Clothing |
|
Trekking boots |
I went for a
couple of boots of the brand Crispi (www.crispi.it).
I had planned to walk in sneakers for the first couple of days but I was
so comfortable in the boots so I walked in them all the way up and all
the way down. Remember to try to get them dry them when you get to the camp
site. Mine got a bit damp in the end and I think this caused that I got
a bit cold on the toes on the summit night.. |
Trekking pants |
It can be
pretty windy on the mountain so it is nice to have a pair of good trekking
pants. I bought a Fjällräven pants called Vidde (in the G-1000 series,
more info can be found on
www.fjallraven.se/). I really enjoyed these pants while
walking on the mountain. Due to the G-1000 stuff these pants are quite
rigid to start with. But if you wash them a few times they become softer
and breathe better. |
Shell layer |
I brought along
a Norrøna Gore-Tex jacket (Trollveggen) and a pair of Gore-Tex pants
(also Trollveggen). You can read more about the Norwegian bran Norrøna
on www.norrona.no. I brought out the jacket
on day 3 when we moved out of the Shira camp. It was windy and it was
nice to have a layer as protection against the wind. |
Warm underwear |
To protect
myself on the summit night I went for 2 layers of underwear. First I had
a string t-shirt from Brynje (www.brynje.no)
and then a wool underwear of the Norwegian
brand Devold (www.devold.no/).
The Devold series is called Aquaduct®
and this underwear kept me nice and warm on the summit night…but it
has to be said that we didn’t really get that cold weather. Our guide
said that it was -10 degrees but I think it was a bit warmer. Underneath
the Devold underwear pants I had wool boxer shorts from Brynje . |
Balaclava |
A balaclava is
nice to have…I used it both in the sleeping bag to keep heat from
escaping through my head AND I used it on the summit night to keep warm.
I bought a balaclava from the Norwegian brand Brynje (www.brynje.no). |
Protection from
the rain |
We went on the
mountain during the “dry season” and I was hoping that we would avoid
rain. And we were lucky and we didn’t get any rain at all. But I did
bring along a rain poncho to protect my upper body and daypack against
the rain. |
Gaiters |
I bought a pair
of cotton gaiters from Norrøna (www.norrona.no) but I could have left these at home because I didn’t
use them at all. Sure, it could have protected my boots against the
volcanic dust/ash on the mountain but I never did wear them. |
Socks |
Always an
interesting question. Do try the socks out at home before you set of to
Kilimanjaro and try them out in similar terrain. I brought along 4 pairs
of thick woollen socks of different quality and different length. I was hoping to be able to dry them
at the camp sites but we didn’t get much chance to do that. But 4 pairs
were just enough. |
Fleece pants |
I bought a pair
of thin and light fleece pants called Juvaas from Norrøna (www.norrona.no) to keep me warm on the summit night. And it
worked great with the Devold wool underwear and the Norrøna Gore-Tex layer
on top. I stayed
very warm all night long and I got too warm when the sun came up. So be
prepared to remove some layers as the sun rises.. |
Fleece top |
I brought along
a thin Niki fleece top and I used this quite a lot both when I was walking
and at the camp sites. Fleece is a great material. First of all it is
very light, it is very comfortable and it keeps you warm. Don't leave
home without a thin sweater like this. I even used it while we were at
the hotel in the evening as seen on the picture. |
Gloves |
Gloves
is of course an important issue. I brought along
some thin cross-country ski gloves from Lillsport that I used together with my walking
poles. It kept the hands warm and protected them from the strong sun. On
the summit night I had fleece mittens combined with Gore-Tex shell
mittens from Norrøna (www.norrona.no). The
fleece mittens did get a bit moist during the night but I
stayed warm in them all night long. |
Warm hat |
On the summit
night I wore the balaclava (more info above) from Brynje and in addition to this I
wore a winter hat of the brand Bula. |
Super underwear |
I bought a long
sleeved top and a pair of pants of a sports underwear called Bavac (www.bavac.no/).
I used this in the sleeping bag as a pair of pajamas and it kept me nice
and warm…and it was very, very comfortable to wear :-) I also used the
top on one of the days when we were walking and it kept me warm. |
Warm sweater |
I decided to go
for the natural option to keep me warm on the summit night so I choose
to bring a thick woollen sweater to keep me warm. |
Hat |
It is important
to bring along a wide brimmed hat on the trip. The sun is strong and the
radiation can be pretty intense. I didn’t want to spend too much money
on this because I’m probably not going to wear it that often. So I ended
up buying a fishing hat very cheap. But it got the job done and I wore
it all the time. |
Convertible
pants |
I brought along
a pair of thin Nike pants that could be converted into shorts. But I
only wore this on the first day…after that I moved over to my trekking
pants (Fjällräven). |
Sneakers |
I was planning
to wear a couple of Nike sneakers to start with. But I was very
comfortable in my trekking boots. But it was nice to have the sneakers
when we came to the camps :-) |
Thin jacket /
west |
I brought along
a think Nike jacket and a thin Nike west. It was nice to have these as
wind breakers on the first couple of days and when we were descending.
|
T-shirts / tops |
I had two Nike
t-shirts of a Drifit material and a long sleeved top of the same stuff.
|
Shorts |
I brought along
a couple of light shorts but I didn’t use them. It was quite windy and
the sun was strong so I was comfortable with my trousers on. |
|
|
Equipment |
|
Sleeping bag |
I bought a new
sleeping bag in connection with my trip because I didn’t want to freeze
:-) I bought a bag of the Norwegian brand Ajungilak (www.ajungilak.no/)
and it is called Kompakt 2000 and has a comfort temperature down to -10
degrees Celsius. I also bought a silk inner bag of the same brand to
keep my bag a bit clean and to make it even warmer. And it worked out
pretty good…I didn’t freeze while I was on the trip. I also brought
along a Ajungilak pillow..it was almost like being at home :-) |
Sleeping mat |
I had a self
inflatable sleeping mat of the brand Ajungilak that I brought along. I
think it is much more comfortable to sleep on this compared to the thin
foam sleeping mats. |
Head lamp |
I borrowed a
Petzl (www.petzl.com)
head lamp from a friend of mine and it was great. It made going to the
toilet, brushing my teeth, writing in my journal etc so much easier.
This was the kind were you can have the battery pack in the pocket to
keep them warm and I didn’t have any problems shining bright on the
summit night. Don’t leave home without it :-) I also brought along a
Maglite but I never used it. Don’t forget to bring along extra
batteries. |
Walking poles |
I’m not a big
fan of walking poles but it was really nice to have this on the
Kilimanjaro. Just remember to try them out before you leave home…I got a
bit sore in the shoulders from using them all day long. I bought a pair
of the brand Komperdell. |
Water bottles |
It is important
to drink lots of water while you are on the mountain to prevent altitude
problems. I had a 2 liter Platypus water “tank” and a 1 liter aluminum
bottle (Laken) that I used on a daily basis. I also brought along a little
backpack that I could wear under my jacket on the summit night. This
backpack contained the Platypus water “tank” and kept it from freezing.
We all had these Platypus bags by the way and we all agreed that it is a
great product when you go hiking. |
Towel |
I bought a
Lifeadventure Trek Towel that I brought along. It was light, small and
good enough. I didn’t use the towel all that much on the trip. |
Duffel bag/day
pack |
I brought along
a US military duffel bag to carry all my equipment. It was just big
enough for all my stuff. The only problem was that it only opened in the
one end…so it was hard to find stuff at the bottom. So I would recommend
that you use a bag with a zipper along the side of the bag. My day pack
was a 30 liter Bergans of Norway. It had just enough room for all the
water, the lunch pack, camera and some clothing. |
Sun glasses |
I wear glasses
already so I bought some clip-on pair of glasses. And it was useful to
have this because the sun was strong. |
Camera |
I brought along
my Canon Powershot S30 camera and I also had 2 extra batteries. I turned
of the screen during the trip to save battery and I didn’t have any
problems with taking as many shots as I wanted. I came home with about
215 pictures. I had extra compact flas cards with me as well and a small
tripod. |
Misc |
Swiss army
knife, stuff to fix the sleeping mat, journal and pen, duck tape |
|
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“Medicines” |
|
Mosquito spray |
Not very useful
on the mountain itself. But when you get back down again it is useful to
have some “protection” against the blood suckers :-) I used Autan. |
Malaria pills |
Once you are on
the mountain you are out of range of the malaria mosquito. But remember
you are normally in the danger zone before you start trekking and after
you are done. I went for Malarone which is the “new” pill, not that many
side effects and it is ridiculous expensive. I paid about 100 US dollars
for 24 pills. |
Headache pills |
If you live at
sea level like me there is a chance that you can experience some
altitude problems. I brought along some paracet pills to kill head
aches. |
Lemsip |
I also brought
along some Lemsip Cold + Flu which turned out to be quite smart. When we
started walking I did start developing a cold or something like that and
it was nice to have this medicine at hand. |
Strepsils |
Same as
above…as I developed my cold it was nice to have something to suck on at
night to prevent me from coughing and keeping my tent mate awake. |
Diamox |
Diamox can be
used to prevent altitude sickness. I brought along 100 pills (250 mg
each). I shared this with the other members in the party. Ready more in
the diary about our experience with the Diamox. |
Water
purification pills |
I brought along
some Micropur by Katadyn but I never did use them. All the water that we
drank was boiled so it was clean enough. |
Sun cream |
The equatorial
sun is extremely strong at least for a fair skinned Norwegian like me.
And remember that there are different qualities of creams…I went for a
brand called Vichy with SPF 30. And don’t forget to have something to
protect your lips as well. |
Ear plugs |
It was said
that it was useful to bring this along since porters can be pretty loud
at night. I didn’t really have a problem with this and I didn’t use
them. |
Toilet paper |
Very useful to
bring along :-) On the different camp sites there are something that
resembles squatting toilets and on some lunch stops you can also find
these toilets. We were also offered toilet paper by our tour guide
Marangu hotel on the mountain. |
Wet wipes |
I’m not going
to go into details on this…but when you stay in a tent for about a week
it is nice to be possible to clean yourself a little bit with wet wipes. |
Wet wipes for
glasses |
It was very
dusty on the mountain and my glasses got dirty pretty fast. It was nice
to have wet wipes for the glasses to be able to enjoy the nice view |
Nose spray |
It is important
to not have a blocked nose when you are walking. I brought along the
nose spray just in case. |
Tooth
brush/paste/floss |
I brought along
the tooth brush, my favorite tooth paste and floss to be able to keep up
my dental hygiene on the mountain
J |
Sports
tape/Compeed |
An easy way to
avoid blisters. We would tape our heels and big toes to avoid any
problems. But I did bring some Compeed just as a backup but I didn’t use
it. |
Antibac |
It is not
always possible to wash yourself after you have been to the toilet. Due
to this I brought along a liquid that we used on our hands to kill all
the germs. |
Band aid |
Useful to bring
along just in case. |