With my current knowledge, I would have definitely chosen to rent most of the equipment from the company for the following reasons: the equipment is good and high quality and suitable for the specific adventure; the equipment does not have to be carried as baggage back and forth across the hemisphere; the equipment can be received clean and returned used and dirty; the price of renting the equipment for a week is about 20 percent of the purchase price at the store. Such an offer might sound expensive to those who plan to reuse the gear a lot, but for adventurers like us, who are unlikely to use mountaineering equipment again, a rental offer is also a good solution moneywise.
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| Headgear selection at the hotel. |
When we arrived in Tanzania, we one of our suitcases was filled with equipment but we also had to rent some of it. The day before the first trek, Altezza Travel sent Anna, their employee, to the hotel, and she checked each item of our equipment very carefully. I am grateful for this care, which at the time seemed a little over the top to me. However, after just a few days we came to appreciate Anna’s professional advice and persistence.
The part of Tanzania where Mount Kilimanjaro is located is about one and a half kilometres above sea level, but Kilimanjaro itself rises approximately another four and a half kilometres above the surrounding area. The mountain range is so large and high that it forms its own climate, and what is going on at the top can only be determined by gauges, not by what you are feeling at the foot. The display in the hotel lobby was showing that it was -15oC and strong snow at the top on the day of our equipment check, but it was very difficult to believe that as we were trying on warm down jackets over slightly sweaty T-shirts.
However, the choice of equipment is a very serious matter, both because the weather conditions at the top can indeed be extreme and also because the body performs very differently in high-altitude conditions. The lack of oxygen affects all body systems, including those that provide a comfortable feeling of warmth. In high-altitude conditions, you really do feel the cold more and even at +10oC you will want to put on a warm hat and a down jacket.
While choosing our equipment we learned several principles of assembling high-altitude gear, for example, many layers are better than one, hoods are better than hats, looser is better than tighter and always bring spares.
In high-altitude conditions, moisture has the greatest effect on how the clothing performs. If the clothing is clean and dry it both feels pleasant on the body and creates a comfortable feeling of thermal insulation (it is common knowledge that dry air trapped in the fabric of clothes is good for insulation). The situation changes rapidly as soon as the clothes get wet, either from sweat or under the influence of atmospheric conditions (rain, snow). In the mountains it is impossible to avoid either, so the best advice is to add or remove a layer of clothing every time a climber starts feeling too cold or too hot.
The simplest way to regulate the body’s thermal insulation is with the help of hoods. First of all, the hood is warmer than a hat because it allows air to circulate inside the garment. Whilst a jacket and a scarf retain only the heat from the body, with the head and the neck seeming to form a separate system where heat regulation is provided by a hat, a jacket with a hood combines both heating systems, and the heat from the back also warms up the throat and the neck. If you are wearing several hooded jackets (some thinner and some thicker) optimal body thermoregulation can be ensured by putting on and removing the hoods. Of course, in addition to a hood, you can wear a hat, which in itself serves to warm the head.
When choosing layers of clothing, it is important to try them out in practice and make sure that they are not too tight. Although at +30 degrees it is not easy to put on warm underwear, a thin jacket with a hood, a thick (down) jacket over it, and a rain poncho on top, it is well worth it, as you need to ensure that such a wrapping does not hinder movement. Clothes that are too tight contribute to sweating, which makes them damp and reduces their heat retention. The principles of multiple layers and loose fits are also important when it comes to sets of socks and gloves.
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| Our outfits at the altitude of 4315 metres. |
The climbing adventure can be divided into two parts – the trek up to 4,500-metre altitude and the summit push. Both the weather conditions and the difficulties associated with the two episodes are different, so the equipment requirements are also very different. Six of the seven days in Kilimanjaro Park we spent hiking the mountain trails. There are practically no roads in the park, all traffic and delivery of goods take place along relatively narrow and rocky paths. The best choice, in our opinion, is sports shoes with durable soles and thicker material of the upper part that will protect you from injuring your feet should you stumble over the rocks.
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| Rocky mountain trails connecting the high-altitude camps. |
It is good if the shoes have a Gore-Tex membrane because then they do not get wet immediately in frequent and sudden rains. Hiking boots must be such that one can comfortably wear them over one pair of socks. Special warm mountaineering boots with a deep sole tread are only needed when climbing to the very top. However, it is preferable for them to be moisture resistant and to have good thermal insulation. In our case at the beginning of the summit push the temperature was around minus five degrees with a strong wind bearing snow. The temperature dropped even further when we were about halfway to the top. On the way down the snow had already melted in the sun and there was sludge and mud underfoot all the time. Mountaineering boots should be “loose rather than tight” to be able to fit two pairs of socks, thin and thick. This way no blisters will form when climbing and your feet will be warmer because you can also place chemical foot warmers between the socks, and they will provide comfort for at least the first five to six hours of climbing. I noticed that some climbers use gaiters that protect the shoes against rain, sand and small rocks. I didn’t think it was necessary, but they probably do a good job of protecting the shoes against the moisture that drops from the edge of the raincoat.
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| Ready for the most difficult challenges – hoods, hats, as of yet unfrozen drinking systems. |
When climbing the mountain I used five different pairs of trousers, which I would wear in different combinations. First, there were shorts, after climbing a little higher I started to wear long jogging trousers. Over both shorts and jogging trousers I would sometimes wear moisture-resistant trousers (they have zippers along the entire length of the outer edges - this is very convenient if you need to put on or take off the trousers quickly). I also had thermal underwear on, which I wore both during the summit push and inside the sleeping bag. At the end, on the summit day, I wore warm trousers, which were also moisture-resistant. This set seemed optimal to me, but another pair of thin trousers or another layer of thermal underwear may be useful if there is no opportunity to dry them.
The camp life is such that it is quite impossible to do the laundry, so you have to bring enough spare underwear and socks. In conditions when you sweat more and regular bathing are just a dream, it is very easy to get skin inflammation, so I felt it was important to change both underwear and socks every day, and indeed, I managed to avoid blisters and skin damage.
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| Caught in the rain again – we have to wear rain ponchos. |
I brought several sports shirts with both short sleeves (for the first days of climbing) and long ones, and I had two sets of warm underwear (for sleeping and for the summit day). I would also wear hooded jackets: thin, thick fleece, moisture-resistant, down (for the summit day) and a poncho-style raincoat with a hood. This kind of set met my needs completely, except that the upper body clothes were drenched in sweat and it was uncomfortable to wear sweaty (albeit sun-dried) clothes, but that was just a small, unavoidable inconvenience that is to be expected on such a hike.
Starting from the third day of the hike I would wear gloves that I usually use when skiing, and on the summit day I wore wolf down mittens over them. My hands were warm but I would recommend using warm gloves, because with the mittens I felt really helpless – they had to be removed for each operation and that was very impractical in climbing conditions. I put a heating element between the gloves and mittens. Brigita didn’t have them and she was complaining that her hands were freezing even with down mittens. The hands were freezing during the climb because we had to hold hiking sticks all the time – another necessary specialized piece of equipment, which it is better to rent than to take from home.
At the beginning of the trek I used a special wide brim sun hat as headgear with a veil that covered my neck. From the fourth day to the summit day I would wear both a thin ski hat and hoods and a thick knitted hat and hoods. I never took off the warm hat in the highest camp – I kept it on when walking and eating, even when sleeping in a sleeping bag inside a tent.
There are several accessories for hiking and climbing that are absolutely essential: sunglasses, sunscreen, a drinking system and a headlamp. When it comes to those things remember this principle – always bring extra. It is not possible to climb the mountain without a working headlamp so it is recommended to take three pre-tested flashlights per two people. The climb in the dark lasts at least five hours so take spare batteries with you. It is absolutely impossible to stay in direct sunlight without covering every bit of exposed skin with 50+ sunscreen. If your tube gets lost you’ll undoubtedly be happy if you thought to bring a spare. It is also impossible to stay in the strong sun without high-quality 100 percent UV protection sunglasses. I misplaced mine during the training hike and was quite desperate thinking I would not be able to reach the peak now. The group leader Elia was kind enough to lend me his own. Luckily, my glasses turned out to be in Brigita’s bag (I don’t have the slightest clue as to how they got there).
And last but not least, a few words about the drinking system. A CamelBak hydration pack is usually used in rogaining, it is a 1.5 or 2 litre water bag, which is placed in a small backpack and which has a flexible tube you can drink through without interrupting your walk. The guides recommended drinking at least four litres of water a day, so such a drinking system is very convenient for five or six hours of hiking. Although, while inspecting the equipment, our instructor Anna warned us that the tube could freeze, I just couldn’t believe it, but that is exactly what happened to my drinking system – there was enough water in it on the summit night but the tube was frozen and the water was inaccessible, so I had to make do with the tea that the guides offered to us every hour and a half.
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My equipment on the third day, half way through the journey, with only a vague notion of the snow at the top. |
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| The evening training on the fourth day did not diminish Brigita’s optimism. |