Handy Hints for Kili!

If what you have read so far has inspired you to climb Kili, rather than run away from anything mountainlike, then here are a few handy hints to help you along the way. I wish I had seen a little more practical advice before I went.

Do make sure you have matching carrier bags inside your boots!

• Dry Sacks - Get one big dry sack to put inside your backpack that the porters carry. Also, put everything in your day pack inside some kind of waterproof bags, such as ziplock bags. My year old passport is now dog-eared and tatty and the book I took with me for the rest day never got dry and has actually grown mould. It is very embarrassing to be seen reading a mouldy book on the post-Kili safari!
•  Crocs - I admit that I have made some quite derogatory remarks about this footwear in the past. However, I swallowed my words on the trip and borrowed my friend's crocs a lot on the trek. They are light to carry and are waterproof. They are also quick to throw on when you need to leave the hut for a wee in the middle of the night. Plus you can still get them on your feet when you are wearing multiple pairs of socks.
• Snacks - Take a variety of savoury and sweet snacks and pack them in separate plastic bags for each day. Don't make my mistake of having the same thing each day. I don't think I will be able to face jelly tots or peanut and raisin mix for a long time. I also found the isotonic drink powders invaluable for replacing lost fluids.
• Get fit first - We were all as fit as fiddles before setting off and this paid off on the mountain. Kili is a place to use your fitness, not a place to develop it.
• Spare trainers - You may wish to give your feet a break from the hiking boots at times, especially on the afternoon descent following the summit day.
• Talcum powder and wet wipes - Essentially, these items play a large role in personal hygeine on the mountain, infact the principal role! Sprinkle talc on your feet, inside your socks and boots at every opportunity. The drier your feet, the less blisters you will get. A spot of talc in the hair also stops it from looking so gross after 6 days without a wash (although I was seldom seen without a hat).
• Thermals - at least 2 pairs of thermal trousers and 2 tops. I was pretty chilly and wished that I had a little more. Make sure you buy them in the Winter in the UK - they disappear from the shelves in summer.
• Acclimatisation day - This optimises your chances of reaching the summit. It is seriously worth the extra cash.
• Shower - Take a shower (at least 20 mins) wearing your waterproof gear and hiking boots before leaving. If anything leaks, sort it out before you leave. You may feel silly, but it's better than being cold and wet.
• Carrier bags - Pack everything inside carrier bags, according to the days you think you will need the clothes on the mountain and label it. It makes packing up and getting dressed at every camp much quicker. Bring extra carrier bags to shove your sleeping bag and thermarest in when you can't be bothered to squeeze them into the little bags. Carrier bags can also be worn inside your hiking boots to keep your feet dry.
• A positive attitude towards other climbers - I wish I could have met our own group either on the way up or down. Wish climbers luck on their way up and congratulate everyone as they descend. It makes a massive difference!

Well I am sure there are many more handy hints, but that should suffice for now. Feel free to add to the list!

The Summit

Kibo, the final base camp, lies at a dizzying 4700 metres above sea level. The air is thin and it's extremely cold. We went to bed at 6pm already dressed for the summit. I was wearing thermals, plus 3 pairs of trousers and 8 layers on top. I blame this for my decidedly chunky appearance on the summit photos, although the Swahili omelet and the daily chocolate bars for energy may also have played a small part too!
At 10pm, we had to wrench ourselves out of bed in order to prepare ourselves for the most challenging and frightening part of the climb so far. We drank a final cup of Milo (I had developed quite a habit by this point), wrapped water bottles in socks to prevent the water freezing and practised blowing water back into the camel packs. By 11pm, we were ready to head off into the cold, starry night.
Looking back now, it is all a bit of a blur and hard to believe that we climbed for a massive 7 hours before daylight. Fortunately, it was a full moon that night which allowed us to walk without using our head torches. We set off, single file, into the night and towards a distant summit, 1200 metres above us. To put that into perspective, Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK, is 1344 metres. Also, from here on, the path is entirely made up of scree, rocks and snow. The guides had said they would be very strict with us, and only allow us to break once an hour. The beginning was manageable, putting one foot in front of the other, concentrating on breathing. After the second break, the water in my camel pack was frozen solid and I was struggling to find the energy to take the bottle out of my bag. I tried eating my snacks, but this was also a massive effort and I had no appetite. I'm not sure what point the group started to separate out, but I do remember becoming totally overwhelmed at one point. We had been advised not to look up or down, but this is easier said than done. I glanced down and saw the lights of Moshi town, roughly 5000 metres below. Above, only stars and snow. My knees started to shake and I felt dizzy. I'm not the best with heights, so I told myself that it was just fear that was making me shake and nothing more serious. The guides were amazing, listening to me ranting and providing constant reassurance. When I felt to weak,  my guide Alfred took my bag and even found my snacks and water for me. I got myself together and continued to put one foot in front of the other.

Just after Gilman's Point - I couldn't bring myself to smile!

Sunrise over the mountain

Glaciers - an icy world!

This is Africa!

On the rooftop of Africa!

I have no idea of the timescale of events throughout the evening, but as the first summit, Gilman's Point loomed into view I was close to two of my colleagues. They were equally tired and shaky, but sheer willpower forced us all through. We clambered over the boulders and got there in the end. At Gilman's Point, I heard a guide saying 'you have to go down'. I thought it was all over for me, but he was actually talking to one of the students. He insisted that I would get to the summit. The mental struggle far outweighs the physical and I pushed myself on, but had slowed down significantly by this point, temporarily losing sight of my friends. The sun started to rise as I passed the glaciers and walked along the ridge towards the summit. My emotions were all over the place, I cried a lot and nearly gave up a hundred times. When I thought I was still an hour away from the Uhuru Summit I passed a friend who was on her way back. The news that I was only ten minutes away turned everything around. A few minutes later I was at the summit! I bloody-well did it!!
The summit should be some sort of amazing, earth shattering experience. The views were out of this world and the sense of achievement was incredible. This is real life though and not everything was so ethereal. Still light-headed and emotional, I was now also desperate for a wee! Not only was I desperate, but I managed to announce this fact very loudly on the video my friend was filming for the school assembly. I had envisioned taking hundreds of photos, but I was so cold and tired that I could just about point the camera somewhere into space and press the button. I didn't give a dam that half the images were blurry from my hand shaking from the cold either!
Now coming down the mountain was another story. Descending has never been my strong point! First, I tried tobogganing down, as I was wearing ski-trousers, it wouldn't be a problem. This worked well until I smashed my wrist against a boulder when I picked up a little too much velocity! Then I tried going down very gingerly, which resulted in my already sore wrists getting even more sore. My third tactic was just going for it and trying to race down the scree - it was slightly more effective, but I did fall on my bum an awful lot. Three quarters of the way down, a rescue committee had come out to help me and an equally doddery friend. They ripped off about 3 layers of our clothing, as the sun was now hot. They brought us lemon squash and frog-marched us down to the camp at break-neck speed.

Eleven out of sixteen of our team made it to the Uhuru Summit. A couple more also made it to Gilman's Point. I think it is important to mention that making it to the final summit or not should not be a case of success or failure. Nobody knows what can happen to their body at that altitude and the most important thing is to take care of your health. A couple of the kids were ready to collapse from sheer exhaustion and I think it was actually quite brave of them to turn around and say they would go back, rather than stubbornly carrying on and putting themselves in danger. Everyone of us got up into the middle of the night and bravely started the long walk ahead. The real achievement is in the mental and physical strength it took us all to keep putting one foot in front of another day after day. I could not have asked for a more supportive or strong team and the kids' energy pushed us all through.

We took the Marangu or Coca-cola  route and used Kilitreks & Safaris. I highly recommend them! Unfortunately, our highly inspirational, cheer-leading students can not be hired as they are all too busy studying for their iGCSEs or IB diplomas to have time to climb Kili again

The Big Climb

After months of preparation, the big climb finally arrived. I had read many blogs that had scared me half to death, with tales of acute mountain sickness and crippling blisters. I had planned to keep a journal as I went, but the torrential downpour on the first day soaked everything inside my bag, so that put paid to that idea.

Kili in the clouds

Day One

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Just as we arrived at the entrance to the National Park, the heavens opened. We all dug in our backpacks and found our crisp new waterproofs and got ready for the long walk ahead. The  pouring rain may not have dampened our spirits, but a fair few of the people descending the mountain tried their best. Our cheerful group clapped and cheered everyone who had attempted the climb, greeting the porters and guides with 'Mambo poa, mambo vipi' (Swahili for 'how's it going?). In return, we heard tales of snow up to the armpits at the summit and temperatures plummeting to minus twenty-two. I started to wish that I had hired extra thermals but it was too late at that point.
The rain actually worked in our favour, meaning that the temperature was much more temperate for climbing. The first day takes you through tropical rain forest and up to an altitude of 2700m - similar to that of Bogota, where I lived a few years ago. It was much colder than I remembered though - or perhaps I have just gone a bit soft after living in Kampala for such a long time.


Day Two

Day Two took us from the tropical rain forest into a more alpine like environment. I believe we are possibly the most cheerful group ever to climb Kili, with the students almost singing and dancing their way up the path. The incline was still gentle and the path was wide and well maintained. The sunshine lasted until about 11am ... then it did not just rain, but hailed. By the time we reached the pic-nic site for lunch I was shivering and soaked to the skin. The mud was intense, people were slipping all over the place and my boots were starting to leak a little. It was, to all intents and purposes, miserable. The soup at lunch time did little to warm me up when we were sitting around in howling winds and icy cold rain.When we set off again, I caved in and started listening to my i-pod, even though I had been planning to save it for the summit day. I needed something to cheer me up.

Serious mud!

Just before the second massive downpour 

 

Day Two was one of the most challenging in many ways. It was not so much the long walk, as some of the things we saw along the way. We had all trained sufficiently well, so nobody was having any difficulties in that respect. The first disturbing sight was of somebody being carried down the mountain on a stretcher. The whole body and face was covered in a sleeping bag and one of those tin-foil recovery blankets. We heard two stories about this person - one was that it was a climber who had ascended too quickly and was suffering from Acute Altitude Sickness and another that it was a porter who had met a much worse fate. I'm not sure which story is true, but a shiver ran through my whole body as I saw this person. It was a sharp wake-up call that what we were about to embark on could be very dangerous. The second upsetting thing was just before we arrived at the second base camp. One of the porters (from a different company) had not been wearing waterproofs and was saturated, shivering and shaking. Apparently he had hardly eaten that day either. We gave him some snacks and rehydration salts and our guides helped him carry the bag the remaining few hundred metres to the camp. The porters have a very physically demanding job and I started to feel like a bit of a princess for making another person carry my stuff up the mountain. We later found out that the porters are not permanent employees of the companies, but casual hire. They wait around at the bottom of the mountain and wait for groups to arrive and their pay is essentially the tips the group leave behind. As they are paid on a daily basis, many of them risk their health by taking only one or two days of rest, before starting on another trek up the mountain. It is now 4 days since I finished the climb and the most exercise I have done since then is a few laps of the pool, meanwhile, some of our porters could be half-way up to the summit again. We had made a bit of a faux-pas, by agreeing on a much lower tip than what we should have paid. Our understanding was that a tip is a little extra something that you give to somebody to say thank you for a particularly good service. When we discovered that our team of 16 climbers required 34 porters, 3 guides, 3 cooks and 2 waiters and that some of those people were relying on our tips to pay their wages, we made a quick dash to the ATM (in Moshi - I am not claiming that there is a cash point on the mountainside) and made amends. If you do decide to climb Kili, find out how the porters and paid in advance and ask the company exactly how much is required. These people are not protected by employment laws and have a very hard life.

Day Three

Day Three was a very well needed rest day. The idea is to acclimatise your body to the altitude (in this case 3700 metre above sea level) and to walk to a higher altitude - real mountaineers talk out 'climb high, sleep low'. It was also a good opportunity for us to dry out our clothes, as we were all starting to worry about not having enough dry clothes for the summit day.
The morning was lazily spent drinking endless cups of Milo, playing cards and snuggling up and snoozing in our sleeping bags.
Now I would like to mention some of the food we sampled on the trip. Being from the North of England, a region famous for healthy dishes such as deep fried Mars bars and Wigan Kebabs (that's a pie wrapped in thickly buttered white bread if you're unfamiliar with this term) it is very difficult to criticise food. Nor would I like to be responsible for catering for 16 whilst half-way up a mountain, with no power supply or running water. However, even I was unprepared for the surprise that a Swahili omelet is chips in an omelet - I kid you not. I was a little dubious about the nutritional value of this meal, but I was reassured that it contained all the essentials for mountaineering - carbs in the potatoes, protein in the eggs and a generous portion of fat in the greasy oil it was fried in!

Drying day!

Mmmmmm ???

Zebra Rocks

Before my body could digest the Swahili Omelet, we set off on our afternoon walk to Zebra Rocks. By this time, the weather had turned in our favour and we had the benefit of the walk and staying dry.

Day 4

Rested and dry, we started our journey towards the final base camp. From this point, we had a clear view of the summit. Inspiring and terrifying at the same time - inspiring because we knew what we were aiming for and terrifying because we had no idea how much snow was there and the path up looked mighty steep.

We're heading right to the top!

Layered up - the air's getting a bit think here!

At least it's pink!!

It wasn't long before the vegetation changed again and we entered an arid zone of tundra. The lack of plants was bad news for us, as it meant that we could no longer pee behind a tree, but would have to face the stinky latrine loos or pee in the wide-open space for all to see. We mostly opted for the second option - personal pride a having gone a long time ago! None of the women truly embraced the she-wee - a little contraption that lets you wee like a man, standing up. It's a shame really - it could have been very entertaining!



This was the section of the walk where we really had to start walking 'pole pole' or 'slowly slowly'. Many a Kili climber has been submitted to altitude sickness from racing ahead. As we got higher, going slowly became less of a problem as the air really started to thin out. None of us could really believe that the final 1.5kms could take us around an hour and a half, but it did. We kept plodding on, and the huts didn't seem to get any closer. I began to think they were a moving target.

Eventually, we got there, had another cup of Milo, dinner and a very early night before the summit ... and that deserves a post of its own!

Letters of Motivation

I have many tales to tell from the Kili trip, but will start with something that helped us all along the way. Each morning, we opened letters from friends, family and students with motivational messages. It was great to know that people believed in us and were thinking of us while we were away.

The funniest letter came from a student I taught last year, which reminded us that the mountain was very, very high and that she did not think we were that fit! Luckily we read it at the beginning and were able to laugh it off. My absolute favourite letter came from a boy in my class, who was very envious of the trip and said:
Please take care of my teacher and don't let her get lost in the snow desert!
Very cute indeed!

And now for something completely different!

I found this Monty Python Kilimanjaro sketch this morning when I was looking for clips of Kili to show to the kids. It was quite a welcome distraction after watching people huff and puff their way to the summit.

This was the first time I have really talked to the kids about climbing Kili and after sharing a few You Tube clips, they are quite impressed and bewildered by the thought of the whole trek. One boy thinks we are lucky to have the opportunity to play in the snow and asked me to bring some back! I hope it was a joke - otherwise I have been wasting my time teaching States of Matter for the past 4 weeks. However, my favourite comment was:

'Miss, if you slip and fall off the mountain and die, who will be our teacher?'

I am so glad they appreciate me!

Positive Thinking

Today is a public holiday in Uganda and, as always, a trip out of the city lifted my spirits. Team Kili headed out to Mabira Forest for a long practise walk. Very specific instructions were given to the guide before we set off - we all plan to climb Kili and we need at least a 4 hour walk and no, we do not want to be told about the medicinal values of this plant and the Latin name of that tree, thank you very much! We got what we asked for - walking 9km through the villages and another 9km back through the forest. We filled the time by discussing important matters, such as whether we should dress as pirates or fairies on summit day (this from the teenagers!) and whether we should make a group playlist to motivate us to get to the top, or have a silent disco instead. And there was me, worrying about totally nonsensical things, like the fact that I don't have any thermals ...

Positively marching through Mabira!

I read somewhere, that it is a good idea to visualise success. Here are a few positive thoughts I have had:

1.  We live in the tropics already - the first day of the trek takes you through a tropical forest. Having trained in the middle of the day here, we should not have any surprises!
2. We live at an altitude higher than the starting point of Kili, in fact training in Kampala is similar to taking a run on the peak of Snowdon
3. We all have strong stomachs and immune systems from living here, so should not be so easily struck down by the usual travellers' tummies

Onwards and upwards!

Booted up and ready to go!

This year I am challenging myself to climb the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro. At the moment, even looking at the statistics is quite daunting. The hike will take five days, plus one day of rest before we head off to the summit, which stands at a towering 5, 895 metres above sea level or 19, 341 feet in old money. The start of the hike though tropical forest will be hot and steamy, then as we ascend through moorland, then up to a sparse alpine desert the temperature will drop considerably, down as low as minus ten degrees at night. In total, we will notch up around 80kms up and downhill. What's more, there is no backing out now, as our head teacher dragged all of us ambitious mountaineers-to-be up in assembly in front of the whole school and told the children what the climb entails. Whenever there was a quiet moment in class on Friday, one of the kids would say '3,895 metres, Miss!'.

This familiar hill has been biked, run and now hiked!

Over the next five weeks or so I will be trying to build up my fitness and stamina levels so I am ready to walk for about eight hours a day. To be honest, that is the least of my worries, as I know I can train and prepare my body for the physical onslaught. What is more worrying is the fact that I could get altitude sickness and the whole trip could be in vain. Altitude sickness is unpredictable. It doesn't matter how old you are, how fit you are or whether you have had it before. The only cure is to drop down to a lower altitude and let your body recover. And then there's the cold. These days I reach for a cardie on chilly Kampala days of around 22 degrees so I wonder how I am going to deal with negative temperatures.

View of The Baha'i Temple - the only one on the African continent!

I started my training this week. I am trying to do something each day, keeping my usual bike rides, swims and runs, but also adding in some long walks. We are quite fortunate that we live on the edge of the city, so we can just step out the the house and access hills and country roads to practise walking. I need to break my boots in, but am still not sure that I will follow my colleague's advice of wearing my hiking boots to school every day until we go. Putting on the fleecy hiking socks in these tropical temperatures is pure torture, plus I wouldn't like to be mistaken for one of the God squad who all seem to wear hiking clothes when in the city. I will never understand why converting people to religion should require multi-pocketed clothes and bum bags - perhaps they keep their Bibles in the pockets! The other day, my training buddy and I thought it would be a great idea to grab a bite to eat straight after our walk. Big mistake! The restaurant was jam packed and there was some sort of formal function involving women wearing satin dresses and high heels. I was mortified when I went to the bathroom to wash off the orange dust as I was surrounded by glamorous ladies preening their hair and applying make-up!

In order to make today's walk extra difficult I decided to drink more than a couple of glasses of wine at a party last night. This may sound a little unconventional, but listen to this. I needed an iron will to make myself even set off on the 18km walk today and it took sheer determination not to jump on a boda half way through. I felt weary, but I pushed myself through and got there in the end. I imagine I will experience similar levels of exhaustion and muscle aches on the actual trip. It makes perfect sense ... but I plan on using this tactic only once!

So to sum up the training so far -2 bike rides, 1 run and 2 walks, clocking up around 30km. Not bad!

Banana break to refuel!

Looks like we weren't the only ones taking some exercise on a Sunday!