Gilman’s Point Reached! Mission Accomplished!
FAQs (yes - the same questions keep coming up so why not answer them all at once?)
What route did you take?
We took the Rongai route up from the Kenyan border at the Naremoru Gate and stopped at Simba Camp (after about 3-4 hours) for the night.
Then we hiked another 3 hours to Second Cave and camped for the night.
Then we hiked another 3-4 hours to Kikelewa Caves and camped for the night.
Then we hiked another 3-4 hours to Mawenzi Tarn Camp and camped for the night.
Then we hiked 7 hours to Kibo Camp, rested, hiked 6 more hours to the summit, 2 hours down (rest) and then 3 hours down to Horombo Huts and camped for the night.
Then we hiked 7 hours down to the Marangu Gate exit.
Was it cold?
So obviously this is a seasonal answer but I found that mornings were cold until the sun broke through and then we were warm enough to just wear pants and a shirt. Night was very cold (close to zero in the tents so colder outside). The summit night was very cold.
What did you wear to summit?
Top - Merino Wool Shirts x 3, fleece x 2, down winter coat + wind/waterproof shell.
Bottoms - Merino Wool Long Johns x 3, pants, wind/waterproof shell (with gators over the boots).
Feet - Socks x 2, Boots, hotshots/heating pads
Head - Winter hat and hoods
Hands - Winter ski glove and hotshots/heating pads (could have used more layers here)
Post Climb Report
Where do I begin? I’m home. It took a while and I feel like I was gone forever but I’m back and happy about that.
The climb was amazing. Challenging and frustrating at times but well worth it in the end. Knowing that we’d (me and my two co-climbers) raised almost $55,000 to fight MS made it much easier to press on. The support we received from all of you who donated meant so much to us.
I know many of you have bucket lists and Kili or Africa are on those lists. I have to tell you - if they are - make sure you do them. This climb provided me with a lot of time to think (challenging when trying to also breathe and walk at the same time!) and it makes you realize that life it short. Grab the opportunities you have when you can. Be more spontaneous. Don’t think about it. Just do it.
Africa is an amazing place and Tanzania (which makes up my entire African experience) is amazing. The people are friendly, helpful and resilient. The economy is the pits. Unemployment is around 80% and HIV is around 20%. They have no capital. But the people have a spirit that doesn’t seem to fade. They push on. They don’t wait for the world to “fix Africa”. They just make do and strive for more. Some places may be what we consider “backwards” but many places are progressive.
Kilimanjaro can be climbed by ANYONE. Getting to the top requires being in relatively decent shape, having good weather, an amazing support team and an easy acclimatization to the altitude. Truthfully, people summit without all of those factors on their side. Others fail with all of them on their side. But the true majesty of the mountain is watching it get closer and closer as you make your way up. Reaching the top is almost irrelevant. And you only really need some warm closes and a pair of legs to do it.
If you want to tackle Kili - I’ve got ideas and suggestions galore for you - so just ask. We took the Rongai route and I truly believe it is the best choice of ascent by far (two key reasons being that you descend a different route to your ascent (variety) and you have the best chance for acclimatization over 7 days). The physical challenge for me was more about my lungs (being sick during the climb) - my muscles had zero trouble on the ascent (coming down is tough on the knees but…). My point here is that you can do it and if you have any interest whatsoever you should most certainly try.
I’ll be posting photos in due course but once again - my sincere thanks for all the support and I hope you’ve enjoyed following me on this journey. Don’t worry - I won’t be hitting you up for donations next year to climb Everest or anything. As I say, I’m not a mountain climber, I just climbed one mountain! You can too!
