Training Begins.....

We've done a lot of research in to suitable training for Kilimanjaro, obviously when we are spending so much money and travelling so far you want to give yourself the best chance of being succesful, however I have not read anyones comments saying that they just got too tired of walking and decided to just sit down and give up (don't know what actually happens if you do this, do they jsut abadon you on the mountain?) , the only reason anyone ever fails to make it to the top is through altitiude sickness which we can't train for.

Anyway as per everyone else that seems to do Kilimanjaro we decided we needed to do more walking to prepare, also as I have not camped out anywhere since I was about 12 years old and that was in a freinds small back garden in West Bromwich and not on a big mountain (let's face it there are far more dangers in West Bromwich......) I could also do with some practise sleeping in a tent. We arranged to do a trip to Wales where some friends live, the plan was to spend the weekend trekking and sleep in the tent on the two nights.

I bought the tent a few months ago withe the intention of spending more time camping in preperation for Kilimanjaro, in actuality I removed the tent from the bag once and tried briefly to erect it in the house before realising there wasn't enough space and I packed it back away and didn't unpack it again until today. I chose the tent as it was suitable for backpacking as it packed away to a very small budle, weighed under 3kg and was quick and easy to assemble. Still we decided that the best thing to do when we arrived was to build the tent first as we had no idea how long it would take.

The tent assembly was actually really simple, if we weren't camping in a garden we may have been short of a hammer to put the pegs in but other than this we built the tent in around 20 minutes and didn't experience any problems (with the tent) all weekend.

Our home for 2 days

With the tent completed we went for our first trek of the weekend. Will and Kate (our hosts) went with us part of the way and provided us with a map to work out where we were and where we were going, unfortunately between us our map reading skills left a lot to be desired and we ended up walking up a track that must have been maded by sheep rather than an official walking path. This seemed to be a common theme for the weekend with us also wandering through some woods on a steep hill trying to find an exit from a field and also getting sent back from a field by a farmer on a tractor for walking on his property. Luckily on Kilimanjaro we will have a guide who hopefully knows the way!

Extreme close up of Darina, with the fields of Llangollen in the background......

The kit we have so far was very good though, I think I am going to stick with the boots that I have despite them beign a bit low and teh trousers I recently purchased were fantastic including side pockets the perfect size for my phone and camera, all this and they zip off to make shorts and even have colour coded zips so even I can't try to put the legs on the worng way around!

Me and my trousers (That is just an unfortunate crumple on my t-shirt and not my belly, honestly......)

We  have also sorted out the insurance for trekking now with a company called Dogtag, not only do they give us a set of gimmicky dog tags to wear with our name, insurance policy number and a contact telephone but they were also the cheapest we found (although I did stop looking when I saw the gimmick).

The holiday balance is due imminently so it really is no turning back now, the fund raising is also going very well with one of our suppliers sponsoring us £1200 which is absolutely fantastic. Louise is also looking to organise a party for a couple of weeks before we go to help raise some more money.

So that is the latest status of how we are progressing, I went to Go Outdoors yesterday to take advantage of their 15% off sale and buy some more trousers (pretty much the same but in grey instead of green) another fleece, a base layer and a buff headwear which will hopefully be enough to keep the sun off me as I really don't want to wear a hat! I still have to sort out my vaccinations for Yellow Fever and something else that I can't remember but is written down somewhere, I do however have my Malaria tablets that I must have had from something else as I found them while doing a clear out of my medicine cabinet (I actually had some medicine that expired in 1997 in there!) so hopefully I won't end up like Cheryl Cole.

Just need to update my kit list now to find out how many more things I still have to get.........

What will people buy....?

The whole sponsorship thing had gone a bit quiet, it started with a flurry of activity and then went down to nothing and no new sponsorship for a few weeks. Luckily Lou has come up with a new idea of selling things on eBay to raise money and then donating the money to charity, so an email was sent out to request anyone to bring in anything that they don't want anymore and Lou would list it on eBay.


This brings up the question of how much crap will people actually buy? Lou regularly sells various things for her family and friends on eBay, she also believes that people will generally buy absolutely anything. I bring this up as I am currently sorting through my collection of VHS cassettes wondering if anybody actually wants this anymore? Also I am looking at these and thinking that I am going to be mocked mercilessly by my work colleagues when I take in my entire collection of Friends videos! Stange how your tastes change as you mature.....

The first batch of items brought in feature some very strange fishing videos, a violin and a collection of glass hand bells

So far we have raised £48 through the sale of the unwanted items that have been bought in. Can't see that getting much above £50 with my collection of Friends videos.

As another update after a trial I am confident that my new bag is big enough to carry everything that I will need for the trip, I am confident of this as I can actually fit myself inside the bag and zip it closed (I do need some help to actually zip it closed though......).

This is my bag, doesn't look much does it (although you will never miss it on the carousel in that colour!).

Me sitting in aforementioned bag

 And now the bag closed!

 In short, I can thoroughly recommend the North Face Base Camp bag should you need to transport bodies anywhere......

I'm off to China from work tomorrow for a couple of weeks and then when I get back am going to try camping in Wales for a weekend, as I have not tried camping since I was about 12 in a freinds back yard it should be an interesting experience.

The kit list.....

One of the things you quickly realise when you start planning a trip like this is how important having the right kit is, both from having the right amount and the right quality. Unfortunately another thing that you realise quite quickly is that with the vast amount of information available on the internet nobody agrees exactly on what the right kit is!
The kit list for the company that we have booked with recommends that we take 6 pairs of thin socks with us along with 3 pairs of thick socks for the 6 day trek, seems sensible enough…… However they also recommend that we take 3 sets of underwear!!!! I appreciate that I’m not going to get a shower while on Kilimanjaro but surely a pair of pants for each day is normal…?
There are a lot of items that all of the kit lists agree on anyway, items like a sleeping bag rated for 4 seasons so it is ok in the warm area of the lower mountain as well as when it is colder in the higher regions. The sleeping bag was one of the first items that I purchased and is rated from down to -7ºC for comfort down to -23ºC for extreme temperatures, unfortunately I can’t try it out to see how warm it will really be at these temperatures but I’m sure I can keep my thermal undies on to keep warm as well……
Another of my biggest worries about doing this is the washing facilities, yes I know that I am going to be on a mountain in the middle of nowhere but as my hair looks greasy if I go 24 hours without washing it I wanted to have some sort of facilities to wash my hair. As with most things a quick Google search later and I had found a web site for a company called ‘No Rinse’ Products. The items are generally meant for the elderly or incapacitated but that didn’t deter me! I ordered a couple of their hair washing caps to try along with a bottle of shampoo, a bottle of conditioner and a pack of their wet wipes.
The shampoo cap wasn’t what I had hoped for, when I opened the pack and found what was basically a lined shower cap that was moist. The instructions told me to put it on my head and ensure all hair was contained within the hat and then massage until hair was saturated, after 5 minutes of looking like an idiot in a shower cap and rubbing my hair I removed the cap and found that it was mostly still dry, this along with the worry that Darina would by this point have taken a photo of me in the cap and published it for the world to see. I abandoned the cap and tried the shampoo, this seems to be much better and just involves me squirting on my hair rubbing in then towel drying. Sorted!!!
There are also strict limits to the amount of weight that you are allowed to take on Kili, you are expected to carry your own day pack which will contain everything you need throughout the day until you get to the next camp site like water, waterproof clothes, layers and food. Then each trekker has a porter to carry their main luggage bag and this is limited to 15Kg, it seems a lot but then when air lines allow you to take 20Kg of luggage how many of you use all of this for your holidays? Then I have to have clothes suitable for tropical and arctic conditions and everything in between as well as including a sleeping bag…….
I also bought a rucksack to fit all of my luggage in, the rucksack was rated at 65+10 litres and was the biggest size rucksack that was available in the shop so I assumed that this would be more than big enough for my requirements, that was a mistake!
The sleeping bag takes up the whole of the pocket in the bottom of the rucksack (I think it may actually be designed for this (showing my massive hiking and camping experience here!)). Which leaves around two thirds of the rucksack free, by the time I add a pair of trainers and a couple of pairs of trainers along with underwear (sorry I really have to take a pair for each day!) and socks the bag is pretty much full.
I also currently have two pairs of boots that I’m not completely happy with. I got the forst pair in the Christmas sales as they seemed to do everything I wanted, however after a couple of treks there does not seem to be as much grip as I would like, my main concern is the final ascent and climbing on ice. The second pair that I bought are a pair of Merrell Moab boots, I am much happier with the grip and they are incredibly comfortable however they don’t seem to offer a lot of ankle support……
So my next shopping trip is off to purchase the biggest holdall that I can find and possibly another pair of boots! Seems like my blog is also turning in to a what not to do for you Kilimanjaro kit list!
That brings you all pretty much up to date with where I am in my planning for Kilimanjaro, there are 149 days until we leave and I still have lots of equipment to purchase.

The Sponsorship

Just to make life easy for anyone who just saw the page title and wants to sponsor us without reading any of the crap I write here is the link:-

http://www.justgiving.com/PaulandDarinaKilimanjaro

And thank you very much :-)!

We had never intended the journey up Kilimanjaro to be about raising money for charity, I was actually incredibly against it. This is going to be an incredibly difficult trek and the additional pressure of feeling that I had to complete it (and potentially killing myself enduring altitude sickness) to raise money for a charity was something that really didn’t appeal! When I had been researching doing the trip there were a few charities that would pay for you to trek Kilimanjaro if you would guarantee that you would raise a few thousand pounds in sponsorship, I really didn’t want to spend time asking people to sponsor me and then chasing people for money afterwards…….

So with all that in mind I would like to introduce you all to the latest member of our team, Louise Fowler.

Great picture isn’t it? There were plenty more complimentary ones but I decided against using any of those.

Louise works with us and is great fun, she also represents the local Multiple Sclerosis Therapy centre to help raise money for them. She asked me about getting sponsorship for the centre a while back but I really didn’t want to for all of the reasons mentioned above.

However…. While doing some more research on Kilimanjaro and trying to find out about other peoples experiences Darina found a link to this blog and sent it through to me:

http://aquavista.wordpress.com/2009/08/

We both found this blog to be a fantastic read, it is the blog of a guy called Chris who completed the trek up Kili in February this year (2010). His story gave me some great information on what I can expect on Kili and what I need to take there. If you have time I really recommend that you read it and if possible donate to his charity as well (after donating to ours first though :-)).

The part of his story when he was climbing the final part towards the summit and the motivation that he had to continue for the people that has sponsored him incredibly inspiring.

So after another talk with Louise we agreed to do the trek for charity. Since then Lou has been fantastic, we set up the Just Giving page at the top of this post and since then Lou has emailed the link out to her friends and family and is also working to get the link on the email address signature of people at work who deal with customers and suppliers as well as getting publicity from the local newspaper.

Hopefully this blog will be interesting for some people too and generate some more sponsorship and interest for our charity.

The Itinerary

So here is the final itinerary they sent us through, it is quite long and detailed for each day so I will just post it here rather than commenting.

Overview

Sat 18-Sep-10 Arusha : Moivaro Lodge
Sun 19-Sep-10 Marangu : Kilimanjaro Mountain Resort
Mon 20-Sep-10 Kilimanjaro Rongai : Moorland Bivouac
Tue 21-Sep-10 Kilimanjaro Rongai : Kikelewa Caves Bivouac
Wed 22-Sep-10 Kilimanjaro Rongai : Mawenzi Tarn Bivouac
Thu 23-Sep-10 Kilimanjaro Rongai : Kibo Bivouac
Fri 24-Sep-10 Kilimanjaro Rongai : Horombo Bivouac
Sat 25-Sep-10 Arusha : Moivaro Lodge

Sat 18-Sep-10 Day

Fly : KL571 : 11.00 to Kilimanjaro arrives 20.25hrs

Arusha : Moivaro Lodge

Sun 19-Sep-10 Day 2

Walking around the lodge : 1 to 5 hours : Moivaro is in a beautiful semi-rural setting below Mount Meru and it is possible to walk right out of the lodge to explore the farms and villages. A guide can usually be provided, for whom you should pay a fee direct to the lodge and offer a tip of perhaps $5 per person. The money raised by the lodge goes directly into the local community, which is why you will usually find the people very friendly and welcoming. If you are with a guide then you will probably be invited to visit local houses and even to try the locally brewed beer, both of which we advise against, especially the beer which can play havoc with your insides. Our favourite walk heads south over the mini volcano, along the railway tracks (beware of trains), through the rose farm and back over the stepping stones across the river. Two hours is enough time for a decent walk, but you can easily spend all day out.

Car : Moivaro Lodge to Marangu approx 2 hours

Marangu : Kilimanjaro Mountain Resort

Mon 20-Sep-10 Day 3

Kilimanjaro : Rongai route : group trek : for up to 12 climbers

Kilimanjaro National Park : "Kili" is not only the highest mountain in Africa, but it is also one of the highest "walkable" mountains in the world. As such it acts as a magnet for people around the world in search of a truly life-punctuating challenge.

The mountain is remarkable for being free-standing, rising out of an otherwise flat and dry steppe and disappearing eerily up into the clouds. And when the clouds part to permit a view of the snow-covered summit it is so utterly out of place here in equatorial Africa that one can easily understand why this mystical mountain is the inspiration for so many legends. The park itself extends over the whole mountain and down the lower slopes in all directions, almost as far as the surrounding plateau, thus protecting the forest from the encroachment of villages, which cling to the well-watered lower slopes.

Rongai Route : Approaching the mountain from a northeasterly direction, Rongai is quite a remote route, one which retains a genuine sense of wilderness.

Nale Moru Village : 1950 m
Moorland Camp : 2600 m
Ascent : 650 m
Descent : 0 m
Walking time : 3 to 4 hours

After a short walk through the attractive banana and coffee farms of Rongai village, the trail enters an attractive pine forest. This can be a beautiful walk in good weather, with plenty of interesting flora and fauna. Most notable are the black & white colobus monkeys and some excellent bird-life.
The path continues climbing steadily through the forest until gradually it emerges out of the forest and into the next climate zone, the moorland. Soon after this, around mid-afternoon you will arrive at the first campsite, where your camp should be already in position and a nice cup of tea waiting. It may well be misty at this altitude during this latter part of the day.

Kilimanjaro Rongai : Moorland Bivouac

Tue 21-Sep-10 Day 4

Moorland Camp : 2600 m
Kikelewa Caves Camp : 3600 m
Ascent : 1000 m
Descent : 0 m
Walking time : 6 to 7 hours

Early morning is normally clear at camp and as you make your way up across the moorland you should get increasingly good views of Kibo, the Eastern Icefields and to the left the jagged peak of Mawenzi, especially after the Second Rongai Cave at 3450m.

After lunch, leave the main trail and head left out towards Mawenzi. This is the start of the extra day acclimatisation trek. The campsite is in a sheltered valley near the Kikelewa Caves.

Wed 22-Sep-10 Day 5

Kikelewa Caves Camp : 3600 m
Mawenzi Tarn Camp : 4330 m
Ascent : 730 m
Descent : 0 m
Walking time : 3 to 4 hours

A short but steep climb up grassy slopes is rewarded by superb all round views and a feeling of real remoteness. Shortly afterwards the vegetation is left behind and the immensity of the mountain begins to loom.

The next camp is at the glass-like Mawenzi Tarn, spectacularly situated in a sheltered cirque directly beneath the towering spires of Mawenzi. This is good terrain for the famous giant senecios to grow into impressive specimens and the afternoon will be free to rest or explore the surrounding area as an aid to acclimatisation.

You are now at 4330m and may well be starting to feel the effects of altitude. Don't worry too much as it is a necessary part of the acclimatisation to come up a little bit too high and then descend. It is not impossible for the effects of Acute Mountain Sickness to occur even at this altitude, in which case your climb-leader will call for an immediate evacuation down the mountain. Under these circumstances, do not let any other thought of the summit cross your mind, but just get down as fast as reasonably and safely possible. AMS is quite rare on these more considered routes, but plenty of climbers experience headaches, slight dizziness, loss of appetite and irregular digestion.

Thu 23-Sep-10 Day 6

Mawenzi Tarn Camp : 4330 m
Kibo Camp : 4700 m
Ascent : 520 m
Descent : 100 m
Walking time : 4 to 5 hours

Today the trek leads directly across The Saddle between the two volcanoes of Mawenzi and the towering Kibo. As you come out from the Mawenzi massif it feels like you are walking out onto centre stage. Keep an eye out for the elusive eland, the largest antelope in the world ... horselike in proportions ... which inhabits this high altitude zone.

As you cross the alpine desert, the open landscape affords all round views and right the way through the day Kibo looms every closer up ahead. Eventually you can make out the winding summit path high above on the flanks of the mountain, wherein lies tomorrow's nightmare.

Throughout the day you should try to eat as much as possible in preparation for the summit attempt very early tomorrow morning. Keep snacking through the afternoon if you can, although your appetite will probably be diminished by now due to the altitude. You should get into camp early afternoon. The remainder of the day is spent resting in preparation for the final ascent.
Kilimanjaro Rongai : Kibo Bivouac

Fri 24-Sep-10 Day 7

Kibo Camp : 4700 m
Summit 1 : Gillmans : 5681 m
Summit 2 : Uhuru : 5896 m
Horombo Huts : 3720 m
Ascent : 1146 m
Descent : 2016 m
Walking time : 9 to 15 hours

Your climb-leader will by now have assessed your levels of fitness and will have decided how early you need to set out. You will thank yourself if that extra fitness training earns you another half an hour of sleep tonight. On his decision, you will be woken with tea some time between 12.00hrs and 01.00hrs and set out shortly afterwards.
The ascent is by torchlight and the plan is to get to Gillman's Point on the crater rim in time to watch the sun rise over the jagged peaks of Mawenzi. This is the nightmare. Five to six hours of trudging up generally well-graded zigzags, this way and that, backwards and forwards in the dark, uphill all the way. On some stretches the ground is stable, whilst in others the loose volcanic scree scrunches and slides underfoot. Head up past Williams Point (5000m) and keep going to Hans Meyer Cave (5182m). All the way your climb-leader is keeping you going - not too fast, not too slow, taking regular rest stops to drink and catch your breath.

But the air is now incredibly thin and nausea can easily set in. If at any point your climb-leader says that it is time to stop, then that is final. His decision is not to be disputed. If he counts you out, then you are out.
Anyway, after about 5 or 6 hours you should reach Gillman's Point at 5735m. Actually, after all the endless false ridges it can come as quite a surprise to some people. If you reach this point, then the park authorities will grant you a certificate.
This two hour round trip is the highlight of the climb, around the crater rim, passing close to the spectacular glaciers and ice cliffs that still occupy much of the summit area and finally on to Uhuru Peak at 5896m. It is this summit experience that climbers talk most enthusiastically about when they get off the mountain. That might seem like and obvious thing to say, but there is something strangely surreal about the summit in the early light of the day. The light plays tricks on the ice and the thin air plays tricks on your mind. Many people talk of perculiarly uplifting experience. Some people even forget to get their camera out and have to rely on Photoshop to graft their faces onto other people's pictures when they get home. Another rather surreal thing is that there is a good chance your mobile phone will work on the summit, if it doesn't freeze to death. Chances are you won't be up there for long, as with the wind-chill it could be forty below zero, strangely enough in both Celsius and Farenheit.

As if that were not enough for one day already, it is still only about 07.00hrs and now you are faced with the descent.

Coming down may not be as tough as going up, but it does present its own set of difficulties. The main problems are usually knee and toe related. Knee problems can be alleviated by proper use of two walking poles. Toe problems should be alleviated by tightening your boots up before the descent in order to prevent your feet from crushing your toes inside your boots. You can easily lose a toe-nail if your boots are too loose or too small.

The descent between Gillman's Point and Kibo is the steepest and most challenging, with some long scree slopes. If you have the confidence and energy to scree-run, then this can be quite fun. If not, then it is a long and tiring slide. Either way you will really need your walking poles on this section.

Your camp will still be at the base of this descent and if you have made good time you will have the chance of a lie down, some tea and maybe something to eat if you can manage it.
The descent from Kibo to Horombo is a long and generally gradual descent that is generally underaken in a kind of post-summit daze, the fact that you are now on the busy Marangu Trail is neither here nor there, your aesthetic appreciation having been replaced almost completely with a simple desire to get back down. Arrival in camp comes as an enormous relief.

Kilimanjaro Rongai : Horombo Bivouac

Sat 25-Sep-10 Day 8

Horombo Huts : 3720 m
Kibo Hotel : 1650 m
Ascent : 0
Descent : 1890 m
Walking time : 5 to 6 hours

By now you have probably lost all interest in your surroundings and are thinking only of a shower, a massage, a good meal, a drink and above all a comfortable bed. The descent returns back through the forest to the park gate at Marangu at 1650m. Sometimes alternative descent routes are used at the instruction of the park authorities, but they are all pretty similar.

Arusha : Moivaro Lodge