85 year old Great Grandmother climbs Mt Kilimanjaro

[Cy Kaicener]

You are never too old to climb a big mountain

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/85- ... ostpopular

[Wildhorse]

Never too old. Unfortunately one physical or health ailment or another eventually afflicts us. The skill acquired over years of hiking and ongoing conditioning overcome much. I hope my friends and I can still climb mountains at 85.

[Ed]

I ran into a couple on Skyline who were training for Kilimanjaro. They said they would also be doing Skyline downhill, for downhill conditioning. When I asked why, they said that on Kilimanjaro you are now required to hike down in one day. It was the first time I had heard that, and it seemed strange to me. But that is what they said, and they seemed quite sure. If true, Ugh!

[zippetydude]

Piece of cake, Ed.

Swiss veteran mountain guide, Karl Egloff, has broken the Mount Kilimanjaro fastest ascent and descent record, in a mind-blowing time of 6 hours, 42 minutes and 24 seconds.

Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa at 5,895 meters, is trekked by thousands of people every year – some figures suggest that 35,000 people attempt the summit on a yearly basis. On average, most trekkers take 6 days to ascend and 1 day to descend for a total trekking time of 7 days.

I wonder what they mean by you "have" to make it down in 1 day...suppose there's an additional charge or something? I can't imagine someone 85 years old racing back down the trail to get out in time. Still, according to the article it seems to be the norm to get back out in a day for most. Might be an oxygen thing. I've noticed when I do Whitney that it just about kills me going up after Trail Crest, but coming back down I don't even breathe hard. Seems like there's a whole lot less air on the way up. Kili is over 19000' so it probably reduces upward progress to a crawl for quite a while. Here's a link that shows the itinerary and mileage. Looks like day 6 is 3 up and 7 down, then the last day you hike out the last 6 miles from the final camp.

http://www.machame.com/

z

[Ed]

DAY 6
•Barafu Camp to Summit to Mweka Hut
•Elevation (ft): 15,300ft to 19,345ft (and down to 10,000ft)
•Distance: 5 km ascent / 12 km descent
•Hiking Time: 7-8 hours ascent / 4-6 hours descent
•Habitat: Arctic

Thanks for the link, Zip. Looks like 9,345' down on Day 6 to me. And after the haul up to the summit in the morning. Ugh! That's close enough for me to what the couple was saying.