Then it don’t matter. I’ll be all around in the dark - I’ll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there’s a fight, so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad. I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready, and when the people are eatin’ the stuff they raise and livin’ in the houses they build - I’ll be there, too.
At the set in Tokyo and on the plane to Shanghai.
How to climb Kilimanjaro via the Umbwe route in 4 days
Mount Kilimanjaro and Uhuru Peak - the highest mountain in Africa
Since 2005, when I first came to East Africa and Tanzania, working in aid and relief logistics for UNICEF und UNHCR, I have been coming back pretty much every year except 2009. However, it took me five years to finally climb Africa’s highest mountain and Tanzanian national symbol, Mount Kilimanjaro and its Uhuru Peak. I finally did on Easter 2010, together with a very good friend of mine. At 5890 meters, it’s no piece of cake to climb the highest volcano cone, the Kibo, but compared to other mountains of that height, it is relatively easy one has to admit. Consequently, we had to come up with something special to at least gain some respect from my friends (among them expert skiers, alpinists and former mountain infantrymen). We decided to take the Umbwe route, the hardest but most scenic, and do it in 5 days instead of 6. Two guys, not very experienced climbers, over-selfconfidence - it all sounded like the beginning of a TV show on mountain disasters. Information on the Umbwe route is rather limited in comparison to the well-known Machame and Marangu routes, and since we would probably have valued a deeper insight on how to climb this route - in even less time than planned - I decided to share our experience along with a couple of tips.
Umbwe route in 4 days - how to do it
The general guideline for doing the Umbwe route strongly recommends taking 6 days for reaching the summit and going down again. Park permits for this route are only issued on a 6-days-basis. And in general, the climbing companies, which you have to have and which provides you with food, porters, guides and everything else you need on the mountain, will charge you for 6 days anyway. We initially had planned to challenge this and do it in 5 days, but ended up doing it in even 4:
- day 1: from Umbwe Gate to Umbwe Cave (1980m to 2800m)
- day 2: from Umbwe Camp to Barranco Camp (2800m to 3900m)
- day 3: from Barranco Camp to Barafu Hut (3900m to 4600m)
- day 4: from Barafu Hut tu Uhuru Peak and down to Mweka Gate (4600m to 5890m to 1500m)
Overall 8300 meters difference in altitude, over 51 km distance.
Altitude sickness
Looking back, ascending up so fast was probably too quick. Even the guides seemed to be suffering a bit from the fast ascend during the summit push. I was doing fine despite headache that aspirin could cure and a moment of nausea once. However, many people have problems, and the only real tools against that are ascending slowly and drinking plenty. People who have attempted something similar had more severe problems, so it’s probably not advisable if you have no prior high-altitude mountaineering experience and have an understanding about how your body reacts to altitude.
General tips for climbing Kilimanjaro
- Do the Umbwe route. It’s very scenic and especially during the first day, you’ll probably be totally on your own. You will sleep in tents all the way, no huts here. Only 2% of climbers do it.
- Prepare for some heavy rain without any cover. It hit us on the high plateau at Barranco Camp and we got totally soaked. Our guide had an Umbrella - not a bad idea. Since the rain can come at any time but typically doesn’t last too long, I’d even consider a plastic tarp to just hold out until it’s over.
- If you bring a Camelbak, buy insulation for it. My water froze on the summit ascend which leaves you basically without drinking water. With bottles, you should be fine.
- Observe your climbing speed and adjust your ascent accordingly. It turned out we were ascending quite fast overall, which made us to the final leg up to the summit about an hour faster than expected - which meant we were there in total darkness and saw sunrise only on the descend.
- Descend in one day. It’s not pretty but doable. The way down is not at all as scenic as the ascent via the Umbwe route, so you won’t miss much. For the major part, it’s the express highway aka Marangu highway.
- Don’t spend 4 hours building a wind tunnel to dry your shoes at almost 4000m altitude. It won’t work and you waste a lot of energy by carrying stones around. Too bad we only realized this after building this nice thing:
What’s next? For me, looking at some other mountains. But there’s plenty of nice tours left even at home. For those looking for an additional modification to the standard Kilimanjaro trek, have a look at Matt Cutts’ blogpost about how he climbed Kibo and camped at the summit crater.
What? Now summit picture?
Okay, here it is. On the left is Jon, whom I met on the mountain.
