So you wanna climb Kili....

Faithful readers....

Despite reading a lot on the subject, there was a lot I found out ON THE MOUNTAIN. To make sure this doesn't happen to you, here's my list of tips for Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro.

If it isn't raining, the path is awesome - if it's rainy, it's crazy slippery

What I did well... pre-trip preparation/packing...

• Researched our tour operator and route.  Ultimate Kilimanjaro and the Lemosho route.  You can do your own research on what's best for you.  I'd highly recommend ours.
• Took a gamble on a group where we didn't know everyone.  It worked out AMAZINGLY.  It's really fun to get to know other people in a crazy circumstance which bonds you together.
• Bought some good hiking boots on a great sale.  I got these Scarpas for $125 instead of the $209 list price because I watched for the EMS boot sale.  I wore them hiking ~4 times and I wore them to the gym to walk on an incline of 15 on the StairMaster.  Get accustomed to your boots or you risk blisters and pain.  The first few times I wore them my ankles we really sore and it turns out I laced my boots too tight - if this happens to you, just wear them a bit looser.  Make sure you get fitted by a pro (and no, not everyone at REI/EMS is a pro) you'll be able to tell quickly when talking to someone if they know what they're talking about or not.
• Keep your receipts for gear you buy.  If it doesn't perform how it's supposed to (or comes unstitched, etc.) you should return it.  Also, you might find other gear you like better or is cheaper and want to return it.  Make sure the things you have are actually waterproof and actually wind proof.
• Trained.  A lot.  I ran a half marathon two weeks before and did (most) of the training for that.  We also hiked all over New England.  Lastly, I did a LOT of the stair master (1-2 hours a day every other day for almost 3 weeks before leaving).  I at no point thought, I can't do this.  The prep gave me a lot of comfort mentally that I was prepared.  Also, after the 3rd workout I started to sort of like the StairMaster... How's that for odd? If you don't train I think you'll feel under-prepared when you hear what everyone else in your group did to prepare.  Also those few in our group who didn't train much had a very very hard time getting to the top.
• Got the shots early.  Also the pills.  The jury is out if you need malara pills.  If you get Malarone, it can be ~$20 a pill.  Apparently CostCo sells it for around ~$3 a pill.  If you get Doxycycline you'll be very sensitive to the sun - bring SPF 1 zillion and reapply constantly.  
• Took the diamox generic -- 500mg extended release pills -- there's lots of thoughts out there on this, but take the extended release and 500mg.  The higher dose means you'll be peeing less and it's all safe -- emergency responders can take 1000mg.  Side effects which most people get include occasional tingly fingers or toes. Much much better than altitude sickness.  I can attest, I got altitude sickness climbing Mt Fuji.  It is miserable.
• Diamox and aspirin work together, so I took ~3 pills a day (my doctor said to take 6, but I thought I'd start out light given I'm small and usually take 1 for a headache). Bring enough for you, your partner and some to share.
• Bought a good day pack and wore it when I trained.  I don't wear a backpack ever, so after the first few times I wore it my shoulders were pretty sore.  I started wearing the pack with two wine bottles in it, and worked up to 4 or 5 bottles of wine wrapped in blankets with a few books to top it off.  This was amazingly helpful for practice.  I got the Osprey women's Tempest 20 and that was great.  It's normally $100 here but if you watch for sales, you can get 20% off several times a year.

  Our amazing guides

• Got a 3L hydration bladder for my day pack. Camelbak make nice ones, but there's a variety of brands.  Its key to be able to drink easily as you hike.  You need to stay hydrated and make it easy to do so.  When this thing is full, it's sort of heavy.
• Got some good hiking socks and liners.  The liners were a last minute Amazon purchase and I wore them to the gym twice before the trip.  I ended up really liking them and wearing them each day of the trip (yup only had one pair). I don't have sweaty/stinky feet though, so it was day 8 when I finally thought, it's good this is the last day I'm wearing these.  If you have sweaty feet, get a bunch.
• Got a cheap duffle from REI.  When I went to look them up the large was on sale for $20.73 here  but I used the medium which was $23.73 here.  It fit everything we needed and did the job.
• Rented a sleeping bag from Ultimate Kili -- they have really nice stuff, so we were glad we didn't spend a fortune on bags we don't have room to store.
• Rented trekking poles from Ultimate Kili.
• Rather then get a buff, wear a face mask with space for your nose that won't freeze -- I brought this for the last day and it kept my face warm.  While others complained their buff got icy and wet, mine stayed dry.  If you are going on safari after - the buff or a bandanna might be nice for keeping the dust out of your lungs.
• Brought lots of wet wipes and hand sanitizer - several small bottles you can tuck in pockets are better than one big bottle.  I got a resealable pack of wet wipes thinking about 3/pp/day and that worked out great.
• Got some sports sun glasses.  The typical ones Marc and I wear are the Ray Ban style - these wouldn't work on the mountain because it's very dusty and windy so getting sports sun glasses wrap better around your eyes for protection.
• I wore my Garmin watch and heart rate monitor that I use for training while running.  It does altitude, so it was fun to know how high we were at all times.  I needed to charge this guy so we brought this battery pack.  I used it to charge my phone, watch, other people's phones, Marc's phone, Marc's kindle and ipad.  We didn't use the kindle/ipad much, so I wouldn't bother bringing them.  With all the charging, our pack was at 50% at the end of the hike.
• Brought hand warmers and foot warmers.  We brought a bunch, but our guides told us what to wear/bring each day and he said no to the warmers until summit night.  Our feet warmers didn't work which was a pain.
• Brought floss and my electric toothbrush.  It's good to feel clean, even if it's only your mouth. Extra bonus, I use those floss sticks -- the pointy end when combined with a small section of baby wipe is one of the only ways you're going to be able to get the gunk out from under your nails.  When your nails are filthy it's hard to feel clean.
• Brought a blow up pillow.  The alternative is clothes.  Also I brought ear plugs though I didn't need them because I'm a good sleeper.  It was loud a few times though, especially when we went to sleep before 7pm to wake around 11pm for the summit attempt.  I brought an eye mask which was great for naps as it's pretty bright in the tent from 6am to 6pm. 
• Brought moleskin for our feet.  Our practice hikes revealed that there were areas on our feet that would feel sore afterwards - putting moleskin on these spots when we began our descent was a terrific move.
  

  Morning view and dew

• Packed light / stuck to the list.  When you meet the people who will be carrying all your stuff, you'll feel good about sticking to the packing list.  The only extras I brought were light sleeping clothes, a fleece vest and underwear for each day.
• Brought a bunch of USD that are more recent than 2002.  Between visas ($100 cash each), tip on the mountain ($250 cash each for an 8 day tour) plus food/drinks before and after the trip, if you go on a safari that tip plus money for any souvenirs.  It adds up fast. Bring a bunch. We spent ~$900 (our trip included a 3 day safari).
• Bring something you want to take a picture of at the top of the mountain -- a flag, college paraphernalia, company stuff, etc. that picture is one you might want to frame!
• Packed protein bars that don't melt or freeze and brought extra.  We budgeted 2/pp/day for us and then 2 extra a day to share. You stop with your guides and eating in front of people who don't have snacks isn't fun.  Bring extras and you'll be glad you did.  We didn't eat our snacks each day, but when we felt sick and didn't eat the meal we were glad to have protein bars.
• Put everything in plastic bags (grocery not ziplock) and labelled them.  Also packed them according to when I'd need them -- warm clothes for later in the trip, nighttime things, etc. Things in your day pack should be in ziplocks if they won't stay dry on their own, such as granola bars.
• Had a packing rehearsal about two weeks before we left.  This gave us a chance to think  - do we have everything?  Almost everything we were packing we didn't use in our daily lives, so it was easy to set things aside.  It also got us thinking about all the little things, band-aids, etc.
• Carried on the plane everything for climbing Kili - the REI bags fit in the overhead area, including our boots. We checked one suitcase for the two of us with our safari stuff.  Several people lost bags.
• If you're going with other people, you may wish to make a pact that if one of you can't make it, the others will continue on.  Discuss it beforehand.

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

What we did well in Tanzania....

• Arrived a day early.  We rented gear, relaxed and mentally prepared.  Our flights landed ~9 pm and after visas, lost luggage (don't check your hiking stuff!) finding our operator, driving there we arrived ~11 pm -- we were very glad we weren't hiking early the next morning.
• Take your Diamox in the morning.  If you're taking it 2x a day, take in the morning and afternoon - apparently taking it at night will keep you awake.
• Rented gaiters locally -- if you don't already own, then rent these - they keep you a little bit warmer if you're always cold and they keep your pants from getting muddy.  Since you re-wear those pants a lot, keeping them clean is a good move.
• Rented waterproof pants locally.  They weren't very waterproof, but they did the job because it only rained the first day a little bit and the second day a lot.  What was great though is that they fully zipped off so I didn't need to take off my boots.  I ended up wearing them most days (even though it wasn't raining) because they were pretty comfortable and I'm a chilly person (starting day three I wore my thermals too).  I knew this wasn't something I'd wear again which was my criteria for what I rented -- side note, the rental places in Moshi have a LOT of stuff at good prices which are very nice/ high quality.  I don't know where it comes from, but they have really good stuff, we were surprised.  Don't bother to reserve ahead of time, just show up and rent what you need.
• Packed toilet paper in a plastic bag in the side of my day pack for easy access.
• Kept my camera in a ziplock that was easy to access in my day pack.
• LABELLED our stuff at the hotel.  There were ~7 of us renting sleeping bags which all look identical.  We used the duct tape and marker the hotel was using to label the stuff we were leaving there and we labeled our black REI bags and our sleeping bags.  Boy was I glad we did that -- 3 out of the 7 nights we had sleeping bags that weren't ours in our tents and it was easily remedied since we knew whose was whose.  I also didn't want to mistake mine with Marc's -- after night two it developed an "aroma."
• Listened to our guides - they know a LOT, don't assume you know more than them.  They'll tell you everything you need to do.  Don't protest and DO NOT DISOBEY.  Two people almost got booted from our trip for not listening and that would have been horrible for them. Listen up and encourage your group to do the same.  They've been up ~200 times each, they've seen a lot.
• Developed a system -- after hiking, strip down from the waist up, wet-wipe clean, put on warm, dry clothes and then at night, take off boots/gaiters, etc. and change into something warm for sleeping - wet-wipe clean and go to bed clean(ish) in nice clean clothes.
• Un-intuitively, if you leave your tent vented a bit at night, you'll wake up with a less dripping wet tent inside.  It's so cold this feels like a horrible idea, but it's also terrible to wake up with everything being really wet.  Good advice from an avid camper.
• Shake out your sleeping bag at least every other day.  This was more solid advice from another avid camper. 
• Shared our mantras.  On our trip ours were "Everything is Awesome.... everything is cool when you're part of a team.... (from the Lego movie)" also "the mind always quits before the body."
• Was there for the group.  These people are with you for a significant amount of time... get to know them, enjoy them and encourage them.  Getting to the top together is your goal, it's no longer an individual activity. When people are having a tough time, cut them slack, remind them it's okay to go slow, check on them and ensure they feel like they're part of the group. Kili can be a mental game if you're not sleeping, always cold or feeling sick -- if it's not you, count your lucky stars and be empathetic to the less lucky.
• If you don't hit it off with everyone immediately, give people a second chance, or a third.  They might come around.  It will be more fun if they do.
• Exchange emails with the group -- for sharing pictures, reflecting later, etc.

Great success!!

What we could have done better...  aka - what I'd recommend for climbing Kili

• Included squats in my training.  You're going to be doing a LOT of squatting on the mountain. We don't need to talk about the state of the private toilet and far far worse, the long drops, but do your squats.
• Encouraged my guy to bring a second t-shirt.  The packing list says bring one, which was enough for me, but the guys wore them the first, second and last days and they got pretty smelly after day 1 which was pretty warm.  A second is a good idea.
• Brought lots of medicine and extra.  Almost everyone got sick, if we didn't have a nurse, an EMT and two pharmacists, we would have been in much worse shape.  Bring Imodium, cold medicine, aspirin, allergy meds, etc. 
• Brought individually wrapped wet wipes - mainly for expediting bathroom trips.
• Brought electrolyte powder or tabs for water.  I was fine with this, but people thought we were crazy for not bringing them - it is a way to jazz up the water, though it was stream fresh and tasted fine.
• Brought a deck of cards - lucky for us, some people on the trip brought some.  We played a lot of cards because we had lots of time to spare in the afternoons before dinner (generally we went to bed shortly after dinner... getting so much sleep was AWESOME).
• Put sunscreen on my hands.  I didn't think about this and using poles resulted in burned thumbs.  It looks supercool and we've been back for 2 weeks, so yeah, I wished I used SPF 1 zillion on my hands.
• If you're a coffee drinker, bring some instant stuff that you like, someone brought Starbucks and shared and our coffee drinkers were very happy.  It was a brilliant addition.
• Took more pictures.  In 8 days I took ~200... I was amazed when I returned.  Some days it was rainy, some days foggy, summit night I couldn't take my hands from my pockets! Force yourself to take lots of pictures.
• We didn't bring pee bottles.  I'm not sure how I feel about this, but bring a Gatorade bottle, or something similar so you can decide.  Ladies, maybe try the exercise in your tub to see how terrible it is.  I only had to get up one night early on to pee and it was terrible to get up in the freezing cold put on layers and go outside, but once I was there, I exclaimed "WOW!!" loud enough I thought I must have awoken the whole area (I didn't).  I've never been in such a dark remote location to  be able to see so so so many stars.  It was phenomenal.  That being said, I definitely didn't get up to do it again any night -- it's insanely cold outside the sleeping bag. 

Women only.... what I would recommend to you

See ya Kili!

• Bring panty-liners in case of needing to drip dry - it also keeps you feeling fresh if you remove after the hike -- saves changing underwear 2x per day
• Get a better version of the she-pee  - some of them have a few plastic pieces which are pretty handy.  Practice in the shower?  On the summit day I seriously wished I had a diaper, as it was insanely cold to pee behind a rock with the wind chill.

Last and most important tip - HAVE FUN. This is an amazing life experience and you'll have a great experience if you let yourself and prepare appropriately.

Have any other tips to share?  Please leave them in the comments below!

If you don't have access to my Google pictures, please let me know so I can send you a link.

Liz