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:
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| Click on the picture to see the larger version! |
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| The maps shows nicely our journey for the 7 days |
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| The amazing spread of vegetation reflecting the different climates on the mountain |
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