This blog is a record of a hike I made in January 2008 to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, Africa. It was a tremendous experience and I hope the details of my hike amuse, entertain, and maybe even convince a few of you to make the climb yourself!
From where did I get the idea to climb Kilimanjaro? Well, I can remember reading a non-fiction book by Michael Crichton called 'Travels' and one of the chapters was on climbing Kilimanjaro - I remember being surprised that Crichton, a non-climber, was able to get to the summit. About four or five years ago, I saw an IMAX film on climbing the mountain, and I remember thinking that it would be spectacular to see Kilimanjaro's famous glaciers before they melted.
Last summer, one of my friends, Jay Davidson, was searching for a big trip to take in 2008. Along with Jay, and another friend, James Faubel, we had traveled to both New Zealand and Costa Rica, and had really enjoyed traveling together. Jay was soon going to get married to Dewi Chee, and he was looking for a trip that the four of us could do together.
He stumbled upon a National Geographic safari to Tanzania, and soon had all of us interested. The safari would take us across the Northern part of Tanzania, taking in several national parks, among them the Serengeti, before finishing up on Zanzibar. We started making plans for the trip, and as we did, an idea started to germinate...Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania, isn't it?
I mentioned my thoughts to Jay and Dewi but they were lukewarm to the idea. However, James was very enthusiastic about climbing the mountain, so we decided to add an extra week to the two week safari, and climb the mountain first. Some internet research led us to Good Earth Tours, who would organize the hike for us, and we were ready to go.
I didn't prepare as extensively for the trip as I would have liked. I do play hockey once a week, and try to run two to three times a week, but I was working in New York at the time we took the trip, so my altitude training was limited to three weekends a month at home in Denver. James was a bit better about preparing - he did some hiking on Haleakala in Hawaii before we left and was following a more rigorous workout routine than me. His preparations were almost derailed when he broke his arm snowboarding about two weeks before the trip. Luckily, it was a minor break, and I never heard James complain about it.
I do have quite a bit of experience climbing at high altitudes in Colorado, being an enthusiastic climber of many of the state's 14ers (peaks over 14,000 feet high). I think my experience at altitude was very beneficial, at least in knowing what to expect when the oxygen got thin.
One final note - Kilimanjaro is a hike rather than a climb. You do not need any climbing gear whatsoever - no crampons, ropes, pitons or ice axes. You can also do the hike at any age, as we saw a seven year-old attempt the climb (albeit illegally) and a group who looked like they were in their late sixties. It's not to be taken lightly, but it is also so far from the horror stories you read about in books like Into Thin Air that I am embarassed to even mention it in the same breath.
As you read the blog, remember to click on any pictures that i have posted alongside the text, as they will open up into a full screen photo. Please post any comments you might have as I'd love to read your thoughts, as well as answer any questions you might have.
Read the next post: Prologue: Arrival in Tanzania
