Tanzania: Caspar's 100 Reasons You Won't Make It Up the Mountain

On our first day in Tanzania, Alex and I did what we had to do...we slept in.  We were the last people down to breakfast.  They had actually already cleared up breakfast, but were kind enough to make something for us.  We didn't actually miss breakfast time...it went until 10.  It was just 9:40 when we made it down there and they thought everyone had already eaten breakfast.

After breakfast we had our pre-trek meeting.  We met our guides for the trip and our fellow trekkers, as well.  We were a crew of nine trekkers and four guides, but that wouldn't be all who would be joining us.  We had a whole crew whose job it would be to feed us, and take our gear and tents up the mountain.  And they were amazing at it.  All of them.  If I had to carry everything, I wouldn't have made it to the first camp.

Besides Alex and myself, our fellow trekkers were Ashely, Bre, Tim, and Jay (who we met the evening before), and then Mimi, Ben, and Sunny.  We hailed from across the United States, pretty much literally.  From Southern California to New England, with a surprisingly large Kansas contingent (besides myself, Sunny and Ben were also from Kansas).  We also ranged from 20s to 60s, so Kilimanjaro is for everyone!

As we headed into our meeting, Alex and I were sizing up our fellow trekkers and felt that the good news was no one looked like they were a professional mountaineer or were the star athlete at their local gym.  We felt we fit right in and wouldn't be outliers.

Our guides introduced themselves.  Caspar was our lead guide and had been in the industry for something like 14 years.  Our assistant guides were Emmanuel (8 years), Simon (12 years), and Joseph (2).  We felt were in good hands.  They had been doing this for a while, and had actually already done 2 trips up the mountain prior to our own, this year!  After introductions we got into the good part...Caspar's reasons why you won't make it up the mountain...or so we joked afterwards, that that is what it seemed to be.  In reality, Caspar just wanted to make sure we were ready and had everything we needed.

The route we'd be taking up the mountain was the Lemosho Route.  It is one of the longest routes, but also the most successful because of the extended time it takes to go up.  The altitude is the problem-child of conquering Mount Kilimanjaro.  At 19,341 feet, it is only a mile or so higher than anything I've ever experienced before.  We'd start our trip in the rainforest before moving higher up into the moorland area.  Eventually we'd moved up into the high desert area, before climbing to the summit.

In our meeting we also talked about meds.  Diamox, yes!  Aspirin, no.  Stick to ibuprofen.  Everyone on our trip except Alex took Diamox to help reduce the issues related to high altitude.  Their recommendation was to take 250mg at breakfast each morning on the way up.  It was best not to take it in the evening because one of the side effects is the fact you need to pee a lot.  We took many "Diamox Breaks" on the way up.

Water!  Drink lots and lots of it.  We were told we should drink 4-6 liters a day!  That is A LOT of water.  More fluids should help reduce the issues related to altitude sickness.  It also means you need to pee a lot...if the Diamox wasn't making you do that before.

After our meeting, we had to go up to our rooms and get all of the gear we'd be taking with us on the trip so they could make sure we had everything we needed.  They checked it all.  It made me so nervous.  What if I missed something?!  But it is obviously better to find you forgot something before taking off to the mountain, than realizing you forgot it halfway up.  Good news was I passed muster.  Everything was ready to go...except now I had to repack because I took everything out to show them I had it.

When we were done, Alex and I headed to lunch where we met up with Jay, Ben, and Sunny.  Conversation was easy between everyone, which seemed to be great news.  We were told that we should be a family by the end and I think we accomplished that by day 2.  For dinner that night, all 9 of us ate together at the hotel and got to know each other better.

The next morning we were to have everything packed and be downstairs ready to go.  Our duffel bags needed to be under 15 kg/33 lbs, so we all nervously hung our bags on the scale to check their weight.  All passed that first test (or maybe second test if you count the "did you pack everything you needed" test).  We were allowed to leave a bag behind at the hotel so everything we didn't need on the mountain stayed behind.  When the bus showed up, everything was put on and we were on our way to the Londerossi Gate where we'd register and eat lunch, before heading up the mountain.