Mt. Kilimanjaro Planning
Tons of information to help you plan your climb up Kilimanjaro. You can find everything from best hotels, routes, and other perspectives on the mountain.
Picture of the week 38
These are the final steps at the top of the Western Breach Route. I’d never climbed anything like the Breach, at that altitude, (16,000-ft to 18,800-ft) in my life. My flatlander perspective saw the task as daunting, challenging and even scary.
I have shared in past articles that I used the porters as motivation and inspiration.
Indeed, surrounding us this day were porters carrying 35 pound loads on their heads. Negotiating the same scree and scrambling sections as we were. These guys do this every three weeks, it’s their job, but even filled with trepidation, I took great confidence …
Date: September 17th, 2007 |
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Picture of the week 36
As we inched up the Western Breach Route, I invested most of my limited cognitive and physical resources, rest stepping and breathing. While we were still in the shade provided by our early start, I happened to look to the left and saw the sun just beginning to touch the top of Lava Tower 2500-ft. below.
The only way to arrest the pace of our head guide was to call, “maji” (water) or “photo”. (This was also the technique, yours truly used, to grab a quick rest). At any rate, we stopped and I snapped the photograph. Like …
Date: September 4th, 2007 |
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Picture of the week 34
For the acclimation run up the Western Breach, Steven our head guide produced some very cool Sherpa glasses to combat the increasing UV levels at 17,000 feet. My son on the other hand wore dime store aviator shades over his regular glasses. Both strategies worked just fine and remember, big checks don’t always have to be written for gear.
Date: August 21st, 2007 |
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Picture of the week 33
This image still invokes awesome emotions three years after it was captured.
Upon our arrival at Arrow Glacier Camp, our head guide and my son & I continued part way up the Western Breach Route as part of our acclimatization program.
As our head guide, Stephen, and my son descend, both Arrow Camp (middle left) and Lava Tower (middle right) can be seen delineated by the long shadows cast by the setting sun. Even the Shira Plateau can be seen off in the distance, the very ground we had covered over the preceding 7 days. Seeing almost our whole route …
Date: August 13th, 2007 |
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Picture of the week 32
This is a second image of Arrow Glacier Camp as cloud came in and hid the upper sections of the Western Breach. As I study the photo now I count 16 tents, 3 dinning tents, 4 black public outhouses and our own orange loo (just for my son and I). This represented three teams from Montreal (2), Wisconsin (2) and South Africa (6), a small community.
As it turned out, the only clients that made it to the top of the Breach the next day were the couple from Montreal and us. The South Africans had attempted to …
Date: August 6th, 2007 |
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Picture of the week 37
Our first real break on the Breach route was at 17,300-feet.
Mt. Meru can be seen off in the distance. Lava Tower camp is the beige patch in the lower right with the Shira Plateau beyond, an outstanding view from any angle.
Pictured is our head guide, Stephen. He’s standing in a spot where I had no intention to venture. I was content to sit with my son, drink water, consume what seemed like our 50th Snickers bar and catch my breath.
Date: September 10th, 2007 |
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Picture of the week 35
Dawn, at Arrow Glacier Camp, the morning we would finally attempt our assent of the Western Breach. It was very cold, but the early departure would minimize our exposure to rock fall.
The shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro is draped atop the 12,000-ft cloud layer stretching all the way to Mt.Meru some 30+ miles away.
Although I had the presence of mind to take this photograph, the lack of oxygen at 16,000-ft of altitude prevented me from fully appreciating this wonderfully visual gift until I returned home to 750-ft. It was the very same cognitive limitations, however, that helped us steel …
Date: August 27th, 2007 |
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Cheap Air Tickets to Tanzania
Lots of people are planning climbing trips up Kilimanjaro these days, so it’s no surprise that there are some cheap air tickets to Tanzania right now. The allure of the mountain is strong, apparently, and more and more people are making their way to the top every year.
BootsnAll has a fantastic adventure trip up Mt. Kilimanjaro on the Machame Route with lots of start dates between now and the end of the year, so if you were interested in joining you might want to jump on this cheap airfare to Kilimanjaro to …
Date: August 16th, 2007 |
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Mt. Kilimanjaro - How dangerous is it, really?
OK, you’ve been warned…
“But when I say that our sport is a hazardous one, I do not mean that when we climb mountains there is a large chance that we shall be killed, but that we are surrounded by dangers which will kill us if we let them.” George Mallory
Mallory’s comments are in reference to the Himalayan “giants”, but the call for personal responsibility; making good decisions and managing your own situation can be taken to any adventure, including Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Recently, I’ve seen some questions on the BootsnAll, Kilimanjaro blog concerning the level of risk involved in climbing to the roof of Africa and how to handle the negativity from people (like parents) that have only heard about some of the tragedies on the mountain. This article is my attempt to put these issues into perspective and promote safe, successful adventures.
It is true that 8 or 9 trekkers per year die on the mountain from 30,000 attempts. A few of these make the headlines and unfortunately, that is what people remember. Heart attacks and Acute Mountain Sickness are the main reasons. But it is also true that if 60% (18,000) make it to the summit then a whopping 40% (12,000) trekkers, every year, have turned themselves around or been told to turn around and walk off the mountain with everything from knowing they did the very best they could, to crushing disappointment, or perhaps a steeled resolve to return and conquer. In addition, a small number of people have needed rescue.
In the following paragraphs, I will discuss all these different issues so that the first-timers can understand the choices and probabilities for success.
What can kill 8 to 9 people per year?
Date: August 7th, 2007 |
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Picture of the week 31
This is Arrow Glacier Camp and the Western Breach with our yellow Eureka Scorpion Tent sitting ready and waiting. The line up the Breach is directly above the orange tent although it did zigzag to the left out of the photograph occasionally.
We weren’t afraid exactly but were overcome with a thunderous anticipation of the, as yet, unknown challenges of the breach climb. I’d never seen any pictures of the scrambling sections or the type of exposure to falls we could be hiking through. All my trusted guide would say is, “If you go slowly, the mountain is …
Date: August 1st, 2007 |
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