What Mount Kilimanjaro preparation is needed?
Is it technically difficult to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and what kind of preparation do I need? Do I need to be a mountain virtuoso? The answer is: no, you don’t need to call yourself Reinhold Messner to successfully summit Mount Kilimanjaro as it is – regarding its technical difficulty – a relatively easy mountain. There’s no need for expensive preparation courses, no need for professional training plans or any extended experiences on equally high altitudes. So the costs of preparation move towards zero. But! You must not underestimate Mount Kilimanjaro. It is definitely no easy-peasy walk. Although the Tanzanian authorities won’t give any official numbers there are an estimated number of 10 – 40 deaths per year! But how come if the mountain is relatively easy?
The biggest challenge is the altitude. You will climb up to almost 6.000m. The higher one gets the lower the oxygen content drops. That means each time you breathe less oxygen reaches your body. Under this circumstance even while doing easy activities you will have to breathe a lot more: getting up during the night and going to pee will be much more challenging than on sea level. Even getting dressed in the morning won’t be a piece of cake. The list is endless.
Being well acclimatised comes in handy at this point. The human body is able to adapt to higher altitudes but needs its time. If you climb higher and higher each and every day of your trek your body won’t be able to compensate the altitude anymore. One day off is worth a lot. While I was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2019 I met several mountaineers who in fact skipped acclimatisation day. During summit night I met all of them: heads hanging and on their way back because they didn’t make it.
Long story short: what kind of Kilimanjaro preparation do you need? You can’t prepare for the altitude. Either your body is capable of adapting to it easily or it is not. This is something you will find out while climbing. There’re no rules of thumb: chainsmokers on the summit are as well possible as triathletes being not able to summit. By climbing a lower summit right before trying to climb Mount Kilimanjaro you can increase your chances. But it is possible without that.
Recommended as Kilimanjaro preparation is endurance training in general: swimming, running, cycling. I myself started preparation about half a year before my trip by running and cycling. By the time I started my climb I used to run three times a week for about one hour. And I made it.
With your solid Kilimanjaro preparation in mind it is time to think about all the stuff you will need. Time for the packing list.