1. Be prepared. Do the research.
Read the reports, study the maps, ask those who’ve completed the challenge before you. Don’t be too proud to ask for advice. Climbing the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free standing mountain in the world is no mean feat. Every year some poor soul is left behind on the side of that mountain. This adventure requires knowing what equipment will be required. It demands a level of self awareness, an honest look at yourself and an ability to foresee what could go wrong. Plan A didn’t work out? Got to have plan B and plan C. You can only carry a maximum of 15kg, what will you take? Medication. Food. Clothes. Trust me, there is not much on that mountain. Forgot your battery pack? There are no plugs. Lost your gloves? Tough luck there are no Walmarts up there. Should’ve brought your ear plugs? Yeah no one’s gonna help you with that. Don’t get caught out, do the research. Be prepared.
2. Trust the experts.
Our local guides have climbed this little mountain over a hundred times. Every 2 weeks to be exact. They have seen it all, the die hard group of Russians who smoked and drank spirits all the way up the summit, the English man who booked an extra porter to carry 20litres of lager up Kilimanjaro, the American family who turned up with 2 wheeled suitcases each. They’ve seen summiteers reduced to tears, headache ridden vomiting wrecks, bleeding from their noses calling for their mothers. They’ve carried injured climbers down the mountain in makeshift stretchers. Trust me, you do not want to be hurtled down the rocky paths in one of those death contraptions. They performed life saving heart massages and administered emergency oxygen to flailing hikers. They warmed up those who suffered debilitating hypothermia and motivated those ready to give up. They’ve seen those who started off with the arrogance of a winner, call an emergency helicopter to return to the safety of sea level. They’ve seen those damaged by life dig deep inside to find unexpected resilience and reach the top against all odds. Trust the experts, they’ve seen it all. And when they speak you’d do well to listen.
3. ‘Pole pole’ - pace yourself, go ‘slowly slowly’.
The climb in itself is not that technical, it’s basically a very long hike. The lack of technicality might embolden more experienced climbers to speed up the mountain at great velocity. Error. There is a reason our local guides keep saying ‘pole pole’: the slow pace allows our bodies to acclimatise to the increasingly thin air. How thin is that air you may ask. Well let’s put it that way: above 4,200m a normal helicopter can’t reach you because the air is too thin for the rotators to do their rotating thing. So yeah, it gets pretty difficult to breathe up there. Fail to acclimatise and your body will lack the necessary red blood cells to speed up oxygen delivery for your muscles. And then you get altitude sickness. In short: be more tortoise, less hare. ‘Pole, Pole’ indeed.
4. It’s all about the journey.
Yes, it is true that when you embark on a Kili climb you do want to make it to the top. But for me, it wasn’t just the summit, it was all about being there, on the mountain, for 8 days. It was about the strange fauna and flora, the weird rock formations, the breath taking sunsets above a duvet of clouds. It was about living in the here and now, celebrating each win as small as they might seem. Yay, we reached Lemesho, the first gate! High five we managed to get to the top of that Baranco Wall climb! Wow we made it to the 4,600m Lava Tower! The summit is just the cherry on top of the cake. It’s all about the journey.
5. Mindset is everything.
We got up at midnight and got ready to summit. It was dark, only the light of our head lamps to guide our steps. It was cold, about -20C with a howling wind. It was going to be long, 7 hours to Uhuru, the highest point, just under 6,000m. It was all but a walk in the park, and yet… that’s exactly what I pictured: a pleasant walk in the park. Hyde park to be exact. On a warm spring day. My mind was settled, it was one step in front of the next. I didn’t think about how long the climb was and what expected me at the top. Eventually, when I started to tire and the salvation of sunrise was still nowhere to be seen, I thought about all the times people had belittled and underestimated me, I thought of the condescending looks some gave me ‘you?! Kili?! Are you sure???’, I even thought about that humiliating time when I was 12 and some douchebag bullies spat in my hair. ‘Well, well, well…Look at me now!’ I psyched myself up, channelling all these negative feelings into every step I took. ‘Suck it losers, I’m going to make it’. And I did. The sunrise was the most spectacular moment of my life, a resurrection of biblical proportions, pretty sure I heard the angel’s choir sing a symphony of success to which I blurted out ‘F@ck yeah!’ Just to keep it classy. Mindset is everything.
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