Packing For Kilimanjaro

I was kind of hoping to get the packing for the Kilimanjaro trip today but the amount of gear to pack meant that I needed to get a bigger bag because my existing duffle bag just couldn't fit everything in! The fact that we'll be on the trail for 7 days, moving from tropical climate to that of artic, means that I have a lot to pack.

Here's a snap shot of what I'm packing:
1. 6 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of liners
2. Gloves (2 pairs of liners, 1 pair of fleece and 1 pair of windproof)
3. Balaclava
4. Polar Buff
5. Buff
6. 3 sets of base layers
7. Down jacket
8. Fleece jacket and pants
9. Outer shell jacket and pants
10. Backpack (45 litres)
11. 1 pair of trekking poles
12. 1 long sleeve and 1 short sleeved drifit tees
13. Brimmed hat
14. Sunglasses (protection from the glacier glare makes it necessary protection)
15. 1 3litre Camelbak drinking bladder
16. 1 1litre Nalgene bottle with insulating parka
17. 1 1litre thermos 
18. 1 sleeping bag (it's rated -19 degrees, so you can imagine how big it is) and 1 sleeping pad
19. 1 headlamp
Plus toiletries and trail food.

What's trail food? Well, it's snacks that can be eaten while walking to give us energy (we'll be burning calories like mad), such as nuts, dried fruits (I love raisins, I've been trying small boxes of those during training and it keeps me going for half a day), muesli bars, etc. Apart from nutrition, food can also be a source of comfort when you're on your feet for an average of 7 hours a day (it's 15 hours on the last day), battling the weather and also the thin air. For me, I've gone for the perennial favourite for many of us: bak kwa or Chinese jerky. Ordinarily, I'd avoid it because of its sweetness and saltiness, but the calorie rich slices keeps us going both physically and mentally. 

Here's a snapshot of some of my packing for the expedition alone. Packing for the post-trip programs is easy enough because you can afford to get away with stuff you might forget.

Goodbye Encyclopedia Britannica

Picture from britannica.com.au

The digital age has claimed another victim. First, it was the closure of several big bookshops in Singapore (Borders being one of them), now, it's the venerable Encyclopedia Britannica. After almost 250 years of publication, Britannica has announced that it will cease producing the print edition. 

Does anyone remember the beautifully bound repository of knowledge and information? In the old days, whenever you needed a definitive answer on any subject, you'd say "I'll look it up in the Encyclopedia!". And when you call someone a "walking Encyclopedia", it means that that person is full of knowledge. These days, it's "I'll Wiki it!". And yes, where do you think the "-pedia" in "Wikipedia" comes from? While the content of Wikipedia is contributed by anybody, Encyclopedia's content is maintained and updated by 100 full-time editors and more than 4,400 expert contributors.

While I was reading the newspapers about the demise of the print edition, I was shocked to read that the entire set of Encyclopedia sells for a princely sum of USD1400! That made me appreciate my dad for making the purchase of a set 30 years ago, and I'm sure that it must've cost him a small fortune. Considering that my dad has always been a very thrifty person, it shows how much he values knowledge, sparing no expense in ensuring that we're well read. He even bought me the children's edition, which was also beautifully bound. I remembered spending hours poring over the pages, fascinated by the facts that I never knew, about faraway places and facts from a time so long ago. 

It is with a tinge of sadness, seeing the passing of another era, a memory of my childhood going down the path of the dodo. I must confess that I've been reading magazines digitally ever since I got my iPad, because it's convenient and it also saves space (the clutter caused by the piles and piles of magazine is a nightmare). Wikipedia is also a large part of my life right now, being so convenient especially with smart phones nowadays, as compared to running to the book shelves to get them. Such is life nowadays, the convenience of having the information at your fingertips, and instantly. However, so many of the stuff from my growing up years, are now nothing more than fond memories, and as my memory deteriorates, these memories get hazier and more confused. The Encyclopedia Britannica wasn't just a set of knowledge, it was one of the greatest gifts my father gave me.

Pre-Kilimanjaro jitters

Well, it started off as "4 months to go before the big trip", and in a blink of an eye, it's exactly a week before I'm due to fly off to Tanzania to scale Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro. It's a school trip, meaning I'll be bringing along 16 students, together with my colleague. 

I've heard about Mt Kilimanjaro since my older colleagues in the Physical Education department from eons ago climbed it way back in 1995. It seemed like a magical mysterious place so faraway, a place that I could only dream of. Suddenly, I'm a week away from starting my own summit attempt. To be brutally honest, I'd be lying if I said I'm not worried or anxious about it. 

My summit on Mt Kinabalu (Sabah) in October 2011 was an eye-opener for me. Everyone I know told me that summitting would be a non-conclusion, that even old folks and kids could make it to the top. My experience couldn't have been further from that. It was storming heavily by the time we were near the top, and due to the exposure, a large group of students had to turn back. Even at the altitude of 4095m, the lower oxygen level made breathing very laboured. My group made it and even then, I strongly felt that they could've been better kitted. Seeing a Malaysian staff of IBM on their company trip shivering uncontrollably and on the verge of hypothermia (he was dressed in a pair of track pants, long sleeved cotton tee, and sheltered by a poncho the thinness of a supermarket plastic bag), was the epitome of how lightly so many people viewed the task. Although you don't have to be massively fit to summit it (You do have to be of reasonably fit and strong in order to enjoy the trip. Think of it as a day-long workout on the stairclimber), the other important factor is having the correct gear. Mountain weather is TOTALLY unpredictable, and you'd be an idiot to complain that you don't want to carry all that exposure protection for nothing if the weather was fine. Trust me, if the rain drives down and the windchill kicks in, you'd be thankful. Oh, and travelling with a guide/travel company with TECHNICAL EXPERTISE is so important as well. 

Mt Kilimanjaro is a 5895m tall mountain with 3 volcano cones, with the temperature up at the top being minus 15-20 degrees celsius. Talk about the odds being stacked against a bunch of sea level dwelling folks from the tropical island nation of Singapore, where the highest point is only 163m high. Heck, the starting point of our trek in Tanzania is already 1830m high. Thankfully, the school had kindly bought its own supply of necessary exposure protection equipment such as down jacket, fleeces, etc, and we'll be travelling with an expert guide. We've been training a lot since the team got assembled, and training has been ramped up in the weeks leading up to the departure, comprising of stair climbing and long treks of 8-9 hours, just to get us used to being on our feet for long hours. BUT, all the training was done at sea level where the percentage of oxygen in the ambient air is 21%, but the percentage drops to as much as 50% at the summit.

So, do I think I'm ready? Apart from missing the creature comforts and the company of my best friend/wife, I must say that the prospect of being hit by altitude sickness and also the biting cold is what probably scares me the most. And of course, the crazy 12-15 hours of trekking on the summit day, where we would spend up to 7 hours making the summit attempt, then another up to 8 hours trekking all the way back down to the base camp at 3100m. And of course, it's the uncertainty of whether my body is gonna be able to hold up the rigours of working hard for 7-8 hours each day, for 7 days back to back. The one thing I know I can rely on is my mind, which has gotten me through a lot of physically challenging tasks. Well, here's hoping that my next post will be a successful trip report! 

In the meantime, here are some nice illustrated maps of Kilimanjaro, taken from http://kilimanjaro.malinikaushik.com:

Click on the picture to see the larger version!

The maps shows nicely our journey for the 7 days

The amazing spread of vegetation reflecting the different climates on the mountain