Mount Kilimanjaro: Unsupported Ascent (Umbwe Route)

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun ~ Pink Floyd

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Kilimanjaro. Few mountains enjoy such a massive position in the Western imagination, and perhaps with good reason. Whatever it lacks in granite spires and alpine lakes, Kilimanjaro makes up for with sheer dominance. Its volcanic heights soar above the plains of Eastern Africa in the shape of a massive dome, rising 16,000 feet above the surrounding countryside. With a summit elevation of 19,341 feet above sea level, Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in the continent of Africa. It’s also the fourth most topographically isolated summit in the world, with the nearest higher mountain more than 3,400 miles away.

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Hemingway wrote about it. Scientists study its unique low-latitude glaciers. Humans evolved in its shadow (Olduvai Gorge is a little over a hundred miles away). And every year, tens of thousands of people try to reach its summit.

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There are very few rules in mountaineering. But this is one of them: you must hire a guide on Kilimanjaro. The Tanzanian government requires all climbers to contract a licensed guide to accompany them on the mountain. In fact, almost all climbers actually hire far more support than just a guide. It is considered the standard level of support to hire 6 to 8 porters per climber to carry the team’s gear, often including items such as lawn chairs, fresh food, and sleeping cots, as well as the climber’s personal gear such as sleeping bags and tents. In sum, a team of several Western climbers typically employs a veritable army of Tanzanian support staff.

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For those who desire to do as much as possible on their own, there is an alternative. The company “Team Kilimanjaro” offers a “SuperLite” package, which fulfills all of the legal requirements but gives the climbers more responsibility. My parents and I organized a TK Superlite climb via the Umbwe Route for this past July.

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TK SuperLite (Unsupported) Logistics:

This support level meant that we would be accompanied by the (legally required) guide and, since we had 3 people, a (company required) assistant guide. The two guides also hired their own personal porter, but the porter only helped the guides and not us. Besides walking alongside us and talking about the local flora and fauna, the guides didn’t help us with any aspect of the ascent, which is exactly what we wanted.

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We brought and used all of our own gear, including the tent, stoves, dehydrated food, and bought gasoline to burn as fuel. We carried all of our own gear everyday, pitched our own tent, cooked our own meals, collected and carried our own water, and navigated with our own GPS/topo map. In short, we treated Kilimanjaro like a typical 6-day unsupported backpacking trip. This got a lot of mixed reactions, as explained later.

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The most difficult part of doing Kili unsupported is managing drinking water. The mountain is very dry, and water only flows down a few tiny streams which are separated by considerable distances. On the Umbwe Route, there is no natural water source available along the entire stretch of trail from the trailhead to the second day’s camp at Barranco. Since we had sworn off outside assistance (most people hire porters to carry water), this meant that we had to start our trek carrying about 16 liters of water to last two days for the three of us, including cooking.

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All of this meant that our packs were rather heavy. At the Umbwe Gate, climbers have to check-in and weigh their backpacks. Fully loaded, my pack weighed 33.5 kilos, or 74 pounds, and my parents’ packs were only a little lighter. For comparison, the porters are only legally allowed to carry a maximum of 30 kilos. The guides were a little skeptical of our endeavor at this point, and we had to convince one of the Tanzanian National Park officials that we weren’t crazy before they would authorize our permits.

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Mzungu Chizi — what the local guides and porters started affectionately callings us, Swahili for “crazy white people.” We adopted the term and introduced ourselves that way sometimes when explaining to locals that we didn’t have porters.

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Day 1: August 7, Umbwe Gate to Umbwe Cave Camp

We met our guides, Frank and John, and their personal porter Tongai, at a hotel in Arusha. After convincing everyone that we actually meant it when we said we wanted to climb unsupported, we headed out of town under cloudy skies, making a stop at a gas station to fill our MSR fuel bottles and buy another 3 liters of water to carry. We got our permits at the Machame Gate and then drove to the Umbwe Gate, arriving in the early afternoon. We were the only team at the quiet and serene Umbwe Gate in contrast with the massive crowds at Machame. We weighed our packs, which resulted in some very concerned looks from our guides and the park staff (see above). Our guides were great people, and willing to go along with our unusual plan, but it took a few days to convince them it was a good idea. Anyway, we took the requisite photos, and then it was time to hit the trail.

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The trail is actually a road, at least for the first couple miles. It was hot and slow work lugging our overweight packs up the slick mud and polished rock of the track, but the tedium of jungle slogging was broken by occasional sightings of monkeys swinging in the canopy.

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After a bit, the road ended and we began hiking up a steeper, narrowed trail through the dense jungle. It was hot. Our packs were heavy, and the closed-in, repetitive jungle scenery started to get a bit tiresome. Luckily, it was still cloudy down here, so we weren’t sweating as much as we could have been if it were sunny. This first day’s hike involved about 6 miles of hiking with a little over 4,000 vertical feet of elevation gain from the gate at 5,450 ft. to the Umbwe Cave Camp at about 9,500 ft.

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As we gained elevation, the trail became more interesting as it climbed through rutted gullies and along the crest of a narrow, steep ridge. Gnarled trees intertwined overhead, and along the forest floor, the plants formed a veritable garden of countless species all woven together in a mesmerizing sea of green. One of the more interesting findings was this small red and yellow flower, called Impatiens kilimanjari, a flower species which is native exclusively to the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.

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After a long afternoon of hiking, we arrived in the secluded Umbwe Cave Camp. We were the only group in the whole camp! The Umbwe Route is relatively unpopular because of its reputation as being difficult (steep) and too direct for good acclimatization. Coming from Colorado, we weren’t too worried about our ability to acclimatize to the elevation of Barranco Camp (just above 13,000 ft.), so making a direct ascent was a fine strategy.

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After getting the tent set up, we set about cooking dinner on one of our MSR Whisperlite backpacking stoves. The Tanzanian guides were fascinated by our backpacking-style stoves, and they even brought the local camp manager over to check it out. On Kili, the big supported groups typically cook on stoves that use massive propane canisters, so our tiny, gasoline-powered stoves were very interesting to them. Darkness comes quickly in the evening near the equator, and we were ready to rest after our first day of steep hiking with heavy packs.

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Day 2: August 8, Umbwe Cave Camp to Barranco Camp

The next morning, the clouds lifted a bit at camp, and we got a bit of light shining into the jungle. We packed up and got an early start up the trail, which climbed, narrow and winding, along a ridge separating cavernous valleys.

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As we climbed higher, the rainforest transitioned from towering trees to lanky heather bushes. We also started to get our first views. It was awesome to break out into the sunshine after spending the night in the cloudy forest! Here, Kilimanjaro towers above the gorge of the Umbwe River.

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The most challenging section of this trail is a section called “Rope Rock.” The trail generally climbs along a narrow but flat-topped ridge, but here, the ridge is blocked by a huge stone knob. Apparently, there used to be ropes installed here to help climber pull up the steep knob, but currently, there is no rope, just a series of rough steps chopped into the stone. This picture makes it look less steep than it was; I would probably call it class 3.

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This sub-alpine zone on Kilimanjaro has some really fascinating scenery. Here, the towering moorland heather plants form a lattice-like tunnel around the trail.

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Gradually, the views continue to open up, and after a couple hours, we were nearing the East African equivalent of treeline. Instead of dwarf pine trees like we might expect at treeline in the US, Kilimanjaro’s alpine zone is marked by a gradual but continuous transition from different species of deciduous trees down to ever-smaller moorland-type plants.

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The clouds that dampened the lower part of the route now appeared as a sea of white cotton spreading out below us. I really love being above the clouds on a big mountain. There’s just something so cool about looking out across a sea of clouds, like standing on an island in the sky.

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Our backpacks were still pretty heavy, despite drinking several pounds of water over the previous day and night. Combined with the midday sunlight, we were sweating pretty well and getting tired. We knew that there was water at our campsite tonight, but we still had to conserve enough to make it there without getting overly dehydrated. Luckily, we had also brought a small canister of large salt crystals, which we passed around and ate like candy throughout the trip to abate cramps and replenish electrolytes. This was the most beautiful part of the Umbwe Route, with no one else around and cool bushes and plants framing the blue skies and low clouds.

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We arrived into Barranco Camp, at 13,050 feet, in the early afternoon. This is where the Umbwe Route joins the Southern Circuit, which means that we now met up with all of the teams coming from Machame, Lemosho, and Shira. The bustling metropolis of Barranco Camp was a stark contrast to the tiny and secluded Umbwe Cave Camp, but the views were pretty great.

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At last, we were able to replenish our water supply! We had drunk all 16 liters of water that we started with, and now, at the end of the second day, was our first chance to get more. I took the Platypus gravity filters and dipped water from a small nearby creek. We got some odd looks from the other groups’ porters when they found out that we were collecting, purifying, and carrying our own water, but the porters were generally friendly and amused when they found out we were basically doing the job of porters ourselves.

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Another cool plant on Kilimanjaro is a plant called the giant groundsel. They apparently take hundreds of years to grow, and some are 12 feet tall or higher. The groundsels made for some pretty photo opportunities on a short evening hike we took up above camp.

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Kilimanjaro is made up of three volcanic cones: the oldest, and lowest, is Shira; the highest is Kibo; and the third, rarely climbed cone is the precipitous Mawenzi. Kibo is the large central dome that people often refer to as simply “Kilimanjaro.” It is surrounded on most sides by rotten volcanic cliffs and hanging glacial remnants, with a select few breaches in the upper cliffs where routes ascend to the top. Here, Kibo towers above our tent on the outskirts of Barranco Camp in the evening twilight.

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Day 3: August 9, Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp

The next morning, we got an early start and managed to get ahead of most of the massive supported groups. This was helpful, as the next section of trail was crowded enough as it was. From Barranco Camp, the trail climbs steeply up the Barranco Wall, ascending to about 13,700 feet through a series of small cliffs and narrow, winding passages. The most impressive part of this section was watching groups of porters climb through the rough terrain with their huge, unwieldy bags of gear.

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The Wall has a few legitimately 3rd-class sections, which were enough to warrant some extra caution with our heavy packs. (My pack was at about 65 pounds on this day, much lighter now that I wasn’t carrying as much water.) Overall though, I thought that parts of the Barranco Wall were a little over-hyped online, but this is to be expected on any route which sees as many trekkers as the Southern Circuit, especially since most of the trekkers (whom we saw) didn’t have previous mountain experience. The groups are generally good at letting people pass though, and we never encountered more than a mild traffic jam.

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After an hour or so of climbing in the cold shadow, we topped out on a ridge with expansive views. To one side, Kibo rose in a ferocious precipice, and to the other, the sea of clouds spread to the horizon. In the distance, the highly prominent 14er Mount Meru looked like a towering island. We stopped and cooked some grits and coffee for breakfast, once again fascinating the locals with our tiny backpacking stoves.

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The next section of trail was a lot less interesting; just hot, dusty, and somewhat monotonous. At least it went by quickly, and before long, we were competing with the hoards of other climbers on the final uphill push to Karanga Camp.

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Karanga was only marginally higher than Barranco, at an elevation of 13,250 ft., which was theoretically good for our acclimatization. The main reason for stopping at Karanga Camp, though, was water. The high camp for summit day has no water available, and since we didn’t have porters to carry up water for us, we would have to carry all of our water to high camp when we left Karanga. Thus, spending more time down here was advantageous, since we wouldn’t have to carry the extra night’s worth of water.

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It was only a couple mile hike from Barranco to Karanga, so we arrived early in the day with plenty of time to rest and relax. These white-necked ravens provided a fun distraction. I also spent some of the afternoon reading my copy of Hemingway’s short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro that I dutifully carried all the way to the summit.

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From the camp on a ridge, it was a couple hundred feet down and a half-mile round-trip down to a tiny creek to fill our water filter bags. We convinced our guides that it was alright for us to make this journey unaccompanied, and we got plenty of inquisitive looks from the porters who frequented the same creek to bring water to their teams. We made two water trips, and on our evening sojourn, we caught this sweet view of Kilimanjaro with a raven directly overhead.

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As usual, the porters and other guides were fascinated by our personal cooking stove, and some of them gathered around as we explained how it worked and how people typically carried all of their own gear when climbing in the United States. By this point, we had also become somewhat well-known with other climbing groups. We obviously stood out from the other climbers, as we were the only ones who hiked with big backpacks instead of small daypacks, and we were the only group who set up our own tent and cooked our own meals. I must say, our simple dehydrated dinners tasted pretty good knowing that we had done all of the work to get there.

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Above, some glaciers in the Southern Icefields caught a little bit of alpenglow. Kilimanjaro does have some relatively rugged areas, despite its reputation as a rounded dirt mound.

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Day 4: August 10, Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp

Water, water, water. Exactly what Barafu Camp doesn’t have. Barafu is the traditional high camp used the night before a summit attempt from these routes, but it is perched high and dry on a ridge rising from a vast and arid expanse. Leaving Karanga, the next time we would encounter a water source would be in the afternoon of our summit day after we descended from Barafu back into the forest.

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With this in mind, we ended up carrying a little over 20 liters of water in our backpacks this morning. From known weights, I calculated that my backpack weighed between 80 and 85 pounds. We plodded uphill rather slowly compared to the supported groups. This is where our fortitude as “unsupported” climbers was tested: the guides and their porter kept offering to take some of our weight, but we were committed to doing it on our own, and so we persevered in carrying all of our gear.

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Over the course of the next couple hours, we lugged our packs up 2,000 vertical feet of elevation gain, crossing a barren valley and ascending some rocks to a viewpoint below camp. My back and shoulders ached from the weight, but with trekking poles, it was manageable. Before too long, we crested a rise and looked back over the route.

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It was only another couple hundred feet to Barafu Camp, at an elevation of 15,400 feet. This is a huge camp, and somewhat smelly/dirty. The views are pretty good though, and we spent the rest of the evening resting and preparing for an early start on our summit push.

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Day 5: August 11, Kilimanjaro Summit Day + Barafu Camp to Mweka Camp

Since we had the advantage of coming from Colorado and having previously climbed above 6000 meters, the altitude at Barafu didn’t feel too bad. With this in mind, we decided to leave a little later than what is considered “typical.” Starting around 10 p.m., we heard groups noisily departing for the summit, so it was hard to sleep. Still, we got a few hours of rest before it was time to go for the top.

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We started hiking at 1 a.m. and quickly began passing other groups. From Barafu Camp, the trail goes up some rock slabs to a slightly higher auxiliary camp, crosses a flat stretch of ground, and begins switch-backing up loose scree. Ahead and behind, rows of headlamps stretched out like wandering stars scattered across the slopes. This was our first chance to hike with light daypacks instead of our heavy backpacks, so we were going at a decent pace, averaging a little over 1,000 vertical per hour. This earned us a series of dirty looks from the groups we passed, many of whom had started hours earlier but were now practically stopped. For some reason, Kili attracts a disproportionate number of climbers with quite literally zero hiking experience, and this is where it started to show up in earnest.

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The trail in this section is a mess of switchbacks up the moderately low-angle, gravel-clad slope. It goes something like this: take some steps, look for the next best path, take some more steps, pass a group of climbers, take some more steps. Repeat for about 3,500 vertical feet over the 2 miles to Stella Point.

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After a couple hours, we realized we were going too fast. At this pace, we would reach the summit an hour and a half before sunrise. It was also rather cold; as we reached Stella Point around 4:40 a.m., the temperature felt like it was probably around 10-20 degrees F. For reference, my toes were starting to go numb in my La Sportiva Nepals.

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Since we didn’t want to sit around forever on the summit freezing and waiting for sunrise, we tried to keep moving, but with a new strategy: cover ground as slowly as possible. We spent about 20 minutes at Stella Point burning time by jumping around and singing a Kilimanjaro song the guides taught us. For the last half-mile along the crater rim towards the summit, we deliberately walked slowly and stopped behind rock outcrops whenever possible. It was clear that we should have left an hour later, but better early than never. At long last, the stars started to disappear as the sky faded to dark denim blue, and the summit loomed directly ahead.

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Around 6:10 a.m., all three of us plus our two guides reached the summit–at 19,341 feet, the highest point on the African continent. This point, the highest spot on the rim of Kibo, is called Uhuru Peak, a Swahili word for Freedom.

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It was a sublime feeling to stand on the roof of Africa and watch the first rays of sunshine break over the horizon, shooting golden beams across an endless sea of colorful clouds. This was my parents’ and my second time climbing one of the 7 summits together as a family, and it was a wonderful moment to share.

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The Heart of the Sun

The Heart of the Sun ~ Pink Floyd

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We spent quite a while on top, taking tons of photos and making sure to tag the exact highest rock (which is actually located a little distance behind the iconic sign). I even stacked a couple rocks together and touched the top of the highest pole on the summit sign–I figured, since I’d come all this way, I might as well let my hand be the highest thing in Africa for a few moments.

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While there were plenty of teams coming and going, it wasn’t as crowded as I had expected. We were blessed with perfectly clear skies and a relatively light wind, and combined with the beautiful sunrise and the joy of sharing this experience as a family, it was a perfect summit experience.

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Team Kilimanjaro offers an interesting option: for a small extra fee, climbers can choose to spend extra time hiking around Kili’s crater zone. We figured it would be fun to visit some of the less-frequented areas, and we were feeling great considering the altitude, so instead of returning to Stella Point, we continued hiking along the ridge the way we had been going. Suddenly, our group was the only people around, and the vastness of this place really started to sink in.

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Kilimanjaro casts a truly impressive shadow.

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After walking .2 miles along the ridge past the summit sign, we descended several hundred feet of loose scree on a lightly-used trail, arriving at Crater Camp. This is a rather bleak camping spot with a few tents used by two types of climbers: those who have ascended via the rarely climbed Western Breach, and those who have paid extra to spend a night in the crater after coming up one of the normal routes. We weren’t in either of these groups, so we continued walking past Crater Camp after stopping to de-layer and drink some tea.

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From Crater Camp, it was a short walk over the Furtwangler Glacier. This is a rapidly disappearing remnant of the ice cap that once covered Kilimanjaro’s crater. From satellite imagery and data in Wikipedia, it seems that this glacier has lost 80% of its area since the year 2000. The narrow, upright chunk in the distance in this photo was connected to the body of the glacier as recently as 2006.

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The Kilimanjaro glaciers are somewhat legendary, as it was once thought impossible to have snow in equatorial climes (Kilimanjaro is located 3.1 degrees south of the equator). Also, the Kilimanjaro glaciers are unique for their vertical margins, as the ice doesn’t move like most glaciers but rather calves and melts in place. Not to mention, there’s Hemingway’s short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro, so it was cool to actually get up close with the glacier.

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Off in the distance, a much larger collection of glaciers was looming: the Northern Icefields. This is the largest remaining body of ice on Kilimanjaro, but it’s all the way on the opposite side of the crater, so we had to be content with seeing it from afar. Also, the distant land behind the icefield is Kenya.

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Kilimanjaro has a distinctive shape: a steep-sided mound rising to a relatively flat summit area. This summit plateau consists of a large crater ringed by the icefields and various rock outcroppings–the highest of these is Uhuru Peak. In the center of the plateau is a relatively small but deep crater called Reusch Crater. This inner crater is ringed by a wall of debris, meaning that it can’t be seen from the top of Uhuru. This ring of debris also forms a subsidiary summit with an elevation of 19,170 feet and 305 feet of clean prominence.

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After visiting the glacier, we followed a trail up a few hundred feet to this interior summit. While lower than Uhuru Peak, this point is more centrally located, and from cursory examination of a map, one could be forgiven for mistaking it for the true summit. It offers great views all around, and there weren’t any other people in the whole area–a welcome break from the crowds elsewhere. Also, it was fun to get another summit of a 19,000-foot-point with somewhat respectable prominence.

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Reusch Crater itself is a gaping pit with active fumaroles. Kilimanjaro is considered dormant, not extinct, meaning it could erupt again. Seeing the crater was pretty cool and definitely worth the couple extra hours.

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The only problem with this side-trip was that, after descending from the summit of the Reusch Crater peak, we had to re-ascend a few hundred feet to Stella Point in order to descend back to Barafu. This was a little demoralizing, but it went smoothly and before long we were hanging out with the other groups back at Stella Point.

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The descent went quickly. The customary descent route is located adjacent to the ascent route, but instead of climbing up the relatively stable rocks and gravel, climbers plunge-step down a wide gully of loose, sandy scree. This is a dusty affair. I found it pretty exhilarating to run down a couple hundred feet at a time, leaping through the steep sand.

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Below, we could see the sprawling tent city of Barafu Camp getting ever-closer, but always just out of reach.

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This photo gives an overview of the ascent route (far left rocky rib) and descent route (central scree gullies) from Stella Point to the place where the trail flattens out before the final descent to Barafu. At this point, we were pretty hot and tired, and just wanted to get back to camp and rest for a bit.

Due to the unique challenges of positioning a high camp without any nearby water source, it is necessary for most teams to descend from Barafu Camp the same day as summiting, something we would otherwise not choose to do. Thus, after resting and packing up for a couple hours at Barafu, we began the demoralizing hike down to Mweka Camp. It was hot, the trail was busy and dusty, and our packs seemed extra heavy after carrying daypacks all morning. It’s safe to say this was our least favorite part of the whole trip.

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After dropping back into the forest, the trail reaches Millenium Huts at 12,500 feet. Here, we dropped our packs and spent considerable time hiking hundreds of feet down washed-out trails to gather water. Normally, only porters make this trip to get water, so we were probably some of the only foreign climbers to go there, and everyone (porters, guides, etc.) was duly surprised. The actual water source was surprising, too: a patch of wet moss with a pipe rammed into it, giving a slow trickle of water. This tiny water source has to serve countless climbers! I wonder what would happen if/when some of these minor water sources dry up.

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It was another couple thousand feet down to Mweka Camp at about 10,050 feet elevation, where we arrived exhausted. Still, we felt great about our successful unsupported summit, and Top Ramen has never tasted better.

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Day 6: August 12, Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate

The next morning, we got a quick start and promptly descended back into the clouds. This meant that the trails turned to a mess of slick mud, and hiking with heavy packs became comparatively slow. The moist air and increased pressure came as welcome respite to our lungs, however.

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The greenery was welcome relief for our eyes after the past few days spent on barren rocks. These Impatiens pseudoviola were particularly photogenic against a backdrop of lush ferns.

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The descent from Mweka Camp is relentlessly downhill, dropping 4,700 feet in a little over 5 miles, so our knees were relieved when the path transitioned to a more gently graded 4wd road. From here, it was only a short walk, and we popped out of the jungle at Mweka Gate.

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Requisite photos were taken, congratulations were exchanged, summit certificates were obtained, and it was time to head into town for some real food.

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Final Thoughts on Climbing Kili Unsupported

Below are my thoughts on some items of particular interest for those who might consider climbing Kilimanjaro unsupported.

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• Porters: Very few people climb Kili without porters, so we had to reiterate our desires frequently. For instance, when we first met our lead guide, he informed us that we would be taking a couple porters, but after some convincing, he obliged to let us climb without help. (The guides themselves even used one porter to carry their tent/etc.) Throughout the ascent, the guides tried to convince us to let them carry some of our weight, and we had to refuse daily/hourly.
• Other Assistance: Similarly, we frequently had to remind our guides that we didn’t want to be physically pulled up the mountain. Some of the guides are used to literally dragging people (we saw this on summit day with other groups), and when scrambling up short rocky sections (like Barranco Wall), we had to ask our guides not to grab our packs or arms to help us up. They were obliging, but seemed surprised that we wanted to conquer the mountain under our own power. This applied to everything down to the level of setting up the tent or putting on our backpacks.
• Water: The big groups have porters dedicated to bringing it up in 5 gallon buckets. We had to carry all our water between the gate and Barranco, and between Karanga and the summit. Important: for others who might want to follow a similar style, don’t trust Team Kilimanjaro on this aspect. I’m thankful to Team Kilimanjaro for offering the Superlite series, however: the company staff sent us a bunch of personal emails reiterating that water was available at each camp, and this is not true. I think the company is just forwarding the usual info they send to supported climbers since they get so few unsupported groups. If they tell you there’s water at Umbwe Caves or Barafu, ignore them and plan to carry your own from lower anyway. Thanks to this other trip report: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=15565, we knew this and planned accordingly.
• Gear: Relying entirely on our own gear was a bit riskier. For instance, one of our MSR stoves clogged up from the low-grade Tanzanian gasoline on the second night of the trip. Luckily, we had brought two stoves, and we knew how to service both of them. Still, it was touch-and-go with the stoves for the rest of the trip. For others with aspirations of climbing unsupported, bring 2 stoves, and know how to de-clog them. Note: we could not find Jetboil-type canisters for sale anywhere in the country. We climbed with our personal Trango 3 tent (most groups use company-provided tents), and this caused some issues with customs on our arrival in Tanzania. Apparently, there’s a tax of sorts on imported climbing gear, but after signing some papers and promising to take the tent back out of the country, they let us go. Anyway, it’s definitely something to keep in mind if bringing your own tent. Back to the topic of cooking, we always ate dehydrated food like Mountain House dinners and grits, supplemented by typical trail food like granola bars and chocolate. Most of the other teams were fed fancy fresh foods, often including stuff like fruit, cheese, etc. Overall I think our lower food quality was worth it for the satisfaction of knowing we raised ourselves to the challenge of climbing Kilimanjaro entirely under our own power.
• Clothes: Unlike most teams, who only brought light hiking boots, we climbed in our 4-season mountaineering boots. (For me, this meant I wore my La Sportiva Nepals for the whole trip.) Down low, this was hot, but on summit day, my feet were still a little cold, and I can only imagine that the people in low-top shoes must have been freezing. Of course, we brought plenty of warm layers, including fleece, but then again, carrying our own gear was also an impetus to pack light, so it was a balancing act.

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In conclusion, we’re happy with our choice to climb Kilimanjaro unsupported. We would have preferred to go without guides, but over the course of our trip, we became friends with our guides, and they came to respect us for our commitment to avoiding outside assistance, so it worked out well overall.

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It’s fun remembering the little moments, like when a chief park official was interrogating us about our ambition to climb without porters. After we explained our climbing style and motives, he said, “Oh. So you’re mountaineers.” I don’t know, but that felt kind of good.

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Tanzania is a beautiful country, with friendly people and lots to see. This was the first time that any of us got to visit Africa, and we were thrilled to experience this wonderful place as a family. Now if only I didn’t have “Africa” by Toto stuck in my head…

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The Heart of the Sun

the Heart of the Sun

The Heart of the Sun

The Heart of the Sun ~ Pink Floyd

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Climb on, friends!