Before hiking Kilimanjaro, I had never hiked for more than an hour. In fact, I didn’t actually like hiking at all. My 70 year old dad is an avid hiker and he invited me to hike Kilimanjaro with him.
Preparation
I started preparing about two months in advance by hiking about three to four times per week. Each hike was 60 minutes up and 30 minutes down. The ascent was uphill the whole way, with literally no flat portions until the peak. The ascent was 1.06 miles and had an elevation gain of 1,100 feet. I live at 5,000 ft.
Physical ability
For reference, I am a 35 year old male, 6 foot 2 inches, and I weigh 230 pounds. I have a bit of a belly, and I very rarely go to the gym or do anything that is intentionally physical. I typically get about 7,000-10,000 steps per day from work.
Outcome
We took the 8-day Lemosho route. With very little hiking history and a short amount of preparation, the physical component of the hike was not that difficult until the ascent night. Each day was very doable. I was able to keep the same pace as my group for the most part, and I was never somebody who delayed the group or bothered anybody. One thing that I did need about once an hour was a quick breather (like 5 minutes). It was physically taxing, even if it was doable. I was the only one asking for breaks, but every single person in my group told me that they were so happy that I asked, so it wasn’t really problematic. My group was very physically fit, and I kept up. Each night when we got to camp, I was able to enjoy myself, eat dinner, and go to bed. I was in bed by about 8:00 P.M. every night, just like the rest of my group.
Ascent night
The ascent was incredibly difficult for me and the rest of my group. The problem wasn’t my physical fitness; it was actually a combination of a lot of factors. I had gotten ill a few days prior and was surviving on 300 calories. I had very little energy, but I made it to the top! The biggest challenge in getting to the top was that I needed those breaks that I had relied on in the previous days, but I was unable to take the breaks due to the nature of ascent night. It was SO cold on ascent night that we weren’t allowed to stop for more than 5 minutes because of the concern that we would freeze and have other health problems. On the rare breaks that we got, people’s toes/fingers were starting to freeze up, so we had to continue whether we liked it or not.
The absolute worst part of the ascent was that I had come completely prepared with extra dark sunglasses that wrapped around my eyes, and they were 100% useless until after I reached the summit. As it turns out, and I was not warned at all about, Kilimanjaro has tons of volcanic ash that is thrown into your eyes and face for at least an hour of the ascent. It is pitch black, though, during this portion of the hike, so I could not use my extra dark sunglasses to protect my eyes. I wish more than anything that I would have had some glasses like these to save me from all of the troubles that resulted from having no eye protection. My eyes were filled with ash that I could not clean out. The ash made my vision very blurry, and I had to hike the rest of the day (and some of the next day) with very poor vision. When I finally got to camp, I used contact solution to rinse my eyes several times and it hardly had any positive affect. I am certain that I will have lifelong vision problems because of this that I can’t forsee.
The Descent
The descent absolutely wrecked me and my whole crew. There were a number of problems that caused this. The troubles start right after you summit. You take a different path down than the one that you took up, and it is very steep. It is also very slippery. You are constantly trying not to slip, you are sleep-deprived, and you are exhausted. You pass your camp, get your stuff, and keep hiking for several more hours on an even worse terrain. Most of the descent, after you pass your previous campsite, is in a riverbed. The riverbed is composed almost entirely of very poorly made stairs that are formed from rocks and cement. Each step down is the distance of 2-4 regular steps and they just keep coming. Not only are the steps deep, but they are uneven. By the time I got to our campsite that day, I felt like I was going to collapse. The next day was better terrain, but with how fatigued my body was, it was a challenge too.
Summary
I wish I was more physically prepared for the challenges of the last two days of the hike. But, with my low physical fitness, I was able to accomplish the hike. It was tough, but I am so glad that I did it. You can too!
If you want some guidance on a few other recommendations that I have for taking on this great challenge, click right here!
Leave a Reply