Wednesday
Oct012008
Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, 5895msl, Tanzania
Have just got back from climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in northern Tanzania, while on assignment for a friend of mine, Craig Milner. Craig was taking a group of seven Americans up the mountain for the first time, and wanted someone to document the climb photographically. My only council to those considering doing this climb is to stop considering and do it. make sure you go super slow all the way, take Diamox, and get the warmest gloves you can find, as well as face protection for the final ascent.
Oct 1, 2008
Reader Comments (6)
Awesome Roger, congrats. I've been planning to hike Kili for a while. Unfortunately my fitness has taken a knock recently after a month on the couch with Hepatitis but I hope to get back into it again soon. Did you do any training at higher altitudes in preparation?
Hope to see more of your photos!
Hi Roger,
I accidentally stumbled across your blog, and i have to admit it is one of the bestest I have ever seen in my 25 years as a professional editor on the net, television and print-media. Congratulations, and you can be sure I'll be following your stories from now on.
Fare thee well and thanks for so much beauty,
Johan (Antwerp, Belgium)
Wow, is this picture up at the top of Kili?
It's beautiful. How long did it take you guys up and back?
Sorry - complete git that I am - have just read your home page and that pic is very much Kilimanjaro - as you've tagged it. I'm just intrigued that there is still so much snow up there - I understood that the glacier was receding. When we fly from Nairobi to the coast we always see Kili on the way and sometimes it's hard to see the glacier except at the very top, so was really curious to know how far up this is. thx
Hey Coda, my apologies for the late response, I have been very lax over the last year with my site but am back on the job. The glaciers are there all year round, they create the white that you see at the very top in the warmer months when there is no snow. The glaciers have been retreating for some time now, and there is intense controversy over what is driving this. In terms of training, I did very little - the slower you walk the better your chance of summiting, so my advice is simply to do lots of slow walking three months before so you get used to being on your feet, but forget about too much high end cardio training, rather prepare yourself mentally and physically to walk slowly and methodically.
Hi Johan, just wanted tto say thanks so much for the praise and words of encouragement about my site, I really appreciate it. When the site developers updated the functionality on the comments, I did not realize that one had to go in and moderate them before they appeared on the site, so for a long while I simply missed the fact that people were commenting, so getting onto that now!