Summiting Kilimanjaro 2022
Today we have a special blog post! Our website manager recently completed the summit of Kilimanjaro. She is here to talk about her experience and give some insight on what it takes and what needs to be considered if you have ever been interested in this kind of hiking adventure.
Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the seven summits of the world sits at nearly 6,000 metres, the highest freestanding mountain, a dormant volcano in Tanzania. Being part of the first all-female expedition, we set out to summit in August 2022 taking the 7-day Machame Route.
Training
You don’t need any technical climbing skills or to be able to run a marathon, what you do need is a relatively good amount of fitness, to be able to walk for hours multiple days in a row.
Strength work and cardio such as running is great training and it will, of course, add to your overall fitness. However, nothing beats getting out on the hills with a bag on your back emulating the trek itself the best you can. You’d be surprised what different muscles you use hiking vs running for example.
Flexibility and movement are also very important, especially in your hips, knees, and ankles. The descent will be very hard on the knees even for the youngest and fittest of us all.
For our training, we conquered the 4 peaks of Ireland. Luganqilla in Wicklow, Slieve Donard in Down, Mweelrea in Mayo, and Ireland's tallest mountain located in Kerry, Carrauntoohil. We also went out on multi-day hikes, camping in between to get as close to the mountain conditions as we could.
Breathing exercises will serve you well on the mountain, the higher you go the thinner the air. Packing your sleeping bag up in the morning can become a monumental task that sometimes leaves you out of breath.
Changing Landscape
The terrain is extremely varied, starting in the lush rainforest with monkeys and exquisite trees and flowers, moving into an Irish Burren-style terrain with tall Gorse scattered with white flowers, and leafless trees with webs that blew in the wind.
We then made our way through a desert-like dust terrain with beautiful cairns scattered along the path. Climbing up the infamous Barranco wall with big rocks and boulders you slowly made your way up and across. Good shoe grip and the ability to manoeuvre your hips and knees to step up high will serve you well.
Very slanted large rocks and loose scree-like gravel were also among the grounds we were trekking across. Your knees and ankles will be put to the test but a good set of broken-in hiking boots and a strengthening training program will help. We consulted a physio that gave us strength-building exercises, targeting the muscles around the knee and ankles and working on impact control when falling or jumping down.
Altitude
Of all the people that attempt to summit Kilimanjaro, the average success rate is about 65%. One thing that you can't train for is getting your body exposed to high altitude. Many climbers will face early symptoms of altitude sickness such as headaches, nausea, dizziness, and loss of appetite. You don’t know how your body is going to react until you get up there.
The best way to overcome altitude sickness is to acclimate your body as you’re going up the mountain. Climbing slowly, or as you will hear many times on the mountain, “Pole Pole” (po-lay, po-lay) meaning slowly slowly in Swahili.
Sleep is one of the most important things for recovery and helping your body acclimatise. Bring and do what you need to ensure you are sleeping well every night. Taking your time in the days leading up to the summit can be very manageable. You’ll want to save all your energy and mental motivation for summit night.
Summit Night
Getting to Barafu camp there was excitement and nervous anticipation in the air, we had a big meal and a briefing from our mountain leader. Getting to sleep around 6 pm for our midnight wakeup to start our summit attempt. The conditions were good, low snow, low winds, and dry.
Only being able to see a few feet in front of you with your head torch was a bit disorientating but we just had to focus on our steps and breathing and keep going. Stopping for rest was a delight, for about the first minute, until the cold started setting in, being between -15 and -20 degrees. All you wanted to do was move again to get some feeling back into your hands.
There are a few reasons why we start summiting at night; The ground is the hardest during this time, too soft when it thaws out. It adds to the experience if you summit for sunrise, which it absolutely did! The higher altitude you are, the more difficult it is to sleep, so we hike instead.
Talking with one of my porter friends, they told me that another reason is that if we could see how far we have to hike, we’d lose motivation, and they don't want us to see where we're going.
All in all, summit night and descent back to our camp was about 14 hours, the most difficult yet satisfying thing I've done in my life. It took 5 and a half days to reach the top, and it took us only 1 and a half days to descend. Going downhill and getting some speed was a welcome change at first until the knee strain came. Without hiking poles to reduce the impact on your knees it would be a very difficult descent.
The feeling of accompaniment when you reach the bottom and get to sign your name in the book along with the hiker family you did this adventure with is a memory I'll hold for life. That first shower and going out for a celebratory meal and drink to finish off the last day of hiking was a great end to an epic trip.
Want to find out more about this trip? Check out the company we did it with, would highly recommend - Earths Edge
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