Mick-boy's Kilimanjaro trip
Thought this might interest a few here.
This June I participated in a 7 day climb up Kilimanjaro via the Machame route (Whiskey Route). The route is approximately 100km long, takes 6 or 7 days and goes from 5200ft to 19,340ft and back. I went with my two little sisters as part of a 14 person group. The group used ZARA Tours for the guiding and porters.
GEAR –
This was an interesting climb for me because porters are actually carrying most of your stuff. This was a first for me. The bag that the porters carry is limited to 15kg. I felt strange having someone else carry my weight but it is what it is.
There are a number of good packing lists for a Kilimanjaro hike available online. However, a little backpacking/mountaineering experience is useful to help you select the gear you are actually going to use. I consolidated three different packing lists from the internet, whittled off almost everything that was exclusive to one list and then whittled off a few more things that I was confident I wouldn’t use (fleece pants for sleeping, excessive clothing, extra shoes for around camp, etc). My thoughts when I was packing were something along the lines of “would I carry this if I didn’t have a porter?”. If the answer was no then I sure as hell wasn’t going to make another man carry it.
Because porters were going to be carrying most of the camping weight (sleeping bag and pad, tents, food, fuel, etc) I brought an Osprey Manta 30L for my daypack. Inside I carried my medkit, raingear, a lite warming layer, trail food, 3L of water and my emergency signaling device (SPOT).
The rest of my gear was in a Northface Basecamp Duffle (medium). I had, one extra set of hiking pants (convertible nylon pants from REI), Two extra shirts (wicking, one long sleeve, one short sleeve), Gloves and hat for the summit day, warming layers for the summit day (more later), my sleeping bag (0* bag from Mountain Hardware), A Kifaru Woobie, Ultralite sleeping pad from Big Agnes, Steri-pen, two paperback books, hygiene gear and about eight pairs of socks (REI and Smartwool). Like a lot of guys who came up in the Infantry I have a thing about packing as many pairs of socks as days I’m going to be out, plus a couple extra just in case. For boots I wore my Asolo Fugitive GTX.
Things I didn’t bring that I wish I had:
Camera – Pretty self-explanatory. I haven’t packed a camera for work in several years and just ignored it on the packing list. My little sisters and others in the group took all the pictures.
Older gear – A lot of folks donate their gear to their porters/guides after the climb. Unfortunately I brought the same stuff I take to work so I didn’t want to give it away. If I have thought of it I would have brought older gear that I don’t use anymore and traveled home with just my carry-on.
Things I did bring that I didn’t need:
One paperback (I only read one of the two, could have cut a half pound)
Steri-pen (The water is boiled by the cook. I never used it and didn’t have any issues).
ROUTE -
A big part of successfully getting to the summit is acclimatization. For the guides, getting the clients to the top of the hill means not pushing them to gain elevation. Just strolling up the trail at a leisurely pace and letting the elevation come. This took a little while for me to get used to. When I’m alone I still tend to hike at the same pace I’d ruck march. Slowing to a 1/1.5 mile an hour pace took honest effort.
The climb starts off at Machame gate. The porters are organized and load their gear (20kg of company/client gear plus whatever they are bringing) while the tourists loiter around. Once the group is ready to start go the guide leads out with the phrase that you will hear about a thousand times before you get back; Pole pole (Pul-A, Pul-A), which means slowly, slowly.
At Machame Gate with my two little sisters.
After a full day spent hiking through rainforest you reach Machame hut where you camp for the night. When you step off the next morning it’s a steep climb through moorland (kind of a border land between rainforest and high desert). About halfway through the morning you’re given your first glimpse of the summit.
You camp that night at Shira Camp. We had two members of our party go descent after they reached this point. They were having fitness issues and didn’t want to continue. Everyone else summited.
Leaving Shira Camp on Day three takes you up through high desert to Lava Tower at 15,190ft and then down to Barranco Camp.
Lava Tower
Lava tower can be climbed with a quick scramble. Four of us decided to give it a go.
On top of Lava Tour with one of my sisters and two other members of our party.
Leaving Barranco Camp on Day four, you climb the steep looking (but not hard) Barranco Wall. The little white dots are porters carrying their load up the hill.
More walking and camping in Alpine desert brings you to the Karanga Valley and the nights campsite.
The next morning it’s onward to Barafu camp.
One thing I was frankly shocked to learn is that the last water is in the Karanga Valley. The porters make the hour long hike back to the valley to fill up water buckets and then carry them back to Barafu Camp.
My sister and I along the Machame Route between Karanga and Barafu.
You get some sleep at Barafu and then get up around midnight. After a cup of hot tea you begin the summit push. I was wearing heavy wool socks, medium weight capiline bottoms and some Arcteryx sphinx pants, a medium weight capiline top, wool sweater, Arcteryx Alpha LT, and Beta AR as well as the Alpha SV gloves and an OR beanie. I didn’t really have any issues with cold on the hike up except right before sunrise when I could have used a set of hand warmers.
Just about 30min before sunrise we hit Stella Point. This is the end of the steep ascent. From here it’s a short walk along the ridgeline to Uhuru Peak and the summit of Kili.
On Stella Point with my youngest sister. Elevation 18,600ft
On Uhuru Peak with my youngest sister. Elevation 19,341
After the summit you begin your long descent. You camp that night at about 10,000ft back on the border between the mooreland and the rainforest. The next day you continue your descent through the rainforest to Mweka Gate and the car back to the hotel (and a shower and beer…. Not necessarily in that order).
Overall I enjoyed the trip a lot. The quality of the guides was absolutely outstanding, the food was good and the scenery was incredible. I may try to drag my old man back out there next year.
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