We were lucky to attend a Kilimanjaro information night at our new favourite store, the Great Outdoors in Chatham Street. Whatever notions we had of being somewhat prepared were quickly dispelled as we listened with growing fascination at the details of what was to come. (By "fascination", I mean "horror", and by "details", I mean "catalogue of unimaginable tortures".)
We learnt that not only did we need a sleeping bag that would allow us to sleep comfortably at -15C while wearing thermal underwear and huddled against each other in a shivering pile (I'm exaggerating...slightly), but also that we could contract cholera and the plague while in Tanzania. We learnt that we should only take anti-diarrhoea medicine if the diarrhoea was "inconvenient" (er?), and that some of the symptoms of altitude sickness are confusion, irritability, and of course, death.
Ah ha ha ha..how we laughed.
The presentation was fantastic and we were informed as to why we need the A4 page, tiny font, single spaced essay of items on our equipment list. Every item is necessary (unfortunately!), although I do wonder how ye olde climbers did these things without the 2 litre "hydration systems", sweat-wicking tops, lightweight yet supportive boots, and AirZone breathable adjustable backpacks with zillions of pockets, a raincover, clips and bells and whistles (seriously), like this one. (It's really cool.) Also, we hear tales of the more experienced porters down there who breezily trot up and down the mountain in flip flops while carrying the Mzungu's luggage.
(An aside - mzungu is used to denote a person of European descent but literally translates to "someone who roams around aimlessly" - LOL!)
One of the things we learnt was that under no circumstances should we wear any cotton. It should all be synthetic or wool. Including our underwear. This is because cotton retains moisture close to your skin so imagine trekking for hours and hours with material sticking to sweaty skin. Chafeage!! Synthetics and woollens however absorb it right away from the skin, keeping you cool and dry - of course this means stinky clothing but hey, we'll all be in the same boat.
We were imagining the worst re woolly undies but were extremely pleasantly surprised to see that things have come pretty far since the Pioneer days, and the material made from Merino wool is indistinguishable from nylon. So comfortable and it really does the trick. You can even trace your own particular sheep with the Icebreaker range - hilarious!
Re the stinky clothing - and stinky bodies: we may be lucky and get a bucket of water with which to wash ourselves and our clothes, so that's ok. I found nifty little shampoo and detergent "leaves" - like that chewing gum breath freshener thing you let melt on your tongue - so they are extremely compact to carry and of course leak proof as they are solid until in contact with water. After we have done the bare necessities hygiene-wise we can wash our socks etc that we have been wearing and wear a fresh pair the next day. We can clip our wet stuff onto our backpacks and let it dry on our day's walk. I cannot wait to get a picture of a line of underwear and socks walking up Kilimanjaro.
The most expensive item we have to buy is our sleeping bag (€200!). As mentioned it has to have a comfort rating of -15C, which means that we are able to comfortably sleep at that temperature. The extreme rating of this bag goes right down to -30C, which is the temperature at which you will not die if you are wearing ALL your clothes while inside it - good to know!! Luckily, the most we will get to is about -10C (I think) as we do not sleep at the summit, for obvious reasons, but at a camp lower down.
It was recommended that we trial Diamox (the anti-altitude sickness medication) for a few days before we go, to see if we can tolerate it. Well - we couldn't! But only when we tried to climb Lugnaquilla in conditions that made our Djouce experience seem positively balmy. I'll expand further on this in a later post...thankfully, no harm done.
The main thing we need to get sorted now is our vaccinations. Another long list - not compulsory (apart from Yellow Fever, which is mandatory to enter Tanzania), but I think I'll take the recommended ones!!
So far, we have about 70% of our gear. I see the sale at the Great Outdoors starts on Thursday - I'll be there!!
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