Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Best of Luck on Kili, Karen!

If you're not aware, Akichow will be leaving in a couple of days for Tanzania and a date with Kilimanjaro. I just wanted to throw a big WZ shout-out to her and wish her the best on this fantastic trip. Bring back lots of photos for your TR, Karen!

Go get em!

Brent N

Wow, good luck! What an awesome time that would be.

Akichow,

I will be thinking of you often and will be anticipating a great trip report and some awesome photos!

BTW, who's taking care of your dog? Or is she going with you?

Wazzu

Akichow, have a blast. Anyone know what route she will be taking?

John

John, she didn't mention the route name, but said it was a long route with plenty of acclimatization time, so I'd guess Machame, which has the highest success rate, or maybe Lemosho? I know a couple of folks with my company who have summitted Kili within the past couple of years, and they both took the Machame route.

Karen also mentioned spending a night at 18K-plus feet on the crater rim. That should be a blast!

Sounds like the Western Shira Plateau Route (Western Breach) past Lava Tower, especially if she said they would be camping at 18K+. This spot is about an hr from the summit and also is right across from another 19K summit which overlooks another inner crater. My son and I with 5 others did this route with Mountain Madness in 1994.

Hello. Yes, I am off to Kili on Thursday. Very very excited. Taking a sort of Lemosho route with an extra day en route, joins up with Machame route toward the end, then a night at Crater Camp. The pup is going to a neighbor's house; she's been joining me on training hikes for the last couple of weeks, including a few hikes up Mission Peak, and a backpack over Thanksgiving weekend to Sykes Hot Springs.

Your wishes and thoughts mean a lot to me. I am excited overall about this trip, but the 12 hours on either side of the summit have me a little nervous (as they should). My gear is all packed, and there's a lot of it! So long as my camera doesn't freeze, I hope to have good pictures to share....

Thanks again folks, and I'll report in when I get back.

Good luck and have a trip of a lifetime.

A good will suggestion for your porters. Take some of your "older" hiking/climbing gear including worn boots to give away to your support team, the porters. Of course by the looks of your gear in the photo, you may not have any room!!

At the start of our Kili climb I looked for the porter with the biggest feet and told him that after the climb he could have my size 13-14 Nike Approach Boots. He was thrilled even though he appeared to have only a size 11 foot.

All our group gave away most of our stuff, unwashed after 6 days on the Mt & all the porters were very appreciative.