Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Kilimanjaro comparison

Has anyone here climbed both Whitney and Kilimanjaro?

I am planning a trip up Kilimanjaro in June. I have climbed Whitney on a day hike and I am curious from anyone who may have done both Whitney and Kilimanjaro...what is the difference in the preparation and level of fitness required between the two?

I had a discussion up at the portal last summer with a man who had done Kilimanjaro. He had done Whitney a few times also.

He said that Kilimanjaro is a long walk at high elevation, since you start a ways away and end up around 19000 feet or so. He said that there are 3 day, 4 day and 5 day trips. Of those who do it only 30-40% make it on the 3 day version, compared to 80% + on the 5 day version.

It sounded to me like if you go all the way over there, place the odds more in your favor by picking the longer trip. Mostly people help you with your gear and you basically day hike to the top.

I got the impression it was not possible to squeeze it down to a day or two.

Obviously Kilimanjaro sounded harder, because it is 4000 feet higher then Mt. Whitney.

Here is a place on the net with information about difficulty, conditioning etc. There is also some links to schedule information and prices etc.

Sounds like a gigantic experience

http://www.alpineascents.com/kilimanjaro.asp?source=overture

There was a thread about Kilimanjaro and comparisons to Whitney on this board a while ago. Here's the link: http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000444

I used the <a href="http://file.internetonastick.net/wmr2004/">Whitney MR</a> as a training hike before going up <a href="http://file.internetonastick.net/tanzania2004/">Kili this summer</a> with Alpine Ascents (listed above). I wouldn't compare the two too much simply because of the hiking style. On Kili, we had a 7 day, relaxed, backpacking itenerary. There was lots of time to aclimated. The summit day we started at midnight from 15.5k' at midnight and summited by sunrise. Doing Whiney in one or two days, I tend to get a small headache and work really hard. With tips from my alipne guide about pressure breathing and rest steps at a very slow pace, it was much easier than I expected. The decents are comparable though. The decent from Kili's crater rim has no real trail, just lose scree and very steep. You take a very fast pace. If you have any questions, email me. The best recomendation I can make for Kili though is, take the Macheme route and do a 7 day itenerary. The other routes are heavily traveled and have very short iteneraries. The people on the cheaper 6 day trips also skip the camp before high camp, push much harder and don't get as much time above 14k' to aclimate.

I agree with Matthew K that the Machame route is the way to go, but think that 5 or 6 days is plenty of time to acclimatize. Until the summit day, I found Kili far easier than Whitney. Why? On Kili, you have porters carrying all your gear, the food is great and plentiful and you only do about 2,000 vertical per day (until the summit day). Summit day on Kili, however, dwarfs anything I've ever experienced on Whitney. You start at ~12,500 early in the morning and do a slow climb up to high camp at 15,500. There, you have dinner (however, the high altitude kills most folk's appetites), pack your summit pack and try to get a couple of hours of sleep (impossible). At around midnight or so, you start a slow (pole pole) climb up to the summit at ~19,700, take a few pics and then back to high camp arriving around 11 am. On the 5 day trip, we rested and ate a little, then headed down to 10,500. When I arrived at high camp from the summit, I thought that there was no way I would ever make another 5-6 hours of down climbing. However, with the loss of altitude it was far easier than I expected. So summit day is basically 30 hours long going from 12,500 to 19,700 and back down to 10,500. Even with just a light summit pack, it far exceeds even a one day trip up and down Whitney. By the most common tourist routes Kili is just a walk-up (there are many very challenging technical routes up Kili) and no more difficult than Whitney. Whitney would make a great training climb for Kili.

I've done Whitney 4 times, all 1 day trips and I've also done Kili and Mt. Rainier. I did the Marangu route on Kili with REI and took 5 days to summit. Out of 8 in our group only 1 didn't make it. He was a college football player and in great shape. The altitude got to him at about 18,000'. The Marangu route is very similar to the Whitney trail, though a lot longer and you go through a rain forest that can be very wet and sloppy. Otherwise the trail is pretty straight forward. I've heard that the Machame route is more interesting from a climbing standpoint. You might want to take in the movie Kilimanjaro at IMAX. The biggest challenge and difference with Whitney is the altitude. The more time you can spend acclimatizing the greater your chance of success. If you can spend a few days to a week in Colorado or New Mexico at 7-8,000' immediately before you go, it would really help. As with any high altitude climb, you want to keep hydrated and well nourished along the whole way. The altitude on Whitney slows me down a bit but otherwise I don't notice it very much. On Kili I started really noticing it at about 18,500 and at the summit (19,340') I felt like I'd just downed 3-4 martinis in a row. A bit wobbly would be a good way to describe it. As far as training goes, get out to the mountains at some altitude as much as you can and carry a 15-20# pack. Take some 8-10 hour hikes to get your legs and mind used to going for that amount of time. It's a great trip. Have fun.
Rick

I've never done Kilimanjaro, but have been over 18K on several occasions in Alaska and the Himalaya. Based on what others have said here, I would also echo their basic sentiments - that anyone who can dayhike Whitney successfully is prepared well enough to do Kili. Just allow yourself adequate time to acclimatize if you've never been to that altitude. Nothing can really "train" you to do better at 17-18K+. Good conditioning gets you so far; the rest is good genes and fitness. And listen to your body if any AMS symptoms start setting in. PE or CE is not fun!

I would LOVE to summit Kili, and I am going to try a trip in October 2007. Any info on the Western Breach approach would be great. If anyone has trip reports to share, that would be great too!

Thanks All!