Mt. Kilimanjaro Gear
Should you use trekking poles? Can you rent gear in Moshi? Are gaiters good to have? All these questions and more can be answered in the Kilimanjaro Gear section.
The Lovely Kitchen
You would be surprised - except for the lunches - most of the breakfasts and dinners on Kilimanjaro can be better than expected. You often wonder how these guys pull off such amazing meals. Are you really hungry and anything tastes good? Or do these guys really know how to cook?
I would say, it’s a little bit of both.
If you ever get a chance and want some real lively action and to get “some culture”, wander over to the “Cook Tent” where you will hear a bunch of quasi-cooks, part-time porters …
Date: October 9th, 2006 |
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Solar Backpacks – Best Bets on Kilimanjaro
One of the biggest issues you face on Kilimanjaro is capturing all those spectacular moments with your camera. For the average Kilimanjaro climber, they are going to take pictures up Kili for about 7 days, turning their camera on, and then off, on and then off. Afterward, most people have a planned safari, which could take between 5 to 7 days. If you don’t have multiple batteries, or ones that can be recharged by the sun, you might have difficulty using your camera the entire length of the trip. That means …
Date: July 25th, 2006 |
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Best Method for Packing on Kilimanjaro
If you want a good way to keep your clothes clean and dry on Kilimanjaro or on any mountain, seperating the dirty clothes from the fresh clothes, you should use plastic bags. Small, sealable plastic bags - one for each piece of clothes - help in a number of ways. First, it keeps them dry.
Date: March 7th, 2006 |
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Duffel Bag Liner - Gear on Kilimanjaro
Just like your day pack, you can use plastic bags to line the inside of your duffel bag. Even if you have a waterproof duffel bag, you should create another waterproof lining to help combat the rain and elements.
Date: February 19th, 2006 |
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Water on Kilimanjaro
This picture is an example of how to fill up your nalgene bottle, canteen, or camelback on Mount Kilimanjaro. Usually one of the porters will pack up fresh mountain water in a bucket. You can use your water pump, which you should bring, to clean the water even more. Then, to be extra safe, drop in an iodine tablet or two and wait at least 15 minutes. You can mix your water with some gatorade or a drink packet, and then you can drink to your heart’s desire.
Since you consume a lot of water, you …
Date: February 15th, 2006 |
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More Kilimanjaro Packing Tips
Ryan and his wife recently climbed Kilimanjaro and came up with a list of important things to remember when planning for climbing Kilimanjaro.
1) BRING A CAMELBACK
Of all the gear my wife and I had, we both agreed that the Camelbak was the one item that had the greatest benefit. Hydrating on the go is way easier with one of these than trying to dig water bottles out of your pack, plus on summit day you can wear it under your jacket so it doesn’t freeze (like everyone else’s water bottles did.
Date: September 8th, 2006 |
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Do You Need a Balaclava?
Most people don’t use a balaclava on the mountain. Many just zip up their jacket and fleece, pull down their hat, and keep much of their face exposed.
Personally, it would have been wonderful, only on the last day, to have a balaclava on the final ascent to the Uhuru summit. It would have saved freezing face that was getting nailed by wind. I highly recommend bringing one. And, don’t worry, there are some rather nice ones available through Mountain Hardware, so you don’t have to look like you are about to rob a convenient store.
Date: July 5th, 2006 |
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Warm Hands 101
This is a post from Chuck Beauzay on how to keep your hands warm.
Hiking up Kilimanjaro can be cold. It can be windy. It can be cold and windy. You have a lot to worry about during your trek, so it’s always nice to try and eliminate as much of that worry as possible before setting out. Staying warm and dry on the mountain is a must! You will see people with the most advanced warm weather gear that exists! This is good, however, one must remember that the only way to be completely confident with your gear is to test it out yourself. Being from Minnesota, I have had the chance to test gear in some of the worst conditions possible. Through trial and error (mostly error), I have come up with a pretty good system for staying warm and dry. So, I thought I’d share some of this information with you.
Date: February 23rd, 2006 |
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Day Pack Liner - Gear on Kilimanjaro
You should always have a day pack on Kilimanjaro. With your day pack, you can carry extra clothing, food, water, first aid kit and any other bare necessities. If your day pack is not waterproof, or you don’t have a rain shell for it, then you can take a plastic garbage bag and line the inside of the pack. This way, if it rains (and it will rain), you are protecting everything from gettting soaked. I think, even if you do have a water proof pack, you should still create a liner, like the example in the picture, with a …
Date: February 17th, 2006 |
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Drink Packets
As I stated in my two articles, “Taking a Whiz,” and “Pee, Pee and More Pee,” you will drink loads of water on Kilimanjaro, probably more than you have ever had in your life.
After a while, drinking loads of water becomes kind of old. You feel like you need some new refreshing taste - anything with a little bit of sugar. These drink packets, available at any store in America, are great to bring on the mountain.
WHY?
1. It’s not your 12th liter of water
2. You don’t pee as much - the water doesn’t go through you …
Date: February 14th, 2006 |
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