Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro

This spring I’ll be joining a group of friends to climb Mount Kilimanjaro together in Tanzania. This trip isn’t open to the public to join, but stay tuned and if I survive I’m totally down to go back later in 2018 and/or 2019 with others to do it again.

Of all the world’s great and famous mountains, Kilimanjaro (or Kili for short) is supposed to be the most manageable for first-time climbers. In fact, it’s not really a “climb” at all, at least not in the sense in which we normally think of mountain climbing. You don’t have to spiderman up sheer cliff faces or anything, and it’s more of a challenging hike. But a challenge it is, and one that participants should take seriously.

Most climbs of Kili take 6-8 days, but this sounds like you’re climbing/hiking more than you really are though. You’ll actually only be walking for 4-8 hours a day on average, and the remainder of the time is spent at the various established camps on the way up in order to allow you to acclimatize to the altitude. Acclimatization is a serious issue when climbing Kilimanjaro and the professional guides, porters, and staff there go to great lengths to make sure that you respect the seriousness of the challenge and stay safe.

I’m looking forward to the trip, both because of the bucket list nature of it and the opportunity to have an amazing time with an amazing group of people. I’ll be sure to report back thoroughly on how it goes.