Kili climb: equipment; conditions
 

I am scheduled to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro (Machame route)mid February. What kind of winter wear would one need near the top? How cold and windy does it get? Does one need a down jacket?

I'm bringing a gortex cover lined with fleece, under that, I'm going to wear a synthetic winter jacket and under that a wool sweater, then a thermal underwear, Will that suffice?

Your outfitter should have provided you with a gear list. I'm going with Tusker, and they recommend 3-4 layers on top and 2-3 layers on bottom. I'm taking the following:

Midweight Synthetic Top
Expedition Weight Synthetic Top
Midweight Fleece Jacket
Gore-Text Parka
Down Jacket

Midweight Synthetic Bottom
Expedition Weight Synthetic Bottom
Waterproof/Breathable Pants

It sounds like you have sufficient clothing for your trek, assuming that you have good insulation for your legs, as well as, the necessary hat, gloves, socks, etc...

In the evenings when you aren't walking it's absolutely bitter and you'll be wearing everything you have.

But apart from the summit night I was able to walk in shorts & t-shirt

I climbed in november in the snow wearing a thermal base, 100 weight fleece and a waterproof overpant and shell. I was fine but just make sure you do everything in layers so you can strip down or put on as the temperature changes or your body heat rises.

Here's my write up of my Kili climb!

http://www.lostmyguidebook.com/tanza...bs-kilimanjaro

Good luck!

I just returned from Kili the other day. I was surprised at how warm it was days 1-6 and 8 (with the exception of camping at Lava Tower). I wore convertible pants and 2 lightweight long sleeve shirts, and often took one layer off. One guy in our group was ecstatic to be able to wear his shorts everyday except for summit day and one other.

However, the summit day was THE coldest I have ever been in my life. And I grew up in New England winters all my life. I had on 4 bottom layers and 7 top layers, with 3 hats on. Definitely bring plenty of hand and toe warmers and put them on the minute you wake up for the summit. It wasn't that cold at Barafu, but about 30minutes into the climb it felt like the temperature dropped 15degrees and the winds were whipping at what felt like 30mph the entire summit.

Definitely bring a down jacket if you have one. I didn't have one, but many of my climb members did and they seemed comfortable during the nights at camp.

How did you get 7 layers on? Were you able to put your arms down? I feel like the Michelin man when I go past 4 layers.

Hi Fitzgibbon,

I climbed the Machame route succesfully in Jan 2005, see my photojournal for it here:

http://clubs.wanadoo.co.uk/pictures/...lbumID=5272073

Regarding the summit push it was damn cold: my drinking hose froze solid as did the bite valve to my bladder. So cold that snot froze as it dribbled from my nostrils onto my fleece balaclava.

If I can recall I did this: pants (Y fronts!) large size ladies tights, fleece longjohns, Ron Hill track bottoms, Trekking bottoms. 3 pairs of socks. 1 short sleeve t, 1 long sleeve t, roll neck jumper, light weight fleece, heavy weight fleece, windbreaker. Silk inner gloves, fleece mid, Gortex ski gloves. Fleece balaclava, scarf and neck gaiter. It is more about layering, I would say forget the expense of down filled jacket.

It is cold every night on Kili, not just the last night.

Sorry I posted so late, hope you see this before you leave. Climbing Kili is a great experience, I loved it. Good luck.

Matt

HAHAHAHA yes I felt like Randy from A Christmas Story, but hey I'll do anything I possibly can to keep warm.

I wore a combination of wicking clothes (mid and heavy-weight) plus a fleece, a polartec jacket and a Gortex shell. That was 6 layers. One of the guides looked at me halfway up and demanded I wear one of his, so I was swimming in that 7th layer.

I was thinking about A Christmas Story too when you mentioned the 7 layers. Any idea as to what the temperature was during your summit push?

I live in California, so I don't have a lot of experience with really cold winters. The coldest I've been out camping was in 0 degree (farenheit) weather up in the Sierra Nevada. (We slept in snow caves.) I have yet to experience minus degree weather.

I'm not too worried about the cold since I generate heat like a hot water bottle when I'm moving. Sweating is generally my problem.

Our guide put the temp at -20 ºs (must be farenheit) but that whipping wind was much much colder. The coldest part of you will be the exposed skin of your face. A week before we climbed someone we spoke with climbed in blizzard conditions so anything is possible.

Matt

Ditto Matt. I think our guide said it was in the negative teens, but I swear the winds were at least 30mph, so I'm not sure what makes it, besides unbelievably frigid!!!

All right so the original poster is probably freezing his extemeties off (nice version) right now but I recall it was so damn cold on our climb the thermos flask in which was boiling water was almost frozen solid by the time we reached the top.

Matt

Hi

Well, I guess you climb is over now...hoe did it go? When I went there I had a few layers...I had a string t-shirt with a long sleeved wool underwear over that. On top of that I had a thick wool sweater and a gore-tex jacket as the shell. That worked out pretty good for me :-) I have posted my equipment list on http://gardkarlsen.com/kilimanjaro_equipment.htm

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures