The climb in numbers - what, when and how

A lot of people have been asking me about the route we are taking, how long it will take and how far we will walk.  I thought I'd do a post all about the climb itself, giving you the climb in numbers, a few stats about each day to give you a flavour of what's in store.

We will be climbing the Lemosho Route - a seven day 'walk' in total.  We chose this route for a number of reasons.  It is not the most popular route with tourists, therefore it will be quieter - and that mean less people to hide from when 'using the facilities' 😉.  Also, most routes are five days in total, that means you get to the top a lot quicker - and that means you are more likely to suffer from altitude sickness.  The key to success is speed, or rather the lack of it.  The slower you go the more likely you are to acclimatise to the altitude, and therefore you are more likely to reach the summit.  Seven days is the perfect length to give us maximum chance of success.

Here is a breakdown of the trek, day by day:

Day One
7.30 am - pick up from hotel for transfer to Longdorissi Gate for registration.  This transfer will take approx. 2 hours (111km).  Following registration we are back in the bus for a further transfer to the starting point.  This can take anywhere between 45 mins and 1 hour 30 mins, depending on the road conditions.  Please pray for good weather as otherwise the bus won't make it through and we will need to walk a 180 meters vertical ascent and a 1.9k trek just to get to the starting point!!

From the Lemosho starting point (2424m) we walk 5.4 km, over 400m of elevation gain to Forest Camp (2821m).  If we are lucky enough we may see some wildlife on this part of the trek.

Day Two
Trek from Forrest Camp to Shira 1 Camp (3508m) on the western edge of Shira Plateau.  The distance is 7.7km.

There is then an optional acclimatisation ascent to Shire Ridge (395km) - Kilimanjaros third volcanic summit) for some great views of Kibo (thats the summit!!).  We then descend to sleep lower at Shira 1 Camp.  This excursion is an additional distance of 7.6km

Day Three
Trek from Shira Camp to Moir Hut (4166m) across Shira Plateau before rising along the flank of a re-entrant.  Height gain 658m.  Distance of this bit is 9.4km.

We then have a sunset acclimatisation before dinner to 4505m of ridge.  A total of 1.9km.

Day Four
Trek clockwise along the northern slopes from Miur Hurt (4166m) via Pofu (4040m) to 3rd Caves Camp (3971m).  This is the longest days walk at 17km.

Day Five
This is a harder day as we trek upwards from 3rd Caves Camp (3971m) to School Hut (4722m).  Although a shorter distance than the last two days at just 4.9km, there will be a height gain of 751m.

On day five we get an early night, in fact so early we go to bed in the middle of the afternoon to get as much sleep as we can - as day six is approaching and thats summit day!!

Day Six
We ascend from School Hut (4722m) via Hans Meyer Cave (5243m) and Gilmans Point (5708m), to Uhuru Peak (5895m).  WE ARE THERE!!  Then we descend to Crater Camp for the night (5729m).

We start the climb to the summit some time around midnight in order to reach the summit between 4am and 5am.  This is to get the best chance of clear views from the top as the sun rises (weather permitting).

It is then usual to descend to Mweka Camp (3090m) for the night for sleep, relief, giggles, stories from the top etc.

Distances on this summit day are:

School Hut to summit - 5.4km
Summit to Barafu - 4.5km
Barafu to Mweka Camp - 6.3km
Total - 16.2km

Day Seven
Descend from Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate (1641m) where we sign the summit register (all being well!).  Thens its just a short 15min walk to our driver....a seat, the hotel, the bath, a toilet, running water, a bar, soap, toilet roll, electricity, phone signal, civilisation....heaven!  Todays walking distance is 8.5km.

And thats it....just a short 78.6km walk up a small hill.

School Visit

Just a quick update while I have your attention on the school visit.  This week we have taken delivery of some re-conditioned laptops from Ashik and Dips in our IT department.  They spent their time over the Christmas break getting the laptops set up for the school and have kindly donated them to our collection.  I'm sure the laptops will be grateful received by the staff at Ikirwa School and will be put to good use.

We have also received 125 Commvault branded school bags, which are brightening up the HR department at the moment.  They are lovely, the only issue is that they all now need to be packed with all the goodies we are filling them with for the children at the school before we can ship them off to Tanzania.

The bags are being packed with notebooks, pens, pencil cases, colouring pencils, t-shirts, water bottles and sweets.  Oh, and lets not forget the 30 footballs and massive pile of books and games that have also been donated.  Commvault employees are great!!