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Kilimanjaro - Umbwe/Western Breach
September 2005
Arusha, Tanzania
posted by Wade
I flew from Nashville to Chicago, Chicago to London, London to Nairobi,Kenya. The flights were grueling. I have flown to Europe a few times, but never had two back to back flights that long. In all it took about 24 hours of travel time to reach my destination.
There were 4 in my party, I met one in London, and the other two in Kenya since we were flying in from different parts of the US. We used Good Earth tours as our guide service. They were great for the seasoned backpacker. They were cheap and a little more minimalist than some of the other groups. I did have one complaint with them... they used some El Cheapo tents... we were in the Wal-Mart specials, while the group next to us was in a Mountain Hardwear or NF mountaineering tent. It worked out, but the wind blew them around alot, and if we were to get caught in a storm... well it wouldn't have held up too well. I told the guide we were switching tents (he had a Eureka mountaineering tent) if the weather got bad.  I'm not a "brand" person, but when it comes to climbing and mountaineering I only trust the good stuff with my life.
I would say trekking poles are a must. I used them all but the first day. the jungle was a bit tight and there were alot of vines and such. The porters didn't use them of course, but I also saw some smoking some ganja and one without shoes, neither of which I would reccomend for a successful climb.
We spent a day hiking through jungle, one day hiking through a heather forest full of fog and odd looking plants. Then we spent 2 days hiking in treeless, rocky, alpine conditions. The weather was not cold there in September until we reached over 14-15,000 feet in elevation. We camped one night at the Lava Tower, which was beautiful. We did a mild scramble to the top of this hardened lava rock formation for a nice view of the mountain and our camp. The actual Western Breach is the area from around 17,000 feet to the crater rim. This is a crumbled looking rockfall area. A man died a week after I did the route from a falling rock. Our guide got us up on the route earlier than the other parties. The first party up is generally safe from rockfall since there are no other parties above to knock the rocks loose.
Once in the crater we hiked across what was left of a glacier. It was only a short hike to the crater camp, but that is the only time my feet stepped foot on the snows on Kilimanjaro. The camp in the crater is for hardcore people who want to spend the night at 18,500 feet and have a quick bid to the summit the next morning. We stopped at a cooking tent here and got some hot tea from another group, then we finished the climb to the summit. A bit of scrambling and scree and about 2 more hours of hiking and we were at the summit. It was an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. I was elated. We snapped our pictures, high fived, and then took off. One of the members of our party was feeling rough.
I've read some horror stories about tipping guides and porters. Also read that some of them turn around and sell all the flashy outerwear people give them after their trip up the mountain for cash and continue to guide in their old clothes. As far as tipping was concerned it was an interesting thing. The tour company gave suggestions and we had our tip all prepared. We told our guide we would give him the tip and he could distribute it. But the more we thought about it, the more we didn't want to take a chance that some of the money would be skimmed from the porters. So, we tipped them on the bus. Interestingly enough we had started with 12 porters, and somehow magically ended up with 14 porters... hmmm that's funny that it happened at tip time... But the tips are very minor compared to the work they do. They make about $4/day, and we tipped them about $5/day each I think. We gave the cook more, and we gave the guide more. The clothing I gave away was intended for them to upgrade their climbing wardrobe.. but if they decided to sell the clothes to buy a new couch, dvd player, or to buy ganja for their next trip... it's outta my hands. I think some of them were definately going to use the stuff I gave out, because I gave one porter a fleece hat and he immediately put it on and shook my hand like he was gonna break it off... and when we dropped him off at his neighborhood (shanty-town) he was still wearing it as he walked off, and it was a good 85 degrees out.
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