Acclimatisation

Because Kilimanjaro requires no technical experience the lure of its summit attracts all sorts. Inevitably some arrive with little or no awareness of the need for, and means of achieving, proper acclimatization.

Were Kilimanjaro National Parks Authority (KINAPA) less insistent on there being rescue teams on alert high on the mountain at all times, the number of deaths would be far higher than it is. Deaths divide between inexperienced porters who have undergone little training and are ill-equipped for the severe weather that can occur on Kilimanjaro, and westerners who believe that all that’s needed when the headaches and dizziness arrive is a bit more grit and moral fibre, whereas it is acclimatization that is key.

Acclimatization however, is not solely about minimising the very real risk of pulmonary and cerebral oedema, or even death. It is about climbing in a way that obtains a state of health and alertness whereby the adventurer may enjoy the experience to the full.

At any given time the mountain is replete with mountain-sick individuals whose misplaced sense of economy persuaded them against all good advice, to go it alone forsaking acclimatization, and to climb with the very minimum of expense that the authorities allow.

But without proper preparation even the strong are susceptible to what is a normal and healthy physiological reaction to a low pressure oxygen-starved environment: AMS, or acute mountain sickness. The only way to avoid this debilitating and uncomfortable condition is to ensure that adequate acclimatization has already been achieved.