Climbing Kilimanjaro IV

The route:

There are eight different routes up the mountain radiating along the southern approach from east to west, only two approach from the north. We chose the Marangu Route, which approaches the mountain from the south east, and is the most popular route and thus nicknamed the Coca Cola route and deemed “easy” and “not strenuous” and “the least attractive route” by those who have not attempted the climb on this route. The hotel owners assured us that there is nothing second class about the route and certainly nothing easy about it. They say that they are upset by the negative image given to this route by the guide books and say that the bad reputation was started by guides working on the western routes, as more annoying paperwork is required on the Marangu route, so they want to begin the climb on the western side.

Pammie waiting for the others to complete check in procedures at the Park entrance.

Certainly several people at work and a few members of the South African hiking club gave me a hard time for attempting Kilimanjaro on the Coca Cola route. This was before I knew the differences in the routes, so my answer to them was, why should one attempt to spend more time and effort on a mountain than necessary? The other routes require more days and are not hut based, therefore more gear is required, and more porters, and thus the trip costs more money, additionally, an extra day at altitude might equate into an extra day’s headache. Why make my life difficult? There is $700 at stake here, I don’t want to throw it away! If I want to go on a hike to look at flowers and catch butterflies, I shall do it at a lower altitude and at less cost, and without a headache!

Dr Hennie, Johann, Brett, Pammie, Suzette, and Tracy in their jammies collecting filtered water at Mandara Hut, Day 1.

My clothes & gear:

Lightweight supposedly waterproof Hi-Tec hiking shoes (never put to the water test), several pairs of thick socks, several pairs of thin socks. Four pairs long johns pants, four pairs long johns shirts, one pair shorts (worn the first two days, on the third day I wore long johns because my legs were getting sunburned, but would have preferred the shorts). Two pairs polar-plus pants (one pair never worn), one pair polar plus tights with atomic strength waistband. One jersey, one t-shirt, one regular weight woolen sweater, one polar plus jacket, one gortex shelled polar plus jacket, Gortex pants, Gortex outer shell, one down jacket never used. Thin pair of gloves, heavy outer gloves (these were thrown in at the last minute and I was very glad to have them), polar plus beanie, woolen beanie. Own sleeping bag, silk inner liner sheet, pillow case.

Pammie's pack on the top bunk at Mandara Hut, Day 1

If it sounds like a lot, it did to me too. I asked the lady who checked my stuff and she said, better too much stuff than not enough. This is also my general philosophy in life although this attitude is changing now that I am paying for my own house moving costs. I also wonder whether my porter agrees with this policy...

Pammie holding staff outside Mandara Hut, morning of Day 2, with Dr Hennie, Luiz, Brett, Dave, and Andrew.

Sunglasses, reluctantly borrowed sunscreen, borrowed wooden staff (I fanatically despise carrying things in my hands and resisted the dreaded staff but my friend Sandy persuaded me to try it. I used a wooden staff with metal tip provided by the hotel and it was indispensable and one of my best friends on the mountain, although it did make my right hand get sunburnt and cold (normally I just keep my hands up in my jacket sleeves and never wear gloves). At our orientation meeting we were advised to select a staff that came up to the middle of our chest, the better to rest on it on summit day, and it came in very handy for this.

Porters outside Horombo Hut, the morning of Day 2

I wore a regular book bag sized backpack for water, warm weather gear, rain gear (luckily it never rained on us, but I used the gortex on the summit day for extra warmth and to keep out the wind, but we were lucky and it was always clear and never windy), snacks, digital camera (I took very few photographs, but the others took brilliant ones. Two 500 ml Nalgene water bottles, one 1 litre Nalgene water bottle. I had troubles with my water freezing on the summit attempt, the others carried canteens inside their jackets which kept them warmer, but ultimately we found that drinking water made us nauseous on the summit attempt and so it wasn’t a problem. Not a slip of paper extra beyond what was required in my daypack. Headlamp for nighttime summit attempt.

Dr Hennie laughing at Johann taking a photo of my unusual walking gear: long johns to keep the sun from burning my legs, but with the label showing. According to popular opinion the long johns were inside out. I think they were right.

Tea towel for face and hand washing, small slivers of soap, small toothpaste, toothbrush, contacts, contact lens solution, Diamox, Ibuprofen, malaria prophylactic tablets, malaria treatment medication, bandaids, mirror, spare batteries, map. Snacks included chocolate bars (never ate), instant soup, hot chocolate with marshmallows, rice krispies marshmallow cookies, red hot tamales (never ate and now they are all welded together), macadamia brittle, cashew nougat, Berocca fizzy vitamin tablets for drinking water, never used, 1 litre thermos for soup, never used, since they provided us with soup at dinner anyway and I was afraid of carrying the extra weight. My porter Richard carried nearly all my snacks up and down the mountain again, including the thermos. I gave him one chocolate bar (he wouldn’t know what white chocolate is, right?), and ate only the marshmallow cookies and the macadamia brittle for snacks.

Porters carrying our gear past our first view of the summit of Kibo. There are two volcanoes within Kilimanjaro: Kibo, which is higher, and Mawenzi, which is harder to climb.