The Mountain

The Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania on the boundary to Kenya. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest freestanding mountain in the world. It has a length of 60 km and a width of 40 km. It consists of 3 volcanoes, Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira, which are inactive. The Uhuru-Peak is the main summit and is covered with snow almost all year round. Newest measurements say that the mountain has an elevation of 5896 m - gaining one meter to past measurements. Its ice covered crater has a diameter of 2.5 km. Ascending the mountain you climb through different vegetation zones ranging from rain forest, mountain jungle, moorland, alpine desert, snow fields and ice cliffs.

Gio's Kili

The Idea

It’s pretty funny. No let’s say, Tina and me are actually pretty funny because we’re still finding out how much we actually have in common. Besides being ambitious we found out that we both have a spirit for adventure. We came up with the idea to ascend the Kilimanjaro after our hike through the Grand Canyon in 2004. We had hiked to the Colorado River and back again in one day: 1370 meters altitude difference from the canyon’s top to the riverbed, 25 km distance in 9 hours, the temperature in the morning 12° C climbing up to 42° C before noon.   Having aches and pains all over our entire body, but still with a joyful and proud feeling, the idea was designed. Tina’s grandfather had made the ascent at the proud age of 65. My friend Thomas, who is called „Gioberte“ at special occasions, had made the ascent himself and had told us that the Kilimanjaro could be „hiked“. That was a very important fact because Tina and I were not into mountain climbing. You needed a good stamina and you had to cope with the altitude. The second factor would stay unknown until the actual ascent – both of us having respect towards the altitude. Well, and the fact that we would have to camp for days wasn’t really making us happy either. We both hate camping and rather sleep in warm and comfy motels on our vacations. But the spirit of adventure had won! And the ambition has stayed – we want to achieve the ascent and that’s why we will try. We have a saying in Swabia, "Dahoim sterbed Leid' (meaning if you don’t try – you’ve lost already!)...

The Decision

And that’s why we made the decision.  - the decision to ascent the Kilimanjaro together. Just like our life - Hand in Hand – together from the beginning to the end – no matter where that end would be.

For each other – With each other

The Preparations

After reading numerous travelogues and having discussions with relatives, friends and colleagues we booked our adventure in August 2006.

We bought the first part of ourequipment at EBay. Headlamps from Petzl (Myo XP), which already came in handy while walking through the dark forest with our horse – wow – they really brightened everything up. On November 7^th Gioberte dropped by and told us more about the equipment we would need. Like I said before, although Tina and me will be doing this adventure we will not become fond of going camping. So, that’s why Gioberte brought us a very good sleeping bag, a foam matress and a small backpack, plus a duffel bag and spatter dashes. Tina’s colleague Sandra gave us a large 70 liter backpack. Tina’s sister Kathy and her boyfriend Matthi (both former scouts) borrowed us a second sleeping bag and a foam matress. Tina also got a "Lara-Croft-Survival-Vest". The rest of the equipment we bought at ALDI, DECATHALON and at the local pharmacy.

A very important part of the preparation for this adventure was gaining a good stamina. Tina and me do a lot of running and had actually done more than usual this year. I ran a marathon in Salzburg and Tina and I both ran a half marathon in Karlsruhe. And everyone who has ever run distances like those, knows how much training is necessary just to get to the finish line. I also worked out and we both did plenty of horse riding.

The Green Heiner

On November 15th – 8 weeks before our departure – we specialized our training for the ascent. Tina asked me, “And what are we supposed to do?” “Baby, just take a look at the Green Heiner and you’ll know what to do!” The Green Heiner or so-called Lotterberg, was to become our training hill to build up the necessary muscles for the ascent. The former garbage dump is 395 meters above sea-level and has an altitude difference of 75 meters. During each run we would run up and down the hill – actually more than once (my personal record is 10 times in a row = 18 km). We also participated in the New Year’s Eve Run in Bietigheim (11,2 km) for the third consecutive time – each of us running faster than the years before.

The Ascent via Machame Route

The Arrival

Day One - Camp Machame 2990 m

Day Two - Camp Shira 3880 m

Day Three - Lava Tower 4600 m - Camp Barranco 3965 m

Day Four - Camp Karanga Valley 3950 m

Day Five - Camp Barafu 4600 m

Day Six - Uhuru Peak 5986 m - Camp Mweka 3100 m

Day Seven - Mweka Gate 1700 m

My Tips

Gio's Sunrise