world reviewer
Mount Kilimanjaro-How Hard is it to Climb?
I have to clarify a giant misconception about Mt. Kilimanjaro. It is not easy! We were climbing in a group of 7 strong individuals who had just finished cycling 4500 km in tough conditions from deserts in Sudan, to altitude in Ethiopia and we all agree, it was one of the most physically challenging experiences of our lives. However, also one of the most exhilarating. I am happy to say that we all made it to the summit. Congrats to Rod and Dave P, Connor, Bent, Kristen, Dave and Me!
What a great fun group. To give you an idea of what we were up against, there was another group of 22 people at our camp during our descent and only 9 reached the summit. We past several parties on our way down after reaching the top who were throwing up, giving up and wanting to go on, but had no chance of making it because they just had too far to go. Bent saw the rescue stretcher being carried up as well, (don’t know what happened there), and we all saw this one guy literally being carried up by his guide. Crazy!
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Comments
Makes me nervous about trying to make this trek myself! Congrats on making it...you didn't quite scare me away though!
~Shannon
It is definitely do-able for everyone if you don't have a problem with altitude and if you are in reasonable shape. There is just a misconception out there that it is easy. Almost immediately after we finished the climb we even forgot how hard it was. As we were sitting in Zanzibar relaxing by the beach we were telling everyone how easy it was. But luckily, I had to write and article for a newspaper, so I was keeping a journal as we climbed. The last day of the climb is extremely hard. The altitude is tough, its cold, its exhausting and a very very long day. The rest of the days are pretty enjoyable, but the last day makes up for that quickly. Cheers!
I am sure it can't be that hard if a bunch of Radio 1 'celebrities' can do it. But then again, they had their own doctors and support team, so I guess its a different story.
I remember doing this climb when I was 22. I guess it depends on the route you take - we took 3 days up and 2 days down, the standard route, and it was tough at the end, when we got up at 3am to reach the summit by sunrise, but by no means undoable by a semi-fit 22 yr old. However, it would be a different story now!
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Dave and Deb
Debra Corbeil and Dave Bouskill are an adventure couple from Canada. Together they have traveled to over 30 countries on 5 cont…
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