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| Lena Padukova, doing Lemosho route towards Kilimanjaro |
This post is about my personal experiences and after-thoughts about organizing and carrying out a self-sufficient hike to the top of Kilimanjaro, via Lemosho Route. To see the idea and the preparations, along with all that happened on the arrival day, see here. The first days at Forest Camp and Shira Camps are described here. Then you can read about the hike to Barranco via Lava Tower, and from there via Barranco Wall to Barafu. Finally, the summit day is described here.
To summarize, I would like to mention that organizing a
self-sufficient Kilimanjaro climb is not straightforward, as the services on the
mountain are streamlined around “high-altitude tourism” rather than alpinism.
The companies want to make sure that all tourists are assisted as much as
possible, so they manage to reach the summit (and can leave a good tip). An average
tourist on Kilimanjaro is not trained in alpinism or adventure, has very little
mountaineering experience, sometimes not even having done any serious hiking,
and are fully dependent on the staff concerning carrying, cooking, and lodging.
So, as an experienced alpinist coming to the mountain, you have to prepare to
be treated as this “average tourist”. There is no way for the local staff to
know who is really experienced and who is just telling tales, and they will not
take any chances – your life and well-being is their direct responsibilities
and they do not take that lightly. If you have a chance to tell them in detail
about your previous experience, do that in advance and show photos of proof. It
will help negotiating and will lower the amount of “baby-sitting” you’re exposed
to. However, expect having a baby-sitter with you at all times while hiking or
acclimatizing, and expect them to have their own agenda.
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| A supernormal sight. A high-altitude tourist group happily posing in front of the trail start sign with their daypacks, the maximum they will carry. They will credit themselves for "conquering" the mountain. |
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| These guys are waiting behind the trail start sign. They are porters, and do not get to pose. They have carried much higher loads to this mountain uncountable amounts of times, but are not referred to as part of the climbing group, nor are they photographed. Standard is a large backpack and a sack in addition to that. |
I will leave my opinions about the porter culture to another post, and will only describe what you need to know when booking a "self-sufficient" hike.
The fact that everything revolves around there “all-inclusive”
tours with porters and cooks makes it harder to book something different, even
if you shop around and carefully outlay your needs. You will be told not to
worry about equipment, advised that you can hire tents (meaning several porters
carrying 20 kg each between every camp so you can have your personal lodging all
the time), etc. You have to be crystal clear about the fact that you want to
bring your own personal gear and carry everything by yourself, what they call “alpine
style”. Even after explaining that several times, make sure you repeat that
upon arrival, reiterate your plans with assigned guides, and double-check all
the details. Even having done that, you can’t be sure about the agreed details
though – see examples below.
The normal routes are not technical, the biggest challenge
being acclimatization. Do not attempt a fast ascent if you are not familiar
with the exact impact high altitude has on you individually. There are rescue
roads and heli pads, people being rescued daily from all the camps – do not
tempt fate and become one of them. It’s no rocket science.
I’ve wondered what was the most difficult about the
mountain, and I guess it was the fact that we were dependent on somebody else,
their plans, rules and decisions. It’s a very unusual situation for me as a
group lead, and it meant enough unknown factors to seriously jeopardize the certainty
of my plans.
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| The local lead guide, on the way further towards the peak. |
I was under the impression that I had been clear enough with
the organiser when I had been explaining the itinerary where there were 2 extra
acclimatization days, and one extra buffer day for weather or further
acclimatization. Finding out we were booked to a “regular” 8-days procedure (without
the buffer) surprised me a lot; of course there is no way to reclaim the
difference in time and payment for those two days, we never even got a receipt.
The organiser apologized for the misunderstanding, but I can never bring back
the considerable financial investment nor the trust of the group members (or
the discomfort caused by the lack of extra acclimatization).
The sudden announcement of “the new rule” considering Barafu
Camp was something unexpected, that should have been addressed before we even
set our foot on the mountain. The lack of the extra acclimatization day caused
the group extra discomfort, and was the primary reason for the group member
that was forced to abort at 5300. Luckily, we did not encounter any dangerous
situations, but there is very thin margin for that, and I would have preferred it
to be done according to agreed plan, to put it mildly. On the other hand, we
did not have to spend an extra day in the storm, and we got a snowless night
for the summit. But having all the cards on the table, I would simply have
planned another route and another acclimatization scheme if I would have been
aware about the one-day rule in Barafu.
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| Gale winds whipping up clouds close to Stella Point |
Then there were the other, subtle but nevertheless important
miscommunications. The organiser recommended to bring ice axes and crampons,
that were just extra weight concerning the weather. I guess it’s hard to know
in advance, but we could have left them in the camp instead of carrying the
extra 1,5 kg all the way from the bottom to the top where we would not even be
close to ice or snow.
I had asked about whether there is an internet connection on
the route – hearing from others that had attempted the same route that there is
normally close to no connection all the way, and wondering whether I should
waste time and money on getting a local SIM. The organiser answered
specifically “You will have internet on the mountain”. That was contrary to all
my research, but it would have been presumptuous to mistrust a local person –
what if there are new solutions evolving, and the situation has been changed? We
bought a total 2 SIMs for the group, chock full of internet and ready to use. Upon
leaving Moshi, we had no connection, and spent several days in vein trying to
find some coverage. We could use only a couple of MB in total during the trip,
because there was no coverage. Why this misunderstanding? No idea, I guess that
the organiser gets a commission for every sold SIM, or maybe the local staff
are used to receive a SIM will all the unused data from the tourists when they
leave. Regardless the reason, this did not build trust, rather the frustration –
I have managed months without the internet, it’s easy when you are not
expecting anything, but annoying when the expectations are otherwise.
Lesson learned: no European gas canisters to find. And an Omnifuel run on kerosene soots quite a lot
The organiser also told us that there was water in all the
camps below Barafu – which was not entirely true, as some camps had running
water and the others required a half-hour walk to retrieve the same. It
definitely made planning more difficult, and caused unpleasant surprises when
arriving to the place where we would spend the night. The last camp, Barafu,
had no water at all, and a solution to that was discussed and agreed with the
organiser. However, once at the spot I was advised that the solution was not
viable, and had to put dollars to work in order to figure it out. Yes, it was
fixed at the end, hakuna matata and stuff. But this is not the way you do business
or run adventures, and I was disappointed that I had to expose my group, that
had put a lot of trust and a lot of finances into this, to this kind of
uncertainties.
The lead guide did a lot to ensure our well-being on the
mountain, and we saw him as a competent and trustful (yet possibly misinformed
from the organizer’s side) expedition asset. The assistant guides and the
portals were all professional and respectful, in all details and situations. A model
behavior for any person working with tourism, sports or adventures. I’d want
some guides from Europe or Russia to learn from them.
The best about the mountain? The weather. We were extremely
lucky. There was no rain despite the wet weather report, expect for a short
shower in Shira 2 (the tents were already up) and a short hail shower on the
acclimatization walk to 4200. Even though we had a Beaufort 8 storm on the summit
day, there was no precipitation – otherwise, things could get even more
uncomfortable (blasting face with snow with that kind of wind strength is no
joke). So all in all, thank you Kilimanjaro for the great welcome! Ah sante.
A foot note: I never use altitude medicines (Diamox and the
similar), and do not recommend my group to use the same. Proper acclimatization
is much better, in my opinion.
Another foot note: the description of the trip is not in any
way a recommendation for climbers, or a guide to how to do such a climb. Every
person and every group should plan the summit according to their own condition,
experience, current situation on the mountain, and above all according to their
limitations.
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| Endemic plant life on Kilimanjaro. Hakuna matata, and be safe! |