Questions About Mountain Safety on TK Climbs

Questions about safety on Kilimanjaro

The Royal Geographical Society say you should spend 10 days climbing Kilimanjaro. Is 6 or 7 days safe?

You should remember that for many years the RGS denied even the existence of snow on Kilimanjaro because snow at such a location was obviously scientifically impossible, and the missionaries who reported seeing it were not scientifically qualified.

What is actually impossible is to watch thousands of climbers successfully and safely reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro every year with total disregard for the RGS’s "300 metres a day and 2 consecutive nights at the same elevation every third day" rule, without facing the unavoidable conclusion that they are simply wrong.

I’m concerned about health and safety at high altitude…

You’re only as safe as your guide’s ability to anticipate the onset of your succumbing to a critical altitude-related condition once the early warning symptoms start to manifest, and his decisiveness in implementing a rapid evacuation plan, if necessary, or in ensuring that you descend from that point with an assistant guide to a lower elevation, if acceptable.

My guides are all extremely attentive and astute and are in daily contact with me when on the mountain. We are grateful never to have lost a climber to date. Being involved with the media you probably noticed a group in the news recently who had a death at only 4,400m despite carrying all sorts of fancy and totally unnecessary equipment, which is deployed by certain companies that believe the fear-factor achieved in denigrating companies that don’t carry this unnecessary stuff achieves a marketing advantage for them. Our position is summarised on our mountain safety page.

I’m wondering whether to opt for the crater night and crater excursion…

We like to make very clear at the outset that with regards to the dangers associated with high altitude, there is a small but significant risk of developing severe AMS or pulmonary or cerebral oedema, amongst those staying overnighting in the crater. In order to best minimise this risk, we summit first prior to sleeping in the crater, thereby ensuring that we observe an imperative principle of acclimatisation, β€˜climb high, sleep low’, at this critical altitude.

You should also be aware that amongst those requesting to spend a night in the crater; around 20% change their minds while on the mountain after consulting with the guide and agreeing that they have failed to obtain a sufficiently safe level of acclimatisation for this option. You would need to be aware of all of these considerations before moving ahead with a crater excursion request.

If unable to find affordable flights to Kilimanjaro International Airport an alternative is that you fly to Nairobi, spend the night at a hotel there and transfer to Arusha via a six hour bus journey, crossing the border at Namanga. You’ll need a Kenyan tourist visa for this option which you can purchase at Nairobi airport when you arrive.

ξ…Ÿ

If there is heavy snow on the mountain it should be noted that reaching the summit can become more challenging than at other times of year, with your guide being required to cut and kick bucket steps for you.

ξ…Ÿ

Things that are included in the cost of your Kilimanjaro climb are:

ξ…Ÿ

On our Advantage Series, we ask that you divide your equipment into two parts: those things that you need to have with you while you trek, such as waterproof jacket and trousers, spare fleece, camera, batteries, personal medications, sun cream, 3 litres of water-carrying capacity, etc, and those things that you will only need to have access to in the evenings and mornings.

ξ…Ÿ

I have personally selected all of our chief guides, most of my assistant guides, some of my cooks and a small percentage of my porters. On the last selection course I ran, I started at 0545 in the morning with 220 porters and after beasting ourselves up and down our local training hill (Kivesi), having strength tests on the summit and a race back to TKBase there were only actually around 25 names that were permanently added to my staff list.

ξ…Ÿ

We do not actually keep statistics for summit success and I regret that none of the statistics that any company has so far published that I have seen, have been accurate.

ξ…Ÿ

The following responses are derived from correspondence with prospective climbers where similar issues have been raised on more than one occasion. Please check this list before asking us any of these questions so that we can aim to minimise delays on correspondence. The answers below are generally given in the first person as they are largely drawn directly from email correspondence.

ξ…Ÿ

You should remember that for many years the RGS denied even the existence of snow on Kilimanjaro because snow at such a location was obviously scientifically impossible, and the missionaries who reported seeing it were not scientifically qualified.

ξ…Ÿ