Sunset at Uhuru Peak! The story of an unusual 6-day Lemosho itinerary.
This is my first post on Reddit and it is about time I gave back to this community which really helped me prepare for the Kilimanjaro hike.
There is so much to say and share. Some of it may be useful. Some of it may sound vain. Some of it may sound redundant. But if some of it can positively influence a future climber that would be satisfying.
A bit of a background - 39, not unfit but definitely not fit, Kilimanjaro was my first multi-day hike, and definitely the first anywhere over 1500m (day hikes in Patagonia and German Alps).
Diving deeper into the trek, will talk about the route, the training, the experience, and a couple of things that I would have maybe done differently if I could have.
The route:
As with most beginners, I picked the Lemosho route. Initially chose the 7 day version (forest camp, Shira 1, Moor Hut, Barranco, Barafu, Barafu-Summit-Mweka Camp, Mweka Gate). One week before flying, changed it to 8 days and introduced a stop at Karanga between Barranco and Barafu so that I didn’t have to do a 7-8 hour trekking day and then start again later that night for the summit. The itinerary I finally finished with was quite different and I will get to it in the experience part.
The training:
Sitting at almost 0m altitude and latitude in Singapore, there really wasn’t much exposure or opportunity to mimic the settings I was to enter. For 4-6 weeks prior to the hike, I did weighted backpack stair climbing (75-100 stories, twice a week), some running (5k/10k), and other largely cardio training. Honestly, spent as much time figuring out the things to buy and shopping for them as I did with the training. I also got medical tests done to make sure I was good to go and also secured the most variety of medicines I have ever carried anywhere or even had at home at any point. This included Diamox which I took post extensive consultations with doctors given some personal medical complications. There was no way to A/B test if the Diamox was required but I would put the fact that I went through the trek without any AMS down in some part at least to Diamox.
The experience:
Did I say, I changed to an 8-day itinerary? Yes. Only to then actually finish in 6 days thanks to what was in retrospect the most sensible itinerary possible. This was partly influenced by the fact that two groups with just one hiker in them joined together. The other person was on a 7 day itinerary and I was on 8 and on Day 2 the difference in itineraries showed up when we ended at Shira 2 instead of Shira 1 (17 km walk vs 7 km). This worked in my favor since Shira 1 to 2 is largely flat and covering that much ground in one day felt good.
Where things really changed was on Day 5. It was supposed to be a light day (3 hours - Karanga to Barafu) followed by a midnight start to the summit.
As we got close to Barafu, the guides asked us if we would want to start the summit soon after we reached Barafu instead. That would mean a day time ascent and night time descent. As someone who had been dreading the final ascent coming in cold, dark, and windy conditions I lapped it up. My co-hiker was also a sport and agreed to the change but wanted to ensure we caught the sunset. And so began the longest day of my life.
We got to Barafu at around 11.15 and were tasked with leaving by noon. This meant that we didn’t have time for lunch and instead we were given a snack pack loaded with sugary things. What also happened was miscommunication or a lack of clear communication which meant that I was given the impression that a summit porter will start a bit later and bring lunch with him. This was a big mistake. As we kept climbing, I realized that there was no more food coming. This meant that in a not too delicious twist (pun intended), I had started the summit climb on an almost empty stomach. The next few hours were great and included the most physically and mentally demanding 3-4 hours of my life. We reached Uhuru at just a little after 6, perfectly in time for the sunset. And the best part, we had the whole peak to just the 5 of us (2 climbers and 3 crew members). It was all surreal and then reality hit 30 min into the descent. A combination of low oxygen fatigue and lack of fuel in the body started to weigh me down. First with one crew member supporting my descent and then two members doing the same. This also meant that the descent was as fast as I could have imagined and completed in 3 hours. After some dinner it was fairly light sleep thanks to over exhaustion and lingering excitement from the summit.
All this meant we did the final descent (17 km) from Barafu to Mweka gate on Day 6 thus finishing the trek a whole two days ahead of the initial plan. This was Hakuna Matata in action. :)
I cannot end this section without a word for the army of porters and guides who make this ascent possible for 1000s of people like me. They are marvelous people with an attitude towards life that oozes through the way they support the climbers through the tough moments whilst simultaneously making us wonder if they are made of something other than muscles and bones to be able to so easily traverse the mountains.
Things I would have done differently:
Researched more to understand the different routes, especially across different operators. I am obviously biased by my experience, but I felt that this 6 day itinerary should be far more popular and become a staple offering!
Sunglasses : I wear prescription glasses and have never worn contacts. I wish o had so I could have picked a proper Cat 4 sunglasses for the trek. I used a Decathlon OTG Cat 3. While it largely did its job, there was some discomfort especially if I had to wear any tight caps to protect from the cold. It was also didn’t let me fully look up at the sky when we got close to the summit because of the brightness.
Add a safari: Not really since there was no way I was doing a safari alone without my family. But a safari at the end of the hike feels like the best way to top up the experience and make the most of the long trip over to Tanzania.
This post obviously turned out to be way longer than I had intended. If you are still here, thanks for reading along! And do post any questions you may have or share your experiences, even if contradictory.