My oldest daughter is a Chartered Accountant, married to another Chartered Accountant and living in the Cayman Islands. These 2 yuppies have just about earned all the T-shirts by now – been there, done that. Except climbing Kilimanjaro. Ok, so this has to be ticked off too, and 15 to 22 Sept time slot is scheduled for that.
Now who do you think is sucker enough to be pulled into this lot!? Daddy cannot bail out of this any more – tickets and trip paid for already, just have to do it now.
I am reading up on all kinds of foreign things like altitude sickness (almost 20 000 ft!), cold sleeping bags, cold clothing, water tablets, darker-than-dark sun shades - you name it – stuff I never bothered about for the past 59 years.

Eisch !!
(African expressing for discomfort, fear, pain, dislike ....)
Lochi.

Good luck Buddy!

Gerhard

Diamox works.

Lochi ----- I was in your boat in 1999, that is until my daughter found another climbing pardner. I had told her if she could not find anyone else old dad would go. We had climbed several of the fourteeners in Colorado and the 19,400 Killi seemed obtainable. She found a fellow flight attendent (no I didn't have to pay the new pardner) and I spent my money on a Alaskan Yukon Moose hunt to the Farewell Burn of Alaska, which made much more since to this old hunter. Good luck, it is a five day climb, leaving at midnight on summit day.

Enjoy!!!! it is one of those "Must do" things in life. Had to go back for seconds ( and went up the back way without porters. Happy days man! Walk Slowly and let the porters earn their shilling!

Who said accountants were boring!!!

You only have yourself to blame. Now come on and admit you are a softy, you cannot say NO to your daughter

It might be tough, but just think of the wonderful reward doing it with your daughter. You will have a great time and a lot of fun

Wish I were you.

quote:

Eisch !!

Lochi,

Wouldn't EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeisssscccHHHhHHHHHHHH be more appropriate?

Ann,
Can you tell us who these things are booked through and the approximate cost for the climbing trip only (excluding transportation)? I was wondering how it compared to safari costs and whether it could be combined with a safari.

Lochi,

Please take lots of pictures and have a great time.

Ms AZ and I did it in 2001. 19.3 is getting up there; I was puking pretty hard at the top, but it isn't a physically hard climb. The 14ers in Colorado are not even close in elevation, however. To put it in perspective, we do the Guanella Pass to Mt. Bierstadt (14,060) hike in 1 hr 45 minutes; 3.5 hours round trip (we take no breaks).

The cost of the kili trip was about 4k for both; I can't remember. I would recommend anyone wanting to do it to book directly in Tanz, not the US. Direct booking is dirt cheap.

Funny story came out of our climb. We became friends with a couple from Sweden, Peter and Elsa (or something, can't remember). Elsa was a flight attendant for SAS and was quite the little hottie. Anyway, I was coming down from the mountain - Ms AZ writer was back at the tent. I saw a blond haired woman urinating on the rocks in front of me; I yelled, thinking it was my better half. As she stood up, I saw her bare ass. However, it was Elsa.

I told Ms AZ about it. "Oh my God, I am so happy" she said.

"Why...cuz I saw Elsa's butt?" I asked.

"No, because you thought that butt was mine."

Then she gasped. "Oh, but think about poor Elsa. Right now she is sitting in her tent looking at Peter and asking over and over, 'Is my butt really that big?'"

That is a great party story.

Bwana,

I have some Kilimanjaro climbs listed on our PureAfrica website ...go to www.pureafrica.com and select "explore plus" from home page ... follow the navigation from there.

As you will see from the images we have added that it is an great experience.

Hope this helps

AnotherAZ,

You have to love a woman with that take on life's "unusual" moments.

Perry

Lochi, best wishes on your upcoming climb! Please say hello to Jonty and Ira for Joan and me. I would like to just see Kilimanjaro, not climb it. Be careful.
Jerry

If you do the Kili climb, be sure to take a pic when you are on the top standing next to the sign that announces you are on the highest peak in Africa. It is quite the addition for trophy room, and unlike most of the hunting in Africa, you can't buy that trophy with money. You might shoot a lion being 100 lbs overwieght, but you won't bag Kili.

That said, it also makes you wonder about climbing above 8000 meters...it has got to be unbelievably tough. For all the "danger" of DG hunting, consider this: the ratio of deaths to ascents on Annapurna is 41% (53 have died while only 130 have summitted).

Lochi,

Be advised that the Kili climb is serious business. I talked with people from three different groups that climbed the mountain, and they had casualties in all three groups. The Californians uniformly took meds that helped them avoid pulmonary edema(sp?), which seemed to be the real culprit. Best of luck. Kudude

gulp ....