Well my final blog entry before the attempt. We leave the house at 2:45am tomorrow morning (Sunday) for a 6:30am flight from Heathrow to Amsterdam and then onto Kilimanjaro International Airport.
So what to report?
Well we are all packed and it’s possibly worth re-visiting a couple of changes on the kit front. Having purchased the two military arctic extreme sleeping bags from eBay (see previous kit post) we are only using one of them as the wife (Kha Koon) borrowed a more expensive sleeping bag from someone who has climbed Kili previously.
I was then left with the decision as to whether to take the "Royal Marines Commando Arctic Weather Sleeping System". Rated to -30degC (2nd hand) or the absolutely brand new "US Issue extreme cold weather sleeping bag" again rated to -30degC for myself. In the end the UK one got the vote because it is lighter by 2 Kg and stuffs up more compactly, and I was happier in it than I was in the US bag which was a much more ‘mummy’ design and felt claustrophobic. Having said that the UK bag doesn’t exude as much confidence that it will keep me warm at extreme temperatures as the brand new US extreme cold bag, so I hope I don’t live to regret the decision.
The other thing we have added to the kit list on advice from the Tanzania tour organiser is metal drinking bottles. What they do, apparently, is fill them up with boiling water in the evening. You then stick them in the sleeping bag as a hot water bottle and then it’s your first litre of drinking water the next day – smart! We found these in Chepstow discount shop for £3 (~US$5) each!
Other than that, we are pretty relaxed on the kit front. Most of the stuff has been purchased from discount shops or the ‘cheap’ supermarket outlets. For example the head torches came from Lidls. They cost about £3 (~US$5) each as compared with up to £15 (~US$25) and more elsewhere. They are adequate and will do the job. We even purchased a spare!
We have lots of wet wipes, energy bars, sealable plastic bags (to bring ‘stuff’ down off the mountain and ensure we are not littering the place), etc.
Another ‘necessity’ we have packed is 2 x 2.25 litres wine boxes for the Monday evening (i.e. on our way back down having, hopefully, has a successful climb). That is 4.5 litres between seven of us – should be just about enough :~)
The good news was that we booked our flights last year when KLM had a ‘two baggage piece’ policy. This means that in addition to our kit we can take a load of stuff out for the school we are supporting. We have two cardboard boxes full of pens, pads, books suitable for primary schools kids, wall charts, and even a couple of old Dell laptops – although I’m not 100% sure the school has electricity. If not, they can sell the laptops and use the cash elsewhere.
We have our medicines and have already start taking Malarone the anti-maleria drug. We do have Diamox with us but there is a wealth of conflicting advice as to whether to take it.
Wikipedia neatly summarises how Diamox works: “The drug forces the kidneys to excrete bicarbonate, the conjugate base of carbonic acid. By increasing the amount of bicarbonate excreted in the urine, the blood becomes more acidic. Acidifying the blood stimulates ventilation, which increases the amount of oxygen in the blood”. It continues: “Note that acetazolamide [aka Diamox] is not an immediate fix for acute mountain sickness; it speeds up part of the acclimatization process which in turn helps to relieve symptoms”.
The debate on whether to take Diamox is fairly neatly summed up in this thread from the Lonely Planet travel forum.
So, on one hand it seems that Diamox can have a beneficial effect by speeding up the acclimatization process and relieving symptoms. However, not only are there side effects but also there is a danger that Diamox can masks the symptoms of AMS (“acute mountain sickness”) which can be fatal. The first side effect is that it is a diuretic and therefore you could not only spend a lot of time by the side of the trail or leaving the tent at night, but also become dehydrated. Other side effect is apparently an uncomfortable tingling ‘pins and needles’ sensation in the fingers and toes.
So we have the drug but no-one in the team is planning to take it as a matter of course and we will make the decision on the mountain. We are hoping not to have to use it. The Machame route is a gradual route with time for acclimatization (unlike the Marangu route) and is a ‘climb high sleep low’ route (see the route profile here).
Well in one weeks time I hope to be en route to Barafu Camp from where we plan to make our summit ascent at 12:30am on Sunday 11th July aiming to be at Uhuru Peak at around daybreak. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes. We are planning to tweet at least daily (there should be a mobile phone signal all the way) so you can follow us here: www.twitter.com/kilitweets.
The only thing I know for sure is that “No plan survives the 1st encounter with the enemy” and it’s not always clear who or what the enemy is – only that there will be one. So, in summary, the chances that it will all go to plan (which is broadly: arrive in Tanzania, swan up Kilimanjaro tweeting as we go, summit and descend to a night of wine drinking) is approaching zero percent – we will soon find out how it goes.
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