Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

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jbealer
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Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by jbealer »

Hello,
My husband and I are leaving March 11th for an 8 day trek up the Lemosho route on Kili, starting on the 15th followed by a 2 day safari. The company is not super informative on gear ( i have emailed them and still not much more help), the list is basic compared to the list i received to do Rainier. I hope some of you can give me some insight if you have been there in March or if what i am planning on bringing will be good or not needed. All i know from what i have heard from a few friends and on the FB page is that it will be cold on the summit push and that we move so slow it is hard to get warm. I run really cold and have raynaud's.
this is our first time traveling so far and for a BIG mountain so im really over thinking everything!

Here is what i have so far pulled out to pack.
90l duffel bag
quick dry towel
no rinse shampoo and body wash or wet wipes
plug convertor to charge stuff up in hotel
no jet lag pills (do they work?!)
hand sanitizer
bug spray
30spf sunscreen and lip balm
water tablets
rain pants and light weight rain coat
floppy hat
solar light with usb charger for trek
pee bottle
air pillow
Big anges 0 degree bag with BA insulated air pad with theromlite reactor extreme liner (me)
mountain smith 20 degree bag with rei insulated air pad with a theromlite reactor liner (husband)
baffin cush booties to sleep in (me)
OR trailblazer mountaineer pants for summit day
Marmot softshell jacket
darn tough mountaineer socks
R1 patagonia hoodies
Rab neatrino jacket (me)
OR Meteor Mittens
glove liners
balaclava
bennie
spikes for boots

then the normal hiking things
convertible pants (how many pairs?)
Long sleeve shirts (how many?)
tee shirts (how many?)
baselayer bottoms and tops, not heavy weight
socks, bras, undies
hiking boots
sneakers
poles
head lamp
sunglasses
gaiters
33l day pack
water bottles-3

biggest questions are:
will our sleeping bags be warm enough, i am thinking an over night winter camping trip might be in order? they list a 3 season bag they will supply but that sounds gross.
does my husband need a puffy jacket or will his Columbia 3 in 1 be enough, they just list a windproof,waterproof mountain jacket
do we need more fleeces to layer?
what are some good heavy weight baselayer bottoms, everything i see looks really thin.
should i just pack my snowboarding insulated pants for summit day or just get good heavy baselayers with my OR pants.
is it worth bringing my 200g insulated boots for the last 2 day push for my cold toes or are they just gonna be cold no matter what
i have heard toe and hand warmers will be useless above 14k, worth still bringing some?
i want to rent a Sony A6500 camera with a 18-200mm lens wondering if it will freeze up there, if anything it should be good for the safari.

any insight would be great if you have been there, I want to leave some time to buy stuff if needed.
Thank you!
No Mountain too steep, No trail too long....
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douglas
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Re: Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by douglas »

I used a 15 degree bag and took a bag liner that I never used. I was plenty warm at night.
Bring LOTS of wet wipes - you will be very dusty.
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emcee smith
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Re: Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by emcee smith »

Below is what I clipped from my TR a few years back. Certainly check out other guides websites for gear information. Alpine Ascents has a good gear list that suited me well (other than what was noted below).

Second the recommendation for baby wipes. As noted below, they were helpful. Also, strongly consider your med kit and immunizations if you haven't already. Some of those I think you will need to take several months before departure. I got the rabies vaccination in addition to all the usual ones. Rabies vac is very expensive; most of your risk will be down low, but the consequences are interesting to read about

You might check with your guides as to the guide/client ratio. We had 3 different sub groups on summit day so that each group could move at an efficient pace. I was in our second group, and we moved at a good pace to keep warm but not exhausted.



Most of the gear on the AAI list was as expected. Some of the specifics that I noted are below:

- Gaiters: I took some of the REI desert gaiters. They worked marginally, but I really wished I had my normal (snow) gaiters. I was hesitant because I thought it would be hot, but they would have been much better to keep my pants clean and dry, and would have been much better for keeping rocks out of my shoes on the descent.
- Umbrella/Poncho: The guide's secret. Yes, rain pants/jacket were essential, but most of the chances of rain are down low (so it was always hot to have the rain gear on), and didn't last very long. Either or both the umbrella/poncho would have been great to deploy quickly.
- Camp shoes: I took my low top trail runners, and some waterproof light hikers (on the list). I only wore my hikers on summit day and the last day down, to protect my toes. It would have been nice to change into a pair of Crocs or similar around camp, to give my feet a break from my trail runners. (this wasn't horrible though, but would have been if they were wet)
- R1 Hoodie: I debated on taking this (heavier weight top). I left it out thinking that it would have only been useful summit night. It would also have been useful as evening wear, as it tended to get cool late in the afternoon. I may have risked taking this and leaving my softshell (still would have had down jacket). It certainly would have worked for our conditions
- Steripen: Was worried about failure and batteries, as well as the condition of our water (cloudy). If I had been more inquisitive about the water situation, a Steripen would have been great. I used chlorine pills, so had to be somewhat strategic about the 4hr wait time, while the pen would have been immediate.
- T.P: The porters supplied TP at the tents, so I could have left a bunch of mine at home. Hard to beat the "insurance" value though.
- Wet wipes / baby powder / deodorant: I brought a lot of this for the smell, as I had heard that some of the tents smell bad (ours didn't). These all ended up being useful for the self care aspect, and just all around made me feel better each day.
- Drink mix. I took a lot, I only used a few. Even though the chlorine has a smell, I was fine with plain water most of the time, but having some for the electrolytes was good. Take the full on Gatorade or equivalent, not just zero calorie Crystal Light. May as well get the calories too.
- Solar Charger / Electronics: NOTE: clipped from my report. Just take a battery pack or two.
- Snacks: I am a picky eater, so took a bunch, and only ended up with 3. I had cashews that I could have left at home, and replace with cookies. These were a godsend on summit day. I had 6 servings of Gu for summit day, and took it all.
- Neck gaiter/bandana: Has been mentioned repeatedly, but great for the dust.
- Medicine: I never got bit by a mosquito. I took doxycycline and was OK with it, for the stomach bug prophylactic effect, but our guide said Malaria is not much of an issue unless you go on safari or to the beach. I carried diamox, but never took it. I carried Advil (took 2 one night) and Excedrin (2x2 on summit night). I left the insect repellant behind. Rest of my kit was standard, didn't use/abuse anything enough to mention
- Purell: Always in my pocket and heavily used.
- Goodies: One of the guys brought the schnapps and shared. One gal gave me a candy bar as a birthday gift. I would recommend taking something that you can dole out at dinner; it will make you popular.
- Money: I contributed $250 to the porters (we had 53 I think) which our guide gave out. I carried about $100 on the hike (beer on the last night and souvenirs at the Mweka gate). For town, you need new bills, the smaller the better. I wish I would have got/brought a bunch of 0.5 and 1 euro coins, as it is easy to fish those out of pockets for tips without having to flash your wad.
"Chug a luggin up one side, glidin down the other, [I'm] a lover of the other side of the hill"
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emcee smith
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Re: Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by emcee smith »

to your other cold gear questions, you could also compare a gear list for Aconcagua or Denali and up-substitute when needed. For me, I think the only warm(er) weather gear they recommended for Aconcagua was a warmer parka and gloves which I did not wear (we had great summit weather).

I took a 0 degree bag and was plenty warm. You will roast down low. I think hand warmers and foot warmers should work fine. Just be sure to get the foot specific ones as they work with less airflow.

Lastly, our guide was helpful in that you will want to layer up/down without taking anything off. Makes sure that you can get your outer layers over your inner layers.
"Chug a luggin up one side, glidin down the other, [I'm] a lover of the other side of the hill"
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Re: Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by matt pierce »

I would consider not taking a 90l duffle but a few smaller duffles. I think they would be easier for the porters to break up loads.

I've been twice. I would recommend a 0 degree bag, even though it will be too warm down low. It gets damn cold above 15,000ft.

Big puffy? YES - you will regret not having a full parka on summit night as you slowly slog up over 4,000 of gain at 1AM. It's gonna be COLD.
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Re: Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by matt pierce »

Looks like you live in Denver, if the temps drop in the next few weeks (like we had recently) just go lay outside on the deck in your sleeping bag and see how it goes at say...15 degrees

"i want to rent a Sony A6500 camera with a 18-200mm lens" - overkill for the mountain (and you and/or the porters wont want to carry it) - good for safari though
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Re: Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by jbealer »

thank you 2 for the info so far! i am making notes. Keep the pointers coming people!

the Steripen i do not have but will see if someone will lend me for the trip, i had another friend mention it to.
Matt, the camera is a mirror-less one and pretty light, my friend has one and takes it backpacking with her all the time with a backpack clip, would hate to not have fabulous images on this trip....but worried about battery life up high and will be mad if they die on me, oh the struggles!
I think we will test our bags before we go, they do offer them to us and thats a fall back plan.
is renting our own potty worth it, i have read it is... $150 for the group, not sure if anyone else is booked with us yet, was going to check in next month about that to figure out tipping as well.
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Re: Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by Craig Barlow »

If you have an extra battery for the camera, keep it in a jacket pocket against your body on summit night and it should stay pretty warm. Then, if the first one dies, swap out the batteries and store the dead one against your body. It should warm it up and bring it back to life somewhat. This has worked for me in the past on cold nighttime climbs.
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Re: Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by I Man »

My wife and I are in Moshi right now, leaving for the Machame route tomorrow. We will let you know how it goes!
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MountainMo
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Re: Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by MountainMo »

Hi - my wife and I climbed the Machame Route in mid August 2018. For sleeping bag rating, I used a 15 degree bag and was never cold (she had a Nemo 0 bag which was great as it has "thermogills" that allow you to adjust the bag to 30 degrees when down lower on the mtn). Guide made a good point that the only time you are sleeping at 15,000 ft is summit night and you are really only there to "sleep" for a few hours between dinner and 11pm. Good sleeping pad is a must (our guides offered to carry both their typical client pads along with ours - so we had two layers).

We had 95L North Face base camp duffel bags which worked well, not an issue for the porters to carry at all. Yes to renting a private toilet - the public ones at each camp were beyond terrible. We did take Diamox starting on the morning of the 3rd day? (base of the Barranco Wall) - wasn't feeling terrible but felt like the right thing to do - all climbers in our group did the same thing and it worked well.

Trailrunners for every day except summit day (we had little to no rain entire trip) - mountain had more snow than normal this past August so once to crater rim we were hiking on thin trail between penitente's - was glad to have boots for both warmth and support on last day (up and down). Dust is typically a challenge, but we were very fortunate as it was minimal our entire trip - but we all had neck gaiters handy.

For the safari, one in our group had the Nikon p900 and it was off the charts ($600 new) - only downside is no RAW format, but the pictures and zoom were great. Magical trip for both Kili and the safari, plan to tip well - you will get close to your guides and many of the porters. Look up the words to the Kilimanjaro song before you go - you will be singing/dancing with the porters most mornings and the song is fun (and hard to get out of your head).

One thing I read that helped was to embrace each day for that moment - the summit will come, but the magic of the trip is the journey (so don't be so focused on the summit that you miss making each day its own). First day was our "fastest" hiking day, after that it was a consistent hike primarily on Class 1 terrain. Summit night is cold/windy as you near the crater rim so Yes to a down parka, plus liners with your warm mittens. The view as the sun is coming up is beyond words - and the warmth after sun hit is oh so nice. Enjoy the trip! Mountain Mo.
Last edited by MountainMo on Mon Jan 07, 2019 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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aiyers
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Re: Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by aiyers »

The list you have is pretty good. You will be fine with that. Which route are you taking?

I did Kili in Oct 2017 via Rongai route. Took use 4 days to Summit and a day to come down.
At the lower elevation it is pretty warm (gets a bit chilly at night/early am). Once the sun is up, it get very warm.
I have a REI 15 deg down sleeping bag I used for several of my hikes (EBC, Kili, etc) and it kept me warm. Take your sleeping bag, the ones they provide will not be warm! One of the guys in my group was not happy with those.

- Gaiters: I don't have them and did not feel the need for it as wore my backpacking boots. There was no dirt/rocks in my boots during descent and we walked down fast in loose dirt/scree as two of the folks in my group were feeling altitude sickness at summit.
- Umbrella/Poncho: I had my Mamut rain jacket but never needed them.
- Camp shoes: It will be nice to have, but adds weight IMO. I wore my hiking boots all the time. On the safari, I just wore my sandals all the time.
- Steripen: If you have it, take it. I used it on all the water the guide gave us. I actually purchased it for my Kilimanjaro hike. I took extra set of batteries but never needed them.
- T.P: I carried my own from home. The ones you get over there are not soft and it will feel like sandpaper! :)
- Hand sanitizer - really useful. But, the tour company provided us with hot water to wash up at every camp. It was really nice.
- Bug spray - We did not come across any bugs or mosquitoes.
- I wore thermal layer (pants) and wore my ski pants on the top. That kept me pretty warm on summit day. It really was not that cold up...
- Camera - I had my Nikon D7000 with 18-200 lens. No issues with those.
- Potty rental - A guy in our group rented it, but did not use it at all. The toilets on Rongai route was pretty clean as there were very few climbers on that route. If your route sees a lot of traffic, then it might be worth it.

If your tour company provides mattress, please get/rent it. It really makes sleeping comfortable.

Pants - I just wore one since it was only 5 day trip for us. Took extra underwear and changed it though. Feels a lot better with the change.
Also took 3 pairs of socks and changed only once as my feet do not sweat a lot. This may be personal preference though.

On summit day, I had two base layers (one of them mid) , followed by my down jacket (GoLite Bitteroot 850). It got quite windy near Gilman point and I put on my rain jacket/wind blocker. Once I reached the summit, I did not need it and took it off for descent.

Take water bottle for the summit hike. They will all freeze anyway. My hydration pack and my water bottle both froze. Luckily, my guide had a big can of some energy drink which he gave me. That helped a lot. I still do not know how to keep the water from freezing...

The tents blocked the wind and kept us warm the whole time. Honestly, we did not feel much cold at all in October. I am not sure how it in other months or other routes. Rongai was very dusty so anyone going that route, please take really good masks. I kept coughing due to black ash the first two nights.

You will have a blast! Don't miss the Ngorongoro Crater...

Cheers!
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Re: Kilimangaro in March~Gear help

Post by spiderman »

Kili is not as hard as you fear. Each day is only a few hours of hiking and you only need to carry a water bottle, snack, and perhaps an extra layer of clothes. A 10L convention bag might be more appropriate than a real 33L pack. Most people were carrying way too much crap for such easy strolls on trails.

For summit day, we were just carrying a flashlight and a water bottle, and selected trail runners instead of boots. We were warm enough at 15k with just a 20 degree bag because you have to wake up at midnight. I wouldn't worry too much about your packing list. You can always yogi stuff if you forgot an item. You will never be alone on the mountain! A nice puffy for the peak is important because you will have to walk so slowly in a guided group. The top is frigid before dawn.

Kili is certainly nothing like Aconcagua or other more challenging Seven Summits.
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