Anyone climbed kilimanjaro?

its something i want to look at doing next year. started training already.

so any tips, pics, vids from being making it.

any experiences to share and especially equipment tips

many thanks

nick

The crane brothers did it on Saracen mountain bikes in the 80,s, before saracen went bust, and some bloke who plays records on the radio, went up there and sadly came back down, ……………………………to play more records on the radio.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bicycles-Up-Kilimanjaro-Richard-Crane/dp/0946609276

ive been up it.
its very hard as you get near the summit as you feel sick and get headaches with the altitude.
The guides will make you go very slowly.
Also i did it in five days from the Kenya side (I think) and that is so much more interesting than going up the “coca-cola” route favoured by japanese tourists.
Id recommend you get silver nitrate tablets ( I think thats what they are called) for water purification.
Also a very good down jacket and thick sleeping mat and very good sleeping bag.
One of the best things I took was some bags with crystals you can piss in (the crystals turn to gel) as it gets really cold on a night, you wont want to get out your tent and the toilets are gopping.

Climbed it in 2009 on the Rongai route, from the scarier side so you get a nice armed guard accompanying you. I didnt know this, so on the night the loo tent blew away god only knows what he saw!

A buff was essential, it was like a dust bowl on the crossing the plateau to the final camp. Waterproof troos for the same reason, keeping the dust out. Never saw any rain while we were there, there was still snow at the summit.

As above it was fine up until summit night, that was pretty tough going but made it! Out of 10 only 5 made the top.

It’s a slow walk really to help you acclimatise, the guides should make you walk above your camp, walk high sleep low. Good sleeping bag a must and a good down jacket, mine were both alpkit. And nothing surer than you will have just settled into your tent,bag sleeping kit combo when you will need the loo, so i wish id had those crystal bags!

Best of luck.

Here are my pics.

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjn79ya8

The Cranes are cousins I think .They didthat fot the charity intermediate technology.They also did journey to the centre of the earth ,the point furthest from the sea whivh is in the Gobi desert.They did that one on 753 Raleigh road bikes and carried very little.

Climbed it last summer, think it was called the Machame route (4 1/2 days up 1 1/2 days down). Getting major depression this summer thinking back to how good it was.
It was easy on days 1/2, day 3 we went up to 4,600m, down to 4000m, the combination of sun stroke and height gain from 3,600m to 4,600m in an afternoon was a bi*ch. Day 4 was OK. Summit night was GRIM. Woke at 1am after 4 hours sleep, trekked for 8 hours to the top just after sun rise, was AMAZING, one of my best memories ever, then down for 5 hours and kip.
The whole thing was so good, we all said next time we’d take ribena (water was boring and gives you a little bit more sugar) and about 50 mars bars, yes seriously 50.
I brought out some Percy pigs halfway up on summit night and the mood lifted for me and my mates but it was a trudge.
It’s so worth it, a really amazing experience, and 37/37 of us made it up.
Pole Pole was the phrase of the week, ‘slowly, slowly’. There’s no rush, drink absolutely loads of water, eat as much as you can force down even when not hungry, oh and go to Zanzibar afterwards for R & R ;).
Take lots of layers, lots of suncream, we didn’t purify water at all and were fine (above 3000m there’s not much wildlife to pollute the water anyway), a decent sleeping bag, and a couple of good mates, winning formula :)

Drove a vauxhall frontera up once.

Did it a few years ago (just checked, it was 1991! where did all those years go!). Hard work, early start (about 2:30) on the last day. The main problem is lack of time to get used to the altitude. It’s not like Nepal where you can walk in slowly with a few 1000ft gains a day. Kilimanjaro is straight up.If you can, find out how you respond to altitude, but do it, it’s well worth it.
Did Mt Kenya (at least the non climbing bit)during the same holiday which was also good.

Almost forgot walking poles are a real help

Especially on the way down, if you like scree running you can get from the summit ridge back to base camp in no time. (straight down)
that made the guides laugh – they thought i was nuts

From Nepal experience I would strongly recommend Diamox to counter altitude effects. People say the altitude is more of a problem on Kilimanjaro as tour companies take you up too quickly, but if you go independently I don’t see why you can’t take more time to acclimatise

The Cranes are cousins I think .They didthat fot the charity intermediate technology.They also did journey to the centre of the earth ,the point furthest from the sea whivh is in the Gobi desert.They did that one on 753 Raleigh road bikes and carried very little

A pdf of the book that they wrote about the journey to the gobi desert is available here

People say the altitude is more of a problem on Kilimanjaro as tour companies take you up too quickly

My sister and Brother-in-law almost made it. Sadly the mandatory doctor in the party died of cerebral oedema, and they were evacuated off the mountain.

It seems all the rage this Kilimanjaro . . .