega-fit climbers who had to be rushed back down on stretchers before the peak, and a guy who seemed to spend most of his time smoking and drinking just strolled to the top!

Hakuna Matata!

How fantastic for you! My dh has just taken a team of 20 odd people from his company up there (we are in Kenya) and it is his second time. He is mega fit and literally zips up and down it, but the altitude does affect different people in different ways.

The main stumbling blocks to people summiting this time were that they were just too damn cold, so make sure you are fully prepared with cold weather gear, especially a wind proof outer layer. He also recommends getting a good pair of boots and wearing them constantly in the month run up to the event, as well as exercising, naturally.

Be mentally prepared for grotty sleeping/toilet conditions. I love the wet wipe suggestion. Don't take too many clothes.

Finally, he personally does not like the mountain and finds the whole climb quite tedious. I don't know who you will be climbing with but he reckons the best way to manage is with a group of people you know pretty well and with whom you can all support one another to get to the top.

Good luck and keep us posted!

This is great, please keep the advice coming! Now some questions which are much more specific

• climb is in early December which is apparently the rainy season. My walking boots are tried and trusted but heavy heavy leather ones. Any views on whether some lightweight ones would be fine or is waterproof the real feature I need in my boots? I need to make up my mind about this quite soon so that I can wear in a new pair if that's what I get

• there will be porters and a guide. How much should I tip them and presumably all tips in US dollars?

• any suggested books so that I appreciate what is all around me? or will I just get Lonely Planet/ whatever.

I will be doing the climb for charity with a bunch of complete strangers. Let's hope they turn out to be a friendly and supportive bunch! And I don't know the route yet. I suspect I have very little control over the time it takes.

It is short rains here from October through to December, which basically means it gets hot hot hot during the day and then it ends in a storm early evening and torrential rain for a couple of hours only. I would hazard a guess that lightweight boots might be preferable to heavy waterproof ones. Most lightweight ones are now pretty waterproof anyway I think? Pack your clothes in bin bags so that you can keep wet ones away from dry ones.

The porters and guide will bargain hard with you for their tip as they get paid peanuts. I'm sure they will be happy with sterling, dollars or Tanzanian shillings! Will ask dh what they ended up giving them a couple of weeks ago.

Also I'm sure the organisers have told you, you need a yellow fever vaccination record to enter Tz, so allow yourself some time to sort that out, unless you are in London and then you can get it easily.

I also did it in Dec - don't remember that there was much rain! Definitely good quality light weight boots that have a gortex layer, therefore waterproof. A pair of gaters may also prove useful.

You may also need to take some anti malaria drugs for when you are lower down and best to ask for medical advice on which are best in the region currently and what can be used at high altitude.

I tipped the guide 10% of the price I paid (which was about 60 US dollars 12 years ago)and the porters got a token tip each.

Also, outdoor stores now make fantastic dry bags in all different sizes and they are not very expensive. I would invest in a few of these to keep essentials dry should it rain.

dh says they put $50 per person into the porters 'pot' and they shared it out between them, porters and guide.

Sometimes the rains come sometimes they don't

Moshi is malarial you are right KT, current recommendations are to take malarone though I have no idea what effects altitude may have on its side effects. Tis very expensive and you have to get it on prescription but it and Mefloquine (larium) are the only two that are effective against falciparum malaria.