Trip Reports

Kilimanjaro - Lemosho Glades - 27 Dec to 5 Jan '16

Written by Leader Mungo Ross, January 2016

The Lomosho Glades route is a particularly enjoyable way to climb Kilimanjaro. Being a slightly longer itinerary than some of the other more direct ascents, the extra couple of days provide that more time for acclimatising, which significantly increases the odds of getting to the top and makes the summit day that much more enjoyable (if you can ever call suddenly subjecting the body to half the oxygen itís used to as ìenjoyableî!). Iíve always thought that the very special thing about climbing Kilimanjaro is the variety of every day on a relatively short trip ñ going from sub-tropical rain forest through a range of vegetation zones to Arctic tundra in a matter of only a few days, and back again in a matter of hours. We were on the summit on Sunday morning, back at home in the U.K. for lunch on the Tuesday!

Jagged Globe have been using the same operator for years now and between then them can guarantee a seamless service for an ascent of the highest mountain in Africa. Reaching the top has become a popular objective for personal achievement and for raising cash and awareness for all sorts of charities and causes, so is attracting an ever increasing number of visitors, these numbers being supported by an ever increasing number of local guides, cook team and porters (we had a compliment of 44 staff to support the 11 of us). Itís fair to say that you cannot expect to go to Kilimanjaro for the solitude; during the peak seasons (and New Year is one of them) there are literally hundreds of people on the trail and in the camp sites. But working with the combined experience of Jagged Globe and our local staff itís possible to avoid much of the congestion and allow each group to have a sense of space and to have the trail largely to themselves; holding back in camp until the crowds had gone made the scramble up the deserted Baranco Wall much more fun, and by timing our summit morning carefully, we had the top pretty well much on our own. The Lomosho Glades is a route still less used than other routes, so while having that extra couple of days to experience the varied landscapes it is also a much quieter approach to the upper slopes of the mountain.

Some trips just follow the itinerary and nothing much goes wrong; having just read Mattís account of his Kyajo Ri trip, in comparison this New Year Kilimanjaro trek was a breeze! O.K., so one of the group had managed to damage themselves sufficiently to have to cancel the trip before even leaving home, and another one was unlucky enough to have to turn around on summit morning, wisely acknowledging the effects of altitude; but the mountain gods (or someone) was shining down on us blessing us with great weather (one brief sudden downpour just to make us appreciate how it could have been), a not too muddy or dusty trail, no one got ill (for long!) or injured, and we had a spectacularly competent and efficient team of guides, kitchen crew and porters. The group got on well, some of them on an extremely steep (literally) learning curve about expedition mountaineering, but all rose to the challenge, learned fast what they needed to know, and dug deep (very deep) when it mattered. Climbing to nearly 6000 meters in only a few days is never going to be easy, the reason Kili offers such a huge challenge is precisely because it is not easy, this group proving yet again that slow and steady works better than sprint and bust; everyone reckoned that summit day was the hardest thing, physically and mentally, that they had ever done (and some had done a lot); the young, fit, sporty, competitive contingent humbled into submission by the simple lack of oxygen!

Thank you all for being such good company and for sharing your Hogmany on the slopes of Kilimanjaro ñ what a great way to start a New Year, may 2016 continue to be full of fun, adventures and pleasant surprises. « Previous report | Next report »

Jagged Globe Newsletter

We publish an email newsletter with trip reports and latest availability, plus features, competitions and general news of our climbing, trekking & skiing activities.