Mt Kilimanjaro Preparation

Firstly I would like to say a BIG thank you to Stephanie @ Kusudi-La and Sean @ Adventure Dynamics for making the trip possible. It was one of a kind and man was it amazing. Both the adventure on the mountain but also the one getting to the mountain.

Altitude

I live (approx) 1500m above see level, so I am not a stranger to being at altitude. I do believe this played a large part to my success and was definitely a helping factor to the altitude of Kili.

The Height of the first evening was approximately this altitude.

Fitness

My training regime was not the most stringent, although I have / do run 21km ( half marathon ) and am quite active.

Hiking

Probably one of the key things to having a successful trip, is being able to stay on your feet for a couple hours a day, and there really is no better way of doing this then joining a hiking club and getting active in the mountains.

Kusudi-La has an active group in South Africa, and welcome anyone to join them. They are doing it with the purpose of getting those involved up a mountain, BUT they take everyone with them and are an amazing group of people.

I know my experience was made a WHOLE lot better because of the group involved!

The Stairs

Every other weekend I would either be walking and training at Westcliff Stairs and in the process I was able to get to know some of the regulars. An amazing group of people and surely an inspiration to me.

On my stairway to heaven, I also met a number of others who were training for their own mountain adventures, the feeling of doing something with a purpose felt by me.

Before the climb I was easily doing up to 2 hours of stairs with 15kg backpack.

Training Time

Before the trip, I was probably training 5 days a week and two of those were walking / running and 3 was general strength training.

I would not recommend doing less, the mountain is large and you will want all the strength you need and finding out you did not do enough on the mountain is to late.

The group you go with will most likely give you a training schedule you should follow to make your trip a success.

Mentality and Prep

Leading up to the trip, my mental capacity and focus was on one thing and one thing alone, getting to the top of the mountain.

This was not necessarily a good thing, as a year earlier I had started a business with a couple of amazing people.

Saying this, I planned for everything, from wrapping my daily clothing in zip lock bags, just in case it rained( in the non rainy season), to planning how much to eat, when to eat and my drinking habits.

I know everyone says this, but listen to your team, don’t do anything stupid and be SAFE! You can plan as much as me and more but if the altitude does not agree with you it may be safer to turn back. The lack of oxygen does weird things, and the plan will always go sideways.

If you want to talk to me or get advice email me or get hold of Sean or Stephanie and I am sure they will help you get to the top.